Maybe there's a 12-stepper for people like me. This whole past week, I mean every night, I was eating out for two stories I've been working on. Mostly, my family demurred and I headed out without them to Ybor City, Dunedin, Westshore, International Plaza and elsewhere in the name of dinner.

Yesterday was my birthday. Not a particularly important one, but I drove home thinking, I'm going to celebrate by going by Publix and getting something great to cook at home. Ah, cooking at home for my family, I miss it....Hold that thought--hey, there's a guy waving a surfboard that says "California Tacos" on the side. Oh, that must be the place my buddy James Canter said had real, San Diego-style fish tacos.

So darned if I didn't pull a U-ee and order up a pile of carne asada tacos, chile rellenos, a fat burrito and a chicken tostada. And it was pretty flippin' good. Maybe not that Platonic taco that hovers in my memory--just-griddled corn tortillas cradling earthy flank steak, chopped onion, flecks of cilantro and a big squeeze of lime--but it's definitely in the ballpark. And it's cheap. Dinner for three last night was $15.

Check it out: California Tacos To Go, 1450 Skipper Road (corner of Bearrs), Tampa, (813) 971-TACO.

d