Northern California Favorite Jimboy's Tacos To Be Featured on Food Network Series

September 2, 2015 |

Filming This Friday in Folsom

The Food Network series, Guilty Pleasures, will be arriving in Folsom this Friday morning, at the Jimboy's Tacos to film an episode featuring one of the areas most regarded tacos. Celebrity chef Guy Fieri has revealed the Jimboy’s Tacos Ground Beef Taco to be a “guilty pleasure.”

“Guy Fieri eats at Jimboy’s Tacos frequently, and has been to several of our restaurants in and around Sacramento,” Karen Knudson Freeman, President and CEO of Jimboy’s Tacos said. “He told Food Network to come out and feature our ground beef taco in an episode.”

Food Networks's Guilty Pleasures reveals various Food Network star's favorite, most intimate, guilty-pleasure secrets for the first time ever. We visit the locations and meet the chefs who make these crazy, ooey-gooey, “I can’t-believe-I’m-eating-this” food masterpieces ranging from a 24-layer chocolate cake to a mega-bacon cheeseburger to a filet mignon in fried oysters. Guilty Pleasures shows off dishes whose very name makes you stomach rumble.

A Northern California favorite, Jimboy's Tacos had humble beginnings, debuting in a small trailer on Kings Beach in Tahoe, California in May of 1954. Started by Jim "Jimboy" Knudson, it began with Jim's recipe for his signature taco, packed with the perfect balance of flavors and textures, all encased in his famous crispy, Parmesan dusted stone ground corn tortilla.

Members of the famous Rat Pack reportedly made "Jimboy's

runs" while performing at CalNeva on Lake Tahoe's North Shore.

Traffic began to pick up, fueled in large part by positive word-of-mouth from locals in the area. In the spring of 1958, Joe King, owner of King's Beach and a huge fan of Jimboy's Tacos, built a small building on North Tahoe Boulevard for the sole purpose of giving Jimboy's a more permanent home.

Celebrities performing in the famous CalNeva Lodge in Tahoe, including members of the famous "Rat Pack," Dean Martin, Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford, began hearing about Jimboy's Tacos and making trips to the new storefront. All three stars from "Bonanza," including Lorne Greene, Dan Block and Michael Landon, were sometimes seen at Jimboy's Tacos. They would send someone to order tacos for the crew and stars, when they were filming in the area. Countless other stars of the 60's and 70's began discovering Jimboy's Tacos at the same time.

In 1969, Jim began franchising and the Jimboy's Tacos phenomenon grew from a small trailer on the shores of Kings Beach, into almost 40 locations throughout Northern California, Nevada, and Texas, and more stores opening in Southern California, Washington and India in the coming months.

Jimboy's Tacos has built a large and loyal following of fans because the commitment to using fresh, quality ingredients has never changed. Looking back over the years, Jimboy's Tacos was ahead of its time in going farm-to-table, which is now a trend in many restaurants. From the very beginning, Jimboy's Tacos focused on freshness and quality, using only fresh, premium ingredients, preparing food from scratch daily, and cooking in small batches to ensure freshness.

Friday's episode will be filmed at the Jimboy's located at 708 E. Bidwell, Folsom. Jimboy's has two Elk Grove restaurants.

No airing date for this episode has been announced.