At Home – Sincere Justice of Taco Sincero

Originally hailing from the Los Angeles area, Sincere Justice is a chef based in Oakland who spends his days cooking up mind-blowing flavors from his pop-up taco stand, Tacos Sincero. The pandemic forced Sincere and his team to quickly pivot and adapt—shifting from catering to takeout and leaving their full commercial space to work out of Sincere’s home kitchen. While this time has been a challenge, Sincere has found silver linings in the kitchen: more time to experiment with new techniques, discover unexpected flavor profiles and finally perfect his recipe for the flour tortilla.

Finding new flavors

Chef and owner of Tacos Sincero

Above Left

Sincere with @northerncaliqueen 
at a Community Portrait Pop up in Oakland
Credit: Lara Kaur

Tell us a bit about yourself

30 JUN 2020 My name is Sincere Justice. I’m from a small town, east of Downtown LA called Baldwin Park. It’s the home of In-N-Out—our only claim to culinary fame. I run a Chino-Latino style pop-up taco stand based out of Oakland, California.

We make our own corn tortillas and flour tortillas using local masa from La Finca Tortilleria and local San Francisco flour to make our tortillas. We draw our inspiration from all the small San Gabriel Valley eateries but also pay homage to taco culture within LA and Mexico.

Above Left

Sincere passing a plate
 of tacos to a customer 
Photo: Zennie Abraham

How have the last few weeks or months shaped or impacted your PRactice?

COVID-19 has definitely affected our model as we have had to pivot from corporate and private catering and pop ups to a takeout model. We’ve now become a heavy contributor to plastics in our environment as we are plating much of our food within deli cups.

We’ve had to give up our commercial kitchen and create a kitchen space to run effectively from my home. We may have new spaces in mind in the next few months as we are currently looking for a new home.

Above

Meals ready for take-out

Above

Fried eggs galore

Above

A platter of tacos 
Photo: Omar Mamoon

I’m looking forward to creating new flavors, meeting new people and hugs.”

Above Left

Thai Chile Tahini Braised Chicken, 
Chile Braised Brisket and Barley, 
Huevos Sichuan, Jackfruit Guisado, 
Don Camote, Make It Quesadilla

How are you coping at home?

I’ve been pushing myself to learn new ideas and techniques as well as new flavor profiles. I had a heavy noodle phase learning biang biang noodles and, just a few weeks ago, I finally perfected our flour tortilla.

Exercise and a healthy diet are essential. I usually stretch in the morning and get some calisthenics in. Then I work—it could be administrative or food prep. The exercise definitely helps keep me mentally focused and ready to go.

Above Right

Serving up two
 Brisket Quesadillas
Photo: Open Daily

Above

A little Bean & Cheese Burrito
 with that Calamansi Kosho

Above

Tacos and beer at I Love You
 For All Seasons market

Above

Vegan Mapo Tofu over rice

What has inspired you recently?

The flour tortillas I made. The focaccia I made—made in the same way as Samin Nosrat described in Liguria with a ‘salt brine.’

Fermentation. I’ve been lacto-fermenting a bunch of things: plums, tomatoes, purslane, preserving calamansi and making my own kombucha. Fermentation is really a rabbit hole to Flavortown.

Being a heavy fan of Yuzu Kosho, making this Calamansi Kosho was definitely a big surprise—so many bright citrus notes with spice! I lacto-fermented purslane with ginger, sichuan peppercorn and star anise—that was amazzzzing.