Taco Addiction

What?!

2008-05-14T16:14:00.000-07:00

Check out this article...

Los Angeles in a stew over taco trucks
By Daniel B. WoodWed May 14, 4:00 AM ET

Swarmed around Leo's Taco truck on Eagle Rock Boulevard, about 50 night patrons are stuffing their cheeks with carne asada tacos – and chewing over one of this city's big controversies: taco trucks.
"Why should a taco vendor be able to park in front of someone else's restaurant and steal his customers away with cheaper food?" asks one man, spearing pinto beans on a paper plate with a plastic fork.
"But making them move every hour is a bad idea," says another as he orders a veggie burrito. "How can a truck vendor keep loyal customers if he has to move so often?"
These patrons, like many Angelenos, are as hot as salsa caliente over new rules that go into effect Thursday – what to do with the 14,000 roving restaurateurs who have brought inexpensive entrees, a sense of community, intensifying competition for diners, neighborhood complaints, and a political brouhaha to the street corners of Los Angeles County.
The new county law makes parking a taco truck in one spot for more than an hour punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 or six months in jail, or both. It replaces a longtime but rarely enforced measure that fined trucks $60 if they stayed in one spot longer than 30 minutes. The law affects unincorporated areas of the city – where about 60 percent of the population lives – and includes East Los Angeles, one of the biggest concentrations of Mexican-Americans in the United States.
The five county supervisors passed the new regulations unanimously a month ago, saying the volume of complaints had reached critical mass in recent years.
With less-expensive menu items and lower overhead, the mobile kitchens were forcing established restaurants to close early and suffer losses, according to the East Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce and other business groups.
Bricks-and-mortar restaurants charged that taco trucks were too often parking directly in front of their establishments and siphoning off customers. Growing pressures within the Los Angeles economy – including the soaring prices of gasoline and food and slumping employment – have exacerbated the tension between stationary merchants who have leases to pay, employ many more workers than the mobile vendors – and who dearly need their patrons and parking.
"We have gotten so much negativity from the business community ... [complaining about] how much these trucks take away in business that we felt we had to listen and do something," says Maria Cerdas, a deputy for Supervisor Yvonne Burke. She says more and more trucks have ventured further into residential neighborhoods, where homeowners complain of loud gatherings and music until 2 or 3 a.m.
But the new law is generating a backlash.
Calling themselves the "taco resistance," some 150 of the city's 14,000 licensed vendors have stated they will refuse to comply with the law starting this Thursday. They have hired a lawyer, Philip Greenwald, a veteran of 40 years of representing mobile industrial caterers.
"These trucks pay taxes, they are inspected by the health department, and there is no legitimate reason to be pushing them around," he says. "This is not a matter of unfair competition but restraint of fair trade."
Others worry that one of the city's most distinctive social and cultural features could fall by the wayside.
"Thousands of Angelenos ... have long gathered at the trucks, in many cases since childhood, for quick carnitas burritos or mouthwatering cemitas, ... fired meat and other gut-busting goodness," says a recent editorial in the Los Angeles Times. "Call them what you will: roach coaches, loncheras, snack vans ... but taco trucks are a rich part of our region's heritage."
The Times and a leading political columnist in California, Dan Walters of the Sacramento Bee, have called for the county's supervisors to rescind the law as unfair to those at the lower end of the economic ladder.
On Wednesday, a grass-roots campaign (saveourtacotrucks.org), which has gathered thousands of signatures to petition a change in the law, is sponsoring "Taco Libre" – the chance to enjoy a last mobile entree before the new law takes effect.
"The whole taco truck culture in L.A. fills a void left by traditional restaurants," says Aaron Sonderleiter, whose website trumpets the rallying cry, "Carne asada is not a crime." He says the lower price of truck-vendored food (tacos for a buck, giant burritos for $2.50), longer hours of operation, and the outdoor venues create oases of neighborhood camaraderie, social interaction, and safety that are sorely needed in a city dominated by car travel, gang crime, and little pedestrianism and public transportation.
"This is about more than delicious and inexpensive food," adds his Web partner Chris Rutherford. "It's about people and community and neighborhoods."

Truckin' Tacos in Huntington Park, CA!

2007-06-03T11:55:00.000-07:00

So a couple posts back, I wrote about how I had a "fancy" taco on the Napa Valley Wine Train. Shiz's comment to that was, " Taco's aren't served on trains. They belong in the corner shop in the strip mall, or out of the back of a truck." I agree! So in keeping with that comment, here is a review about tacos from a corner shop (stand) and from the back (okay..."side") of a truck!

I was with a native from the area - "V", and he wanted to try one of the taco stands that was always crowded - because as we all know, crowded = DAMN GOOD! Our first stop was at the Tacos El Pecas truck on Maywood Avenue. There were about 6 or 7 different choices of meat, including the standard carne asada, pastor (marinated pork), chicken, suadero (also beef) or chorizo. They also had a couple I was not in the mood for trying - lengua (beef tongue) and cabeza (cow brains). To keep it simple, we got the asada and the pastor. Both were very good; the meat was super flavorful and the corn tortillas and toppings were just right; and I always love it when they give limes to squeeze on my taco! Then V said "let's go try another place!".

The second one we went to wasn't a truck, but a homemade-type stand on the corner of Soto St. and Rio Vista Avenue. I think they only had a few different kinds of meats - the asada, pastor and (maybe) chicken. To make a fair comparison, we got the asada and pastor again. They had all the toppings out so you could put them on yourself as opposed to the truck. We felt that the meat wasn't as flavorful...and overall, the truck was much better!!

Here are some pictures from our H.P. taco adventure. Yummy!

Tacos El Pecas...

Stand on Soto / Rio Vista...

Tacos in the City of Brotherly Love

2007-02-15T15:51:00.000-08:00

Yes, I have a business expense account now, and when in Philadelphia, with an expense account, you must eat tacos.

There are few places near the office. The best one I've found so far is El Vez.

The Grilled Beef Tacos (with beans, salsa and onions) were so so good.

The Chipotle Chicken Tacos (with avocado and queso fresco) were so so so good.

We also ordered the fresh guacamole for a starter. Damn good. It went well with the Blood Orange Margarita.

Tacos El Pastor @ Anna's in Somerville.

2007-02-10T22:25:00.000-08:00

You call that a taco?!

2007-01-23T23:06:00.000-08:00

Awhile back (August 2006 to be exact), my cousin and I took a ride on the wine train in Napa Valley. She had some gift certificates that needed to be used and since her husband didn't want to go, we went together. The winery that was featured was Robert Pecota Wineries. We were served a four-course lunch, each course paired with a wine from that winery. One of the entrees served was a mahi-mahi taco. It wasn't very good - the tortilla was too soggy to pick up and the fish was so-so, but as you can see we had some fun with the edible little crab that came on top of it (it tasted like a potato chip too)!!

Note: I don't recommend the wine train; it's SUPER expensive, the food wasn't all that great and you can't even get off the train for about 3 hours!

Just eat it.

2006-12-29T00:02:00.000-08:00

WOW.
Check out where Weird Al Yankovic goes to eat, the day after Christmas...
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Rem Koolhaas loves tacos. (I totally made that up.)

2006-08-16T16:11:00.000-07:00

Chipotle
While I love tacos, I love guacamole more. I am completely snob-tastic about it. It has to be perfect, PERFECT. Usually this isn't found in a chain restaurant, however, I will just say it, Chipotle has the best damn guac, period.

First, let's go back. Despite being owned by McDonald's (no longer, as of April) Chipotle is like a gourmet indie Mexican restaurant. Not authentic, but very...extreme..? Extreme in the architecture of the interiors and extreme in the stupid 'in yo face' sayings on their products. The only thing that made me laugh out loud was this. Ok, that was funny. Everything else? Shut up.

When you walk in the store, you are assaulted by FAUX deconstructivist architecture. Here's some chain link with your burrito, take that, yeah! Except...not. Look closely and you will see that half that crap is there just to make it look like it was an afterthought. Why else would you gyp board off a supposedly 'exposed' structure? Nevermind. This is not a blog about architecture, or bad architecture. It's about tacos, dammit.

And well, the tacos here - ain't all that. Stick to the burritos. They are HUGE and pretty darn healthy too, I mean as far as fillings go. As far as portions go, forget it. I stand by my belief that you should not eat anything larger than your head. And I have a big head. Still, the burritos (I prefer vegetarian) are delicious and they also sell them without the tortilla, which of course is my fave part so why would I do that? This is why I am fat. I'd say if you were a meat lover, go for the Barbacoa. Spicy meat in a tortilla will make your tummy very happy.

Back to the guac. I could (and do) just eat chips and salsa/guac for lunch. And at less than $2, I'd eat it everyday. The chips here are pretty average, however, I think they sprinkle salt and lime on them pretty liberally because dammit if they aren't the best tasting average chips ever. The other thing about Chipotle? ALCOHOL. They sell beer for all you drunk bastards. Which I am told goes good with Mexican food, I wouldn't know.

All in all, I do find myself craving this place. It's nice, not too fussy food that tastes mighty good. And the prices aren't bad either. Just...ignore the architecture.
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Not a taco, but still pretty good

2006-08-14T13:39:00.000-07:00

Cozumel, on Elmwood Avenue in the Allentown district of Buffalo, New York gets 7 out of 10 forks from me.

This chicken quesadilla was a nice size and had lots of tasty chicken but could have used a bit more cheese...as in 'quesa' dilla.....

Anyway, I ordered some rice on the side and me and the rubber duckie had a fine old time.

Where have all the tacos gone?

2006-08-04T21:28:00.000-07:00

Mike and Maria of Franklin Ave. finally made it to Tito's. Seeing as how they have never been there (SAY WHAT?), they didn't realize that it is TACOS, and TACOS ONLY. LOOK AWAY FROM THE REST OF THE MENU. PLEASE!

Also, I have long believed that Tito's has some damn fine sugary soda in that joint. I don't know what it is, but I could drink that stuff all day.

M&M's review, here.
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shrimp-tastic

2006-03-24T07:02:00.000-08:00

Crispy shrimp tacos at Rubio's.

My oh my these are good. But don't let the pictures fool you - the shrimp are...shrimp-y. As in barely there. The picture makes them out to be 'jumbo shrimp'-like but they are more like an inch big, if that. Still, highly addictive.

Old El Paso Gordita Kit

2005-12-19T15:48:00.000-08:00

My sissy is home from Japan for Christmas break and she is sick of noodles. We spied this in Target today. It was only $2.99 and it was damn tasty.

We made them with chicken instead of beef and used spinach instead of lettuce because my lettuce was about a week old and kind of slimey.

That's Will, Peter and sissy enjoying dinner. Will had pizza; he was the only one who did not enjoy the Gorditas.

Proper

2005-11-15T13:28:00.000-08:00

What in the hell. How lazy are you?

Taco Salad

2005-10-05T20:26:00.000-07:00

Old MacDonald had a taco. EIEIO

2005-09-24T22:19:00.000-07:00

When I saw this sign at the L.A. County Fair, I envisioned acres of tacos growing in bunches and being harvested by tractors.

Turns out none of that was true.

Liars.
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I'm still standing

2005-09-15T09:25:00.000-07:00

Lunch at Tito's. This time the line is SHORT. Usually it's double the amount of people...

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Tacos For Breakfast!

2005-09-11T12:52:00.000-07:00

Well, kind of. I had the Giant Tortilla Bowl of Stuff And Eggs this morning for brunch. Mmm, so very tasty, so very bad for me. We've got black beans, sour cream, guacamole, this excellent gringa salsa, and a pair of over-easy eggs all in a tasty shell. I won't be eating for the rest of the day!

U.S. Leads World In Mexican-Food Availability

2005-09-07T14:33:00.000-07:00

UNITED NATIONS– According to a U.N. report released Monday, for the 16th straight year, the U.S. ranks first in the world in Mexican-food availability. "The U.S. boasts an unrivaled abundance of Mexican food, producing 23 billion pounds of tacos, enchiladas, and burritos in 1999," the report read. "No other nation on Earth can claim such plenty with regard to beans-and-rice-based Mexican fare." Japan ranked second, with the top five rounded out by Canada, Mexico, and the United Kingdom.

Courtesy of The Onion.

Gummi Tacos

2005-09-06T10:51:00.000-07:00

I spied these at a nearby ghetto gas station the other day. Alas, I could not bring myself to try them.

You can order your very own box here, if you like.

Los Tacos Trucks

2005-08-26T19:49:00.000-07:00

Good friend bRuiner sent me this link. It uses google map technology to mark where the taco trucks in Seattle are located. This would be good for L.A., however it is rare that you would ever catch me eating off a truck.

I am not hip to technology, but this seems very stalker-esque. More than anything, I quite enjoy the fact that whoever made this site went to the trouble of finding a "VATO"-style font to title it "LOS TACOS TRUCKS." I am totally down with that.
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Tacos in Japan...a guest blog entry from RandomJen's sissy

2005-08-10T17:15:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Okinawa! Here, they put rice in tacos.... strangely appetizing! The tacos stand I ate at also had one with tuna - which was totally gross and I gave that one to my friend.

Also, A new store opened up in Okinawa called TACOSOBA. A new thing in Okinawa is using soba noodles (like spaghetti) instead of taco shells. I actually enjoyed my meal, but perhaps it is because I've been in Japan too long...

- Meredith

It's 2pm and I'm still kind of drunk from last night.....what should I eat?

2005-08-06T11:43:00.000-07:00

Mighty Taco?

Okay!

salsa addiction

2005-07-31T01:00:00.000-07:00

I called O.G. today, cause I thought she was dead. I called her 5 times yesterday, and no answer. What would you think?

Turns out she went to Tito's and hung out with friends. She said she brought home extra salsa and...drank it for breakfast. You heard me. I'm not going to repeat it.
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Drive by

2005-07-21T23:10:00.000-07:00

What would you do for a Tito's Taco? Sit on a freeway for 1-1/2 hours? You must be mad!
I am.

Jenn: "Goddam this traffic!!"
O.G.: "Well, just drop me off at home as quick as you can."
Jenn: "Yeah. I won't even stop the car. Just roll on out."
O.G.: "At least throw my taco out on the lawn. Oh and my soda pop."
Jenn: "Will do."
O.G.: "Try to slow the car down to 3mph."
Jenn: "No guarantees, old lady."

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I had tacos for lunch.

2005-07-11T11:51:00.000-07:00

They were very good.

Tacos = Heaven

2005-07-02T00:01:00.000-07:00

Today I took my grandma to the cemetary so she could "scope out" where she will be spending her afterlife. Yeesh. Want to know the full details? Go HERE. Otherwise, here's a lovely conversation we had. Yes, it IS taco related. Be patient.

O.G.: "I wish I was going to be buried at Evergreen in Boyle Heights, instead." *sigh*
Jenn: "You're just saying that cause you'd be closer to El Tepeyac."
O.G.: "OF COURSE! That is the BEST Mexican food in L.A.!!"
Jenn: "Well, when I come visit you, I'll bring you some tacos."
O.G.: "Oh, great!"
Jenn: "Well, don't get so excited. It's not happening right now. I don't think you'll be dead for at least 20 years."
O.G.: "I wish."
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