Commentary: How a fast food taco showed us who Steve Hilton really is

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Out in the high desert city of Barstow stand three Del Tacos that bill themselves as better than their corporate cousins.They’re the last ones owned and operated by Ed Hackbarth, the founder of the Mexican fast food chain.Two of them feature the word “Original” under their marquees, even though that’s historically inaccurate — Hackbarth opened the first Del Taco in the nearby town of Yermo in 1964.That hasn’t stopped thousands of devotees — myself included — from trekking to these Cal-Mex shrines to buy memorabilia, gawk at historical photos and gorge on hard shell tacos, burritos and bun tacos that they insist are tastier than the ones at regular Del Tacos.Among those visitors was Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton.

Politics Steve Hilton’s sudden rise in California politics comes a decade and a half after he pitched the U.K.Conservative Party with a very different idea: Britain could learn a lot from the Golden State.He stopped by the Original Del Taco off 1st Avenue on Saturday after a town hall with lieutenant governor candidate and Barstow native Gloria Romero.

His campaign posted a short video on social media of him standing outside the spot — the oldest operating Del Taco — while holding something that looked like a melted Frisbee.It was what the place calls a Barstow Taco: ground beef, a few strips of lettuce, a blizzard of bright yellow cheese and a thick red tomato slice on top, all inside a hard taco shell.Hilton gleefully wielded the crunchy mass with one hand as he pointed to the Original Del Taco sign with the other.“My Barstow street taco, I’m going to enjoy,” he concluded in an accent from his native England, while giving a thumbs-up.

“See you soon.”He didn’t take a bite.The social media blowback exploded like a digital Montezuma’s revenge.Haters ridiculed Hilton for visiting a Mexican restaurant in what seemed li...