Tacos Alvarado - Canoga Park

In my quest to blog about every taco truck in LA I’ve resorted to pulling over to the side of the road whenever I see one. It doesn’t matter where I am or if I have just finished a pleasant meal with friends or family. If I see a taco truck the voice in my head screams,“all your taco trucks are belong to me!”

So I pulled up to Tacos Alvarado, a dimly lit taco wagon that was parked along a barren stretch of Sherman Way in Canoga Park. The shady clientele didn’t scare me off, nor did the thugs and their horrendous music blaring at extreme decibels from their car while they ate tacos next to the wagon. Nothing was going to deter me this night. By the way, I’m not sure there is anyone who I hold more contempt for than the person who thinks its okay to blast really loud base music from shitty speakers when they’re not even in their car. If you’re going to be rude at least play something good. Some Ludwig Van would have been okay with me. I wasn’t about to say anything to them. Can you imagine? “Hey fellas, turn the shitty music off, I’m trying to eat tacos”. “Certainly sir, I did not mean to disturb you”.


lengua, carne asada, al pastor $1.25 each

Tacos Alvarado has squeeze bottles of salsa, which I prefer over the open-air salsa tubs, but they also have do-it-yourself containers of onions and cilantro, which they place at the pick up window. The container couldn’t be at a worse place and I had to wait until a couple people finished garnishing their plates while my plate sat there waiting for me to pick it up.


lengua with salsa verde


The al pastor was quite poor; the crumbled bits of pork mixed with a gob of pork blubber and burnt crunchy bits made me yearn for the real deal. The carne asada was comparatively better, but suffered from an odd texture of finely chopped beef and clumps of beef that didn’t go under the knife at all. The lengua was funkier than I’m used to, but I’m far from a lengua expert, and most lengua I’ve had has been pretty funky. I probably haven’t experienced enough lengua to know what is good and what is bad. Maybe it’s all been bad or maybe its all been good and I just don’t like lengua. Nevertheless, this lengua had a lot of funk, and not the good Parliament-Funkadelic funk, but the bad I think I’m going to need medical attention if I take another bite funk.

These tacos left me unsatisfied and I contemplated driving around Canoga Park until I found another truck. I probably drove around for 10 minutes when I gave up. I didn’t have my notes with me and it was getting late.

1.5/5

Tacos Alvarado
20700 Sherman Way
tacos $1.25

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La Que Si Llena

If you thought your best chance of finding a great street taco was when the sun goes down , think again my friends. Many of LA's finest taco trucks operate both day and night. There is the two headed monster of La Estrella and El Pique that park side by each in Highland Park. There is the 50 cent taco special at El Capitan, the roasting al pastor spit at The Surfer Taco and lets not forget the senoras of La Golondrina that serve up enchiladas straight from the lonchera.

Now we can add another to the growing list of lunchtime taco truck eats (that's if you eat lunch at 2pm like your humble taco correspondent.)



Taqueria La Que Si Llena parks in front of the Superior Warehouse market at the corner of Cesar E. Chavez Ave. and Rowan Ave serving up solamente tacos,burritos y tortas.

It was about 1:30 in the afternoon when I strolled up to the window of the truck.

"un taco pastor, y un taco carnitas por favor"

"no carnitas hoy "

They were out of carnitas so I got adventurous.

"dame un taco de lengua por favor"

"un de lengua?"

I know she expected me to say asada. I expected me to say asada. But I said lengua. And I said it like I was a seasoned lengua eater.



The tacos came wrapped in thin paper. Two large fresh corn tortillas packed with meat, onions, cilantro and a light salsa de chile arbol.They were the size of small burritos and only $1.25 each.



I opened the lengua first. Thick cuts of beef tongue spilled out on to the plate, a beefy aroma filled my nostrils and after a heavy squirt of lime I dug in. The beefy strips of lengua dominate the subtle salsa and lime and it's a bit overwhelming but also very satisfying.

My taste buds had to adjust to the saucy al pastor and once they did I couldn't get enough. The fresh corn tortillas soaked up the achiote stain from the pork and the salsa and lime provided the perfect balance.



Cesar Chavez Ave is somewhat of a taco paradise . Whether you seek the fiery red salsa roja of King Taco, or the crisp battered fish tacos from El Siete Mares or the authentic dishes from La Parilla you will find it on this avenue where LA and Mexico collide.



Taqueria La Que Si Llena
3600 Cesar E. Chavez Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90063
Tacos $1.25

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