Tacos LA x Jarritos: A Celebration of Mexican Food, Culture & One Seriously Big Appetite

Thursday, September 10 | Tacos LA, Mordialloc | From 4pm

There are some combinations that just make sense.

Tacos and salsa. Lime and chilli. A busy taqueria and the smell of tortillas hitting the grill.

And, of course, tacos and an ice-cold Jarritos.

On Thursday, September 10, Tacos LA and Jarritos are joining forces in Mordialloc for a special night celebrating Mexican food, Mexican culture and the growing taco community right here in Melbourne.

We’ll be serving a special menu of tacos and tamales, there’ll be giveaways throughout the night, plenty of Jarritos - and we’re bringing in one very hungry special guest.

J Webby Can Eat will be joining us as a Jarritos ambassador and taking on a special Tacos LA eating challenge.

And if you know Webby, you know this probably isn’t going to be a normal-sized meal.

J Webby Can Eat Comes to Tacos LA

James Webb - better known as J Webby Can Eat - has become one of the biggest names in competitive eating to come out of Australia.

He is currently ranked #1 by Competitive Eating Australia, while Major League Eating lists an extraordinary collection of competitive-eating records to his name.

Webby has competed against the biggest eaters in the world, including Joey Chestnut, and has won major international competitions and broken records in everything from chicken wings to donuts. His journey into the sport has even become the subject of the feature documentary James Can Eat.

So naturally, when Jarritos suggested bringing Webby down to Tacos LA, we had one question:

How many tacos can this bloke actually eat?

We’re going to find out.

Jarritos: More Than Just a Mexican Soft Drink

For us, the partnership with Jarritos means a lot because Jarritos has been part of Mexican food culture for generations.

The story goes all the way back to 1950, when Don Francisco “El Güero” Hill founded Jarritos in Mexico. The name means “little jugs”, referring to the traditional clay jugs once used for drinks such as aguas frescas.

By 1960, Jarritos was already being bottled and sold across 80% of Mexican states. Today, the drinks are still produced in Mexico, made with cane sugar and exported around the world - including here in Australia.

There’s Tamarind. Mandarin. Lime. Guava. Mango. Pineapple. Mexican Cola.

But what makes Jarritos particularly special to us isn't simply the flavours.

It’s where you drink it.

Tacos and Jarritos Just Belong Together

Walk into a traditional taqueria in Mexico or many of the great Mexican neighbourhoods of Los Angeles and you quickly realise something.

The experience isn't necessarily built around alcohol.

It’s about the food.

You order tacos. You grab a cold Mexican soft drink. You squeeze some lime over your plate, find the salsa you like and get into it.

In fact, many of the taquerias that inspire us aren't places where you sit down with a beer or cocktail menu. You eat tacos and you drink Jarritos.

That colourful glass bottle sitting next to a plate of tacos has become such a recognisable pairing that Jarritos itself describes the brand as “The Official Drink of Tacos.”

And that's something we love.

Because Tacos LA was born from that same style of taco culture.

From Los Angeles Taco Culture to Melbourne

Los Angeles has one of the great taco cultures outside Mexico.

For decades, Mexican-American families, street vendors, taco trucks and neighbourhood taquerias have helped shape the way LA eats.

That lineage matters to us.

Tacos LA founder Angel grew up in El Rio, Los Angeles, in a Mexican family with roots in Michoacán. The food we're building in Melbourne draws heavily from those memories - the flavours, the neighbourhood taquerias, the simplicity and the feeling of eating Mexican food without trying to turn it into something it isn't.

And increasingly, we're seeing some of those same cultural markers become familiar here in Australia.

One of them is Jarritos.

A few years ago, seeing a bottle of Jarritos in Melbourne felt like discovering something distinctly Mexican.

Today, you'll find those colourful bottles appearing in taquerias, Mexican restaurants and stores around Australia.

For Australian diners discovering more traditional styles of Mexican food, Jarritos has become almost synonymous with the modern taqueria experience.

And we love seeing it happen.

Celebrating Mexican Food in Australia

That's really what September 10 is about.

Yes, we're going to watch one of Australia's greatest competitive eaters attempt something ridiculous.

Yes, there will be giveaways.

And yes, there will be plenty of Jarritos.

But more than anything, this is a night for us to celebrate Mexican food and culture in Australia.

We're incredibly proud that Tacos LA is partnering with Jarritos and bringing this event to Melbourne.

Jarritos talks about exporting more than a product - about sharing Mexican culture with the world, one bottle at a time. That's an idea that resonates strongly with what we're trying to build at Tacos LA.

Food carries stories.

A tamal carries a story.

A taco definitely carries a story.

And somehow, that brightly coloured bottle sitting beside them has become part of the story too.

Tacos LA x Jarritos - Thursday, September 10

Come down to Tacos LA in Mordialloc from 4pm for a special celebration featuring tacos and tamales, a special event menu, giveaways, plenty of Jarritos, and J Webby Can Eat taking on the Tacos LA x Jarritos eating challenge.

Bring your mates. Bring the family.

And come hungry.

Tacos LA x JarritosThursday, September 10From 4pm 'til lateTacos LA - Mordialloc, Melbourne

Tacos. Tamales. Jarritos. Mexican food in Melbourne.

Nos vemos, raza.

Looking for more stories from Tacos LA? Read more Tacos LA stories on our blog.