Frida’s Express Opens in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter, Bringing More Tijuana-Style Street Tacos To Downtown

Frida’s Express has officially opened its doors in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter, expanding the growing Frida’s Taqueria brand. The new fast-casual outpost quietly began serving customers in recent days, marking the latest taqueria concept rooted in Tijuana-style street food to enter the now-saturated downtown market.

The Gaslamp location takes over the former home of Tacos El Cabron, a space that has seen multiple iterations as downtown continues to favor quick-service, late-night-friendly food concepts. Branded as “Frida’s Express,” the new outpost is positioned for high-volume service, emphasizing speed, accessibility, and familiar menu staples rather than a full sit-down experience.

Frida’s Taqueria has built a loyal following across San Diego County with existing locations in Oceanside, Vista, Escondido, San Marcos, and beyond, offering a menu centered on classic Tijuana-inspired street tacos. The Gaslamp menu mirrors that approach, featuring carne asada, adobada, birria, and vegetarian options like papa con chorizo, alongside burritos, quesatacos, mulitas, tortas, fries, and aguas frescas. Items are cooked to order, maintaining the straightforward, no-frills style that has defined the brand’s expansion.

Frida’s Express enters an increasingly crowded downtown taco landscape that has rapidly tilted toward Tijuana-style street food. Once a novelty in the Gaslamp and East Village, the genre is now firmly entrenched, with established heavyweights like Tacos El Gordo and Tacos El Franc joined by others like Taco Centro, Taquería Los Chuchys, and a rotating cast of pop-ups and late-night counters. The result is a downtown core where charcoal-grilled meats, adobada shaved off the trompo, and foil-wrapped tacos are no longer a differentiator but a baseline expectation - raising the stakes for consistency, speed, and pricing as operators compete for the same after-hours crowd.

The opening of Frida’s Express also reflects a broader trend of suburban-born food brands testing smaller, streamlined formats in the urban core, particularly in the Gaslamp Quarter, where turnover remains high but visibility is unmatched. Whether Frida’s Express becomes a long-term downtown fixture will depend on its ability to balance speed, consistency, and pricing in one of the city’s most volatile restaurant corridors.

Frida’s Express is now open at 532 Fourth Avenue in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter. For more informations, visit eatsfridastaqueria.com. 

Originally published on January 3, 2026.