One thing consistently took us to Bloomfield in the 80s: the now-closed Del’s Bar & Ristorante, which was a popular spot for dinner and pitchers of beer in graduate school. The food was good, plentiful, and inexpensive. More recently, aside from an occasional meal at Tessaro’s, Bloomfield was simply a neighborhood that we passed through on our way to the Strip District, Shadyside, or East Liberty. 

On a(nother) very rainy Saturday, we headed to Lawrenceville for lunch. At this point, the rain was coming down in buckets and we were unable to find a parking spot close to where we wanted to eat lunch. A quick search for other nearby lunch options (actually, more a search for parking near a restaurant) led us to Bloomfield, where we stumbled upon a parking spot in front of Baby Loves Tacos. Only now do we realize how lucky we were to visit them on a spring Saturday before they transitioned to a Monday through Friday schedule.

A side note about our history with tacos. One of us is a native of California and grew up eating homemade tacos at least once a week; the other one of us did not eat a taco until age 16 when visiting family in Dallas (unlike today, readily available tacos were few and far between on Long Island in the 70’s). Now, however, after having travelled extensively during our careers, especially to the west coast and the south, we have eaten our fair share of authentic (and not so authentic) tacos. 

At Baby Loves Tacos, we ordered three tacos with chips and salsa to share. The chorizo, carne asada, and specialty brisket tacos were incredibly flavorful and the toppings were exceptionally fresh. Hands-down, these were the best tacos we’ve ever had (even better than our formerly favorite taco joint: Fiesta Fresh on Hilton Head Island). The chips and salsa were great too.

We ate our food at the small counter facing Liberty Avenue, and talked about how Bloomfield has changed. Del’s is no longer open, UPMC Children’s Hospital looms large in the neighborhood, and the house renovations that have overtaken Lawrenceville are starting to work their way into Bloomfield. 

After lunch, the rain slowed to a drizzle, and we walked up to Constellation Coffee for our post-lunch coffee fix. Buoyed by a great meal and caffeine, we were ready to tackle the rest of the day!

For once, we were incredibly grateful for the heavy rains in Pittsburgh on that Saturday, as they directed us to our new favorite neighborhood taco joint.