La Playita -Lincoln Heights

La Playita aka El 7 Mares is the destination for mariscos and fish tacos in Lincoln Heights. The fish tacos come with crispy battered pieces of cod,cabbage and a light cream sauce.


fish taco

They also make an admirable taco al pastor with thin strips of achiote stained pork, onions, and salsa roja.


taco al pastor.don't forget the shot of lime


But most importantly La Playita is known for their ceviche, shrimp cocktail and seafood tostadas. Not to mention the signature Caldo 7 Mares. A spicy soup with camarones, pulpo, y pescado.

Much like the El 7 Mares in Silverlake the Lincoln Heights location also has a resteraunt as well as a taco hut that are about 50 yards from each other. I went to the hut.



Inside the hut a pigeon came towards me. I recognized him as a dissident from my days as grand chancellor of tacos el unico.I offered him some tortilla but he was hesitant, perhaps remembering my tyranny. Eventually he started to peck at the tortilla and I used the opportunity to make my escape to the outside tables.

Once outside I noticed they had a drive through. El 7 Mares is covering all the bases with the sit down restaurant, taco hut, and drive through. The drive through is pretty ghetto though. The space to pull up to the window isn't that wide to begin with and on this day there was an extra obstacle because of some boxes of produce that had just been delivered and stacked too close to the entrance.

I watched as a car made several attempts to reverse and go forward to get into the driveway while another car pulling into the parking lot honked repeatedly. Finally getting tired of the honking coming from the other car a middle aged chola who looked like she never saw a fight or a plate of tacos that she didn’t want to tangle with got out of her car. Her hair was teased up with enough aqua net to gass a beehive and her big belly stretched a wife beater tank top over her beltline. She looked dangerous as hell.

“You want some of this puto?” she yelled back at the car who by this time was already frantically trying to reverse out of the parking lot.



La Playita, El 7 Mares is at 2200 N. Broadway
Lincoln Heights 90031.fish and shrimp tacos $2, meat tacos $1

Tacos Kimberly

The daytime taco scene near downtown LA is a competitive one . Many trucks park outside supermarkets and public transportation hubs with a clientele made up of workers from the nearby shops and commuters.

Tacos Kimberly is one such taco truck. Parking in front of the Smart and Final at 1500 West 6th Street they offer the deal of two tacos for $1.50.



I ordered asada and carnitas, popped open a bottle of mexican coke and waited.

But then something dodgy happened. I saw my plate of tacos passed to another girl and watched as she fingered through the carnitas asking if it was chorizo and then handed back the plate to the boy inside the truck. A quick chat between the cook and the boy and I could sense what was about to happen. The girl had been given my tacos and I was about to get them back!

Geez! Sound the health code alarm. But did I refuse the tacos? No! I am a taco reporter and this is part of the story. This taco crime must be documented.

I wanted to interview the señorita about the facts of the case but she didn’t speak much english. She smiled sheepishly and giggled.

“I will not eat the carnitas taco but not because you have touched it but because it doesn’t look right.” I said to her.

“It's no chorizo” she smiled back.

“the carne asada though I will eat just to show that I am not offended that you at one time had possesion over my tacos”

“haha! ok! and sorry sorry...I orden chorizo...y...eso es no chorizo!”

And this was true..the carnitas was pure pork blubber and one bite of the pork fat would have probably killed me.I could see the headlines now: Taco hunter collapses after injesting pork blob.Mysterious Carnivore known as Bandini succumbs to pork fat overdose.


pork blubber

After the proper photo documentation I discarded the pork into the bin and went for the asada. Not bad, but not great. The salsa had some kick to it and hid the beefs shortcomings but overall just average.



I wanted to thank this señorita for saving my life but when I turned around she was gone. Who was this mysterious girl that saved me from this untimely demise? my guardian angel? a gift from the taco Gods?

I walked down 6th st thinking to myself and as a bus roared past and the smog and dust settled I saw her, her big smile gleaming through the bus window. And when she saw me she waved and I waved back.

Goodbye señorita, because of you this taco journey continues.

0/5

Tacos Kimberly 1500 West 6th Street(cross street Union) tacos 2 for $1.50

Happy Turkey Day

Back in the day Thanksgiving was about giving thanks to God for the harvest season. Well it's 2006 and hardly any geeza's plant their own harvest now. So instead people use the holiday as an excuse to eat massive amounts of turkey and pumpkin pie.

But here at the GTH we give thanks to the many taco truck operators in LA that provide the taco culture to our great city.(This will one day be it's own holiday but for now we coop thanksgiving)

and if you have left over turkey? make hardshell turkey tacos!

Fry up some corn tortillas, let the turkey bath in the oil a little and crisp up. Then add some tomatoes, lettuce, cheese and some tapatio! Maybe even some sour cream!

When it comes to hardshell tacos I'm not nearly the taco dictator I am when it comes to the real stuff.Lettuce on a hardshell taco is good!

that doesn't mean you're not still on notice lettuce! I don't want to see you on my street taco!




Happy thanksgiving everyone.

Tacos Los Guichos

Thanks to fellow taco hound Ollie I was informed about a taco wagon off the 110 at slauson ave.“Just east of the 110 fwy” Ollie says.

So I pulled into the parking lot right off the 110 at Slauson to observe people kicking back on their car hoods eating tacos and tortas. There were a few jack asses that had no idea how to comport themselves public wise that were bumping their hideous music but they were outnumbered by upstanding taco citizens.

“Two al pastor spits going on at once, and separate lines just for that.” Ollie says.

Ollie may have had a few too many adult beverages because there was only 1 al pastor spit. Which is all you really need anyway but two would have been something. Maybe they need two on the weekends? for the weekday it was pretty crowded.

“one guy doing traffic control in the parking lot, and 2 armed guards patrolling the parking lot.” says Ollie.

Holy shit man....”freeze pendejo! you can’t park there!” hah!

well no traffic control or armed guards this night but maybe on the weekends.



So I ordered al pastor, asada and chorizo. Everytime I order chorizo I get my hopes up that it will be a solid meaty substance like tacos por favor but I’m most often disapointed with the standard greasy crumbled meat. That’s how I felt about this chorizo..bleh.

The al pastor turned that frown upside down though. Excellent sweet pork with a tasty salsa roja made for a delicious taco. The asada was good as well but not great. Not as great as the al pastor which had me going back for more.

all kidding aside Ollie is as credible as it gets for taco intelligence. Tacos El Korita is one of his finds. And this is a great taco stop right off the 110.

Ollie, you’re two for two.



110 freeway Slauson exit. Nights only. Tacos $1

Tacos El Tapatio

On the taco beat, in the ghetto. It’s midnight and the street lights are out, the lightbulbs along the El Tapatio taco wagon the only refuge from the darkness. There is an eerie feeling in the air. This isn’t taco tuesday after all.

I order asada and al pastor and dress my tacos with onions, cilantro and salsa from containers on a table next to the wagon.



The beef -quite fatty but very soft. The al pastor, excellent, charred at the edges, soft in the middle. The salsa roja a little mild but goes well with the pork. I chomp down a jalapeno for some heat and chase it with an ice cold coke and order another taco al pastor.


And while waiting for that taco I noticed a row of thugs marching towards me and the prospects of some irrational youth violence grew wider the closer they got.

I’d have to talk my way out of this one I thought. I’ll tell them the truth, that I am the taco bandini, a taco explorer, a reporter in fact, an innocent bystander and promoter of taco culture. That I have a great respect for thuggery! An admirer of this confrontation even!”excellent tactics youthful deviants!” I’ll say. “At first I was frightened by these developments but now I am in awe of your tactics and I am more than willing to cooperate.” Why do you think I came here anyway? I expected this thugs,outsmarting you is part of my training to become a taco conquistador."

And thats when he ran, the dude that was behind me. And they chased him, all five of them. They weren’t coming for me afterall. But they didn’t catch him. They were too slow and fat and he was too quick. And when they came back they ordered tacos and burritos and laughed and belched and I thought oh they’ll never catch him.



Tacos El Tapatio- Redondo Ave and Washington Blvd, West Adams. tacos $1