Gringo Taco Showdown - Rick's Drive In vs Alberto's

As far as gringo tacos go it’s hard to beat Rick’s in Pasadena. Only, now it’s called Bobby’s Place. But the food is the same: the spuderito, the beef and bean with hot, and of course the crunchy ground beef tacos, are all still ridiculously delicious. This hybrid taco-burger stand is legendary.




The taco comes with ground beef, lettuce, tomato slice, cheese, and hot sauce. The shell is pre-fabricated and has a good crunch to it. I’m not sure what the secret is with these tacos but they are some of my favorite gringos.



About a mile east of Bobby’s, across from Pasadena City College, is an Alberto’s Mexican Restaurant. Alberto’s is a chain that is mostly in the San Gabriel Valley but I’ve seen them all over the place. I’ve only ever ordered a bean and cheese burrito at Alberto’s and depending on how generous they are with the cheese they can range from being great to just barely edible.



The beef taco at Alberto’s was just okay. For gringo tacos I prefer pre-fabricated shells and ground beef. Alberto’s has a sturdier taco shell and they use shredded beef. The beef is fried together with the shell so there is a lot of oil that gets trapped inside the taco. There was plenty of cheese but the taco was so oily and greasy that it was hard to find much flavor.

The gringo taco at Rick’s wins this challenge hands down. The taco from Alberto’s did nothing for me. For those that have yet to try Rick’s I suggest you head out to Pasadena. When you get there order couple of beef tacos, a beef and bean spudderito w/ hot, and a large root beer. You’ll thank me later.

Tulia's Tacos - Covina

I pulled off the 210 freeway to look for a gas station and there she was; a taco wagon hitched to a truck, and she was calling my name. Not literally calling me over, but beckoning me, like a lighthouse, as if I was adrift out at sea and lost, and looking for some kind of sign. The sign I was looking for read “tortillas hecha a mano” and it was game on.



I ordered al pastor and carne asada. The al pastor was close to ground pork but the flavor was good. The carne asada was the better of the two. There were no fatty bits and the meat was seasoned well. These would have been just okay tacos if not for the fresh homemade tortilla and the excellent salsa. I love a salsa with good heat to it and this one didn’t disappoint.


tacos $1.25 each

The plate was loaded up with a bunch of good stuff: radishes, grilled seasoned onions, and a grilled jalapeno. I love when taco trucks load your plate up with good stuff. I never used to be a radish or cucumber guy. My plate would come with radishes and cucumbers and I would just fire them off into the closest bin. But now I love all that stuff. Give me a fat blistering jalapeno and then a cool cucumber to finish it off. Give me an ice-cold jarritos, a plate of tacos, and the sun in my face. Or the rain in my face for all I care. Just as long as my plate of tacos comes piled up with the good stuff.

3/5

Tacos Tulia
100 E Arrow Highway
Covina
Tacos $1.25 each

Tacos El Chavito - Huntington Beach

It’s hard to beat four tacos for two bucks. But sometimes you get what you pay for. And on this day, the tacos were of poor quality.

Tacos El Chavito has a certain kind of legendary stature in Huntington Beach. This is partly due to the fact you get two tacos for $1. But get this; they also give away free pineapple juice. Two bucks gets you a plate of tacos and something to wash it down with. That’s pretty incredible. I feel kind of cheeky for complaining about my tacos.




cheap tacos but the meat was too fatty on this day

I ordered al pastor and carne asada. Both meats were fatty, the asada particularly so. The salsa was of medium heat with good flavor. The tortillas could have used a little more grill time. I washed the tacos down with a coke instead of pineapple juice. Sometimes I like a coke with my tacos.

The guy in line before me ordered ten tacos “para aqui” and the woman inside the truck gave him a curious look and said “ para aqui or llevar?” He repeated “para aqui” and I thought – oh no, i’m never going to get my tacos now because of this gordo. But it turns out they weren’t all for him. His family was waiting for him, and one by one he brought over plates of tacos and cups of pineapple juice.

2.5/5

Tacos El Chavito
Morgan St
Between Slater Ave and Speer Ave
Huntington Beach, CA 92647

Tacos Puebla - East LA

Tacos Puebla may serve the best tacos arabes in Los Angeles. I say they may, because I haven’t had many tacos arabe, and these are the best tacos arabe I’ve had.



The tacos arabes come with beef instead of pork. The beef is tender and mixed with onions and a spicy chile salsa. When you order they will ask if you want it spicy. The tacos are $3 each but well worth it. The tortillas are freshly made and the tacos have excellent flavor.


Tacos Puebla's tacos arabe are like mini burros



Tacos Puebla parks not far from where Mariscos Jaliscos parks during the day. This stretch of E. Olympic Blvd is sometimes referred to as the taco mecca. During the day you’re more likely to find mariscos and cemita trucks. At night the taco tables come out with rotating al pastor spits. If you’re looking for a night of taco exploring you can’t go wrong with this stretch of Olympic.

3.5/5

Tacos Puebla
2900 East Olympic Blvd
East Los Angeles

Tacos El Gallito - Westwood

A few years ago if someone said that they ate some good tacos from a taco truck in West LA you would probably want to punch them in the face. Or at least call them a newb for not knowing what a good taco is. But its 2012 and I’m here to announce that the era of bad tacos on the streets of West LA is over. Well, you’ll still find bad tacos from taco trucks in West LA, just not at the corner of Santa Monica Blvd and Westwood. At this corner you’ll find good tacos.


carne asada $1.50 each

I’m not sure what’s been going on with El Gallito but I like it. The carne asada they’ve been slinging at this truck and some of their other trucks has been top notch. Back in October I gave a mixed review for the El Gallito truck that parks day and night at the corner of La Brea and Venice (bad during the day , good at night). That truck busts out the charcoal grill at night and has developed a bit of a following despite parking across the street from the legendary Tacos Leo.


at night the counter is stocked with salsas and all the fixins


el gallito carne asada...I think ur freaky and I like you a lot.

For what its worth I’ve also found the carne asada to be slightly better at the Westwood location at night, though they're still pretty good during the day. I’m not sure why this is but I’ve been eating from the El Gallito truck for a few weeks now and it seems to be the case. The al pastor and carnitas are okay but are lesser tacos when compared to the carne asada which is just a ridiculously addictive taco. For optimum flavor drizzle some of their salsa verde over your tacos and have a freshly grilled jalapeno ready to chomp on.

4/5

El Gallito
Westwood Blvd and Santa Monica Blvd
Tacos $1.50

Gringo Taco Showdown- Tacos Por Favor vs Taco Plus

tacos por favor hard shell taco $3.35


For the second installment of the Gringo Taco Showdown I decided to pit two Westside taco establishments against each other. Tacos Por Favor is pretty well known to anyone who eats tacos and lives on the Westside. Their chorizo and cheese taco with the spicy salsa roja never disappoints. The carne asada is above average as well. It’s the Westside so you’re going to pay more. Soft tacos are over $2 each and the hard shell taco I had was around $3.60 with tax. But generally everything at Tacos Por Favor is pretty good.

Taco Plus however might be the blandest taqueria in all of LA. Now and then someone will tell me I need to try the tacos at Taco Plus. I can only gather that these people have never been east of La Brea if they think these are good tacos. Not to mention they are also around $2.25 a taco.

The Tacos Por Favor hard shell taco came with carne asada which was suprising. I don’t think I’ve ever had a carne asada hard shell taco. It also came with pico de gallo, sour cream, and guacamole. The asada was fresh and seasoned well and the shell was nice and crispy. I’m not sure this taco falls into the gringo taco category. It’s not what I generally look for when I get that gringo taco urge and I probably wouldn’t order it again. But it was good for what it was.





I was looking forward to the Taco Plus gringo taco. They even call it a gringo taco on their menu. It comes with the three main ingredients associated with the gringo taco: ground beef, lettuce, and grated cheese. However, this may be the worst gringo taco I’ve ever had. The ground beef was cold, unseasoned, and tasted like it had been sitting around all afternoon.



Sometimes for a treat I will cook up some ground beef for my dog. After draining the fat I’ll let it sit and cool for a bit and then spoon some in her dish. The beef has a very bland, beefy, unseasoned taste to it but she loves it. Well, that’s what this beef tasted like. My dog loved this taco but she doesn’t blog, I do.

Winner: Tacos Por Favor

Gringo Taco Showdown- El Taco vs Pepe's

Ever since I ate the horrendous dorito loco taco I have been thinking about the American hard shell taco. It is commonly referred to as the gringo taco and this is as good a name as any I can think of. For many people the gringo taco is what comes to mind when they think of tacos.

I was also thinking about how once I had graduated to “real tacos” I began to disassociate myself from the gringo taco. I think this happens to all taco eaters. At some point we reject the gringo taco as something inauthentic, too white, and just a bastardized version of a real taco. This rejection of the gringo taco is similar to how the American teenager pretends not to know their parents during their formative teenage years. Then they reach a certain age when it is ok to admit to their peers that they have parents. Similarly, the taco eater eventually comes around and admits to his peers that he eats gringo tacos.

My ideal gringo taco comes with a prefabricated taco shell, ground beef, lettuce, cheese and hot sauce. Tomato is cool too but not a deal breaker. Shredded beef will do too. The gringo taco just must have some kind of beef. My favorite gringo taco remains the 1980’s Taco Bell taco; may it rest in peace.

So for every tuesday for as long as I feel like eating gringo tacos I will put two gringo tacos against each other and then determine which taco I enjoyed more. This week’s taco showdown starts in the city of Downey where I munched on gringos from both El Taco and Pepe’s.







I was really looking forward to El Taco after reading a little about its history. Apparently Glen Bell modeled the original Taco Bell taco after the tacos at El Taco. So as I was getting closer to Downey I felt a little tingle go up my leg. Was I once again going to taste that magical taco of the 80’s? It was too much to bare really. And I should have known I was setting myself up for disappointment because after that first crunchy bite I quickly realized I was eating a very poor taco with overly seasoned ground beef that did not taste good. I started to wonder if I had heard correctly about this El Taco – Taco Bell connection and then I started to wonder if the 1980’s Taco Bell taco was really that good to begin with. Had I just tricked myself all these years into thinking it was better than it ever was? Had time deceived me or had El Taco met the same tragic fate as Taco Bell?






With the bad taste of El Taco in my mouth I drove about five minutes until I came to Pepe’s. Someone once mentioned that this Pepe’s makes a good bean and cheese burrito so I ordered one with my taco. The bean and cheese burrito was good but it was too big and I became demoralized as I got half way through it and the beans began to gush out of the bottom on to the plastic tray. If it was the best bean and cheese burrito in the world then I would have implemented an all hands on deck approach to save the burrito. This would have included using tortilla chips to stabilize the leak or in an extreme case saving the burrito by allowing some of the beans to gush out and then grafting the wrapper to the bottom of the burrito, attaching napkins to my palm, and then eating it with the base of the burrito sitting firmly cupped on my palm. It is a ridiculous way to eat a burrito and should really only be implemented with really good burritos.

The taco was big as well and it really required a fork to eat . The beef was shredded and had okay flavor. The cheese spilled out all over the wrapper and there was a lot of lettuce.It was not a fun taco to eat and eating tacos should be fun. I ate about half of it.

Well there you have it my friends. This was the first gringo taco showdown and there should be many more to come. I wouldn’t order either of these tacos again so there is no winner this week.

2011 Taco of the Year - Tacos Leo's Al Pastor

Tacos Leo busted on to the LA taco scene in 2010 slinging ridiculously good tacos al pastor. With perfectly seasoned pork that was shaved from the rotating spit then topped with a snippet of pineapple from a skilled taquero, Tacos Leo mesmerized the LA taco eating public. The euphoria however was short lived, as the city, jealous of the attention Tacos Leo was getting, decided to shut down the trompo.

But Tacos Leo is a survivor and quickly adapted by only serving al pastor outside of the truck on the weekends when the city could care less about their taco ordinances. Soon, harmony between the city and the populace was restored. Now even the police man eats at Tacos Leo.

Tacos Leo's al pastor! your 2011 taco of the year!

Danny's Tacos - Downtown LA

It’s a strange thing keeping a blog. Because even though you can see how many people visit your blog, you never really know how many people actually read your blog, or if anyone actually reads it at all. How many read the whole article? How many just look at the photos? How many typed in something dirty before taco and ended up here? Today I checked my blog stats and so far this month I’ve had 975 hits from Ukraine. I know, Ukraine is weak; it’s a sitting duck.

I walked from my office to the corner of Olympic and Grand. That’s where Danny’s taco truck has parked for years now. And yet I’ve strangely never been. Why is this? Give me some vague coordinates of a taco truck in East LA and I’m on it. But tell me about a taco truck I work five minutes from and you’ll have to twist my arm for months.


tacos $1.25 each

So I finally went. I ordered three tacos: chorizo, carnitas, and carne asada. The tortillas were homemade which was good. The salsa roja had some heat to it as well. But they weren’t great tacos. The meat was average. The chorizo was your typical sad state of affairs, greasy and pointless. The carnitas was dry and the carne asada bland. The orange soda really hit the spot though.

While walking back to my office I got a text from a friend asking if I had plans for the night. I said I didn't and he replied back asking if I wanted to look for an outlaw taco cart that sets up outside a church somewhere in City Terrace in East LA. Of course I said yes.

2.5/5

1000 S Grand Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90015
Neighborhood: Downtown

Paloma Selestial - Pico & Sepulveda, West LA

Sometimes all you need is a couple of tacos, a grilled jalapeno, a bottle of Mexican coke, and the sun in your face.

They don’t even have to be great tacos. They just have to be good enough not put you in a bad mood for the rest of the day.



And if they are good enough you may wave to the man inside the truck as you leave. If they are real good you may lay a buck on the counter.


tacos carne asada $1.25 each

You know that you’ll never find a great taco truck on the Westside. Whether it’s just the lack of competition or some unwritten law in the taco cosmos that says for great street tacos one must head east. So you get over it.

3/5

Cemitas Poblanas Paloma Selestial
Pico and Sepulveda
West LA 90064
tacos $1.25

taco wire - Rambo's Tacos, 10 Great Tacos in OC

Taco Tuesday: Norma's Barbacoa de Res - [The LA Beat]

Los Angeles: Rambo's Tacos Puts Up a Fight in Eagle Rock - [Serious Eats]

Cochinita Pibil Taco Fight: La Cabanita vs Chichen Itza [Squid Ink]

Tacos y Carnitas Sahuayo: Follow Your Nose [OC Weekly]

10 Great Tacos in Orange County [OC Weekly]

Tacos Los 3 Potrillos - City Terrace

It’s late at night in East LA where it seems you can find taco trucks on every street corner. This is City Terrace, the gateway to the real east los. I think this is where Hector from Morrissey’s “First of the Gang to Die” stayed. Maybe not, but I’m sure the home for the blind is somewhere around here.



I ordered chorizo, asada, and al pastor. The tacos came topped with cilantro, minced onion, and medium spiced salsa roja. My favorite was the chorizo; it had real bits of sausage unlike most places. The al pastor was surprisingly good considering no trompo. The asada was solid with no fatty bits to ruin the day. They don’t re-invent the taco here but these are classic LA tacos. They come on the plate hot and greasy with a salsa with some nice pop. For extra heat you can ask for a jalapeno.

3/5

Tacos Los 3 Potrillos
2800 Wabash Ave (@ N Forest)
90063, East LA

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Tacos Monchis - Arleta

When I look at the map of the taco trucks I have covered so far on this blog the San Fernando Valley seems to be neglected. Yeah the Eastside is where a lot of the action is but for me the SFV is totally unexplored territory. There’s no dominant player in the SFV like there is on the Eastside, which makes it all the more interesting. So I paid the SFV a visit.

It was late at night and I had been driving around for a while. My iPod was turned to Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake and I drifted through the streets as gracefully as one does behind the wheel of a couple tons of rubber and steel. The streets were dark and I felt like I was completely lost, both physically and in the music. I thought about the old days when I barely knew any part of the city and would just drive around until I saw the flashing lights of a taco truck. And then out beyond the traffic light I saw a flashing taco sign mounted to the roof of a wagon. I had no choice but to acquiesce.

There were a couple of other gents waiting for their tacos. They were surprised to see me. Everyone is always surprised to see me. Not that they knew I was a taco reporter, although it’s possible they did, because of the photo taking and all, but I think they were more surprised to see the guero who looks like he took a wrong turn somewhere off Sepulveda.


chorizo, al pastor, carne asada $1.25 each

I ordered chorizo, carne asada, and al pastor. My tacos came topped with a bean tostada, which is customary with SFV taco trucks. I ate the bean tostada before snapping the photo then noticed that some of the beans had escaped. Their defiance only bought them a few seconds more of freedom as I devoured all but one of them with my first taco. The remaining bean I flicked off into the night as a warning to any future beans that have thoughts of mutiny.

The thinly sliced cucumbers were a nice touch. As for the tacos they were above average. The tortillas were nicely oiled; the asada had good flavor and was missing those fatty bits that so often can ruin a taco. The chorizo actually had a sausage-like texture. I think I enjoyed this taco the most. As for the al pastor it was edible but far too oniony. The salsa, a mix of guajillo chile and chile arbol was spicy enough but some variety of different salsas would have been preferred.

I drove around a little more but the night was growing old on me. I felt like a cold beer more than I did another taco. And I wasn’t having any luck anyway. So I got back on the 5 freeway and headed home.

3/5

Tacos Monchis
Nordhoff St (2 blocks east of Woodman)
Arleta, Los Angeles 91331

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Tacos El Gallito- La Brea and Venice

Tacos El Gallito parks at the corner of La Brea and Venice day and night. The first time I went it was daytime. I ordered three tacos and a grape soda. Then I took a few bites of my tacos and wondered what had happened to Tacos El Gallito. The tacos were terrible. The meats were dry and flavorless; the tortillas were wilted; the salsas were bland.



I put off blogging about the experience. Weeks passed by and I heard that El Gallito had started cooking carne asada on a charcoal grill at night outside their truck. I figured they deserved a second chance so I went back.




When I arrived they had just pulled the carne asada off the charcoal grill. The meat goes from the grill into a tin container then is taken inside the truck where it is chopped up. It’s a difficult setup but it’s understandable given recent city crackdowns.



There was a good size crowd. It wasn’t Taco Leo, which from across the street looked like a small taco riot but there was a steady flow of patrons. That’s a must when taco trucking at night; all the good trucks have a crowd.

It took awhile to get my carne asada tacos. Ideally you would want that carne chopped up right after coming off the grill then scooped up into corn tortillas then garnished. But these were pretty good anyways and had a nice charcoal taste. The meat was much better than it was during the day; so were the salsas. The salsa bar was stocked with four different salsas: roja, verde, avocado, pico de gallo as well as all the fixins: radishes, onions,cilantro,and limes.

El Gallito has been moving westward the last couple years with outposts at La Cienega and Venice, another at La Cienega and Sawyer and recently at Westwood and Santa Monica Blvd. Eventually I’ll get to them all.

3/5 for the carne asada

Tacos El Gallito
La Brea and Venice Blvd
12pm until late night
tacos $1.25

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taco wire- National Taco Day, Top 5 Gringo Tacos

plate of tacos from El Chato


Taco Truck Time in LA(El Chato) [epicurious]

Olé, Olé! It's National Taco Day! [LAist]

National Taco Day: Top 5 Gringo Tacos [Squid Ink]

Ricky's Fish Taco Nirvana [Dig Lounge Los Angeles]

Los Angeles Tacos: Birria for the Hollywood Masses at Cactus Taqueria [Serious Eats]

Midnight Snack: Cactus Taco with Ron Babcock [KCET]

El Antojo - County USC

I was meeting someone but took a wrong turn when I saw El Antojo. I was early and hungry and I remembered someone emailing me about a taco truck that parks near County USC. It was too good to pass up.






I ordered carne asada, adobada, and chorizo. My tacos came garnished with onions, cilantro and a splash of salsa roja. The grilled serrano pepper was a nice touch. I expected a taco truck at this location to be a little pricier but these were only $1 each. Another pleasant surprise was the flavor. These tasted like Eastside tacos. The kind that taste better than they actually are after you’ve lubricating yourself all night. But I was sober and these were delicious.



El Antojo parks in front of USC county hospital during the daytime. Would I drive out of my way for El Antojo? Probably not. But if I ever get checked into County USC someone is going to be making a taco run.

3/5

El Antojo
1640 Marengo
in front of County USC
Los Angeles, CA 90033

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