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

Kikin's - West LA

I pretty much know every taco truck that parks on the Westside so when saw a taco trailer parked near Olympic Blvd and Barrington I got very interested.

Kikin’s is kind of a cross between the traditional lonchero and the gourmet food truck. The menu: tacos, burritos, quesadillas, and ceviche are standard truck fare, but the preparation that emphasizes healthy eating with soybean oil and leaner meats you would never see on a lonchero.


shrimp, pollo, carne asada

The price, 3 tacos for $5 is gourmet-ish. So is the whole twittering thing (Kikin's doesn't have a set location like your standard lonchero). So who will Kikin’s appeal to? The taco truck crowd or the relatively new I’m-not-afraid-to-eat-from-a-truck-anymore-because-everyone-is–doing-it- crowd? Probably both. These are damn good tacos.


taco de pollo with salsa roja

First off, three of these tacos for $5 is a bargain. They’re big tacos with quality meats and fresh tortillas. These aren’t just good tacos, they are easily the best tacos I’ve had west of the 405.


carne asada

While the meats for my tacos were grilling I watched as masa was pounded, formed into shape, and toasted on the grill. Yeah, lots of places make homemade tortillas, but I don’t think I’ve had a fresher tasting tortilla anywhere.

I ordered shrimp, carne asada, and pollo. The pollo had a good char to it with little crispy skin bits and tender bits of chicken. The carne asada was top quality and lightly seasoned to bring out the flavors of the beef. Both tacos were topped with fresh tomato and onion. The shrimp taco was a little more adventurous with a chipotle mayo dressing covered a bed of red cabbage and tomato. Under all that was some pretty tasty shrimp but after just one visit I’m pretty hooked on the pollo and carne asada.

If there's one thing I could have used was something spicy on my plate. The salsas provided(salsa roja and avocado salsa) were good but neither was very spicy. A grilled jalapeno placed on top of my tacos would have really sealed the deal.

4/5

www.twitter.com/Kikins_in_LA
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Whittier Blvd Taco Trucks : East LA

photo:Los Angeles Times

I’ve made several trips to Whittier Blvd in East LA this year and the local taco truck scene seems to be pretty impressive. During the day you are more likely to see Raspados trucks but if it’s night time and you’re on Whittier Blvd there are plenty of taco trucks. And if you don’t know which taco truck to hit up, well the answer is easy; just try them all.

You could start your hunt at Tacos Oaxaca at Record Ave and Whittier Blvd and then head east. Add these taco trucks to the itinerary to get a taste for the local taco flavor.

Tacos Arandaz






al pastor and carne asada $1 each

Tacos Arandaz parks at Whittier at Goodrich Blvd. It’s here where you will find classic LA taco truck tacos: finely diced meat with minced onion, cilantro, and a spicy salsa roja. They didn’t have the al pastor spit up but the pork was juicy with good seasoning. The carne asada went well with a squirt of lime and the salsa roja. Everything was working here: nicely oiled tortillas, good meats, and a spicy salsa. I could eat here all the time.

Tacos Cuernavaca



A few blocks east at the corner of Whittier and Eastmont you’ll find Tacos Cuernavaca. The tacos here come on medium sized tortillas and are only $1 each. The carne asada and suadero are both excellent and hard to tell apart. They use diezmillo for asada, and the suadero was lean with no fat. Usually suadero has a little gristle to it, but this was all meat. I’ve had better al pastor but only if you count Tacos Leo and Tacos Tamix. The orange-ish habanero is awesome but if you don’t want your forehead to sweat a little stick to the milder salsa verde.

These are big tacos for a buck and if you’re doing an extended taco crawl you may want to just order two of them. They’re good enough however that no one would blame you if you couldn’t resist to “dos mas”.


suadero with salsa verde, carne asada and al pastor.



Tacos El Galuzo





Further east on Whittier is Tacos El Galuzo. They advertise a $2 bean and cheese burrito, which I couldn’t pass up. The burrito was pretty damn good with a nice balance of white cheese and flavorful beans. The tacos are similar to Arandaz; both advertise as Jalisco style. The asada and al pastor had great flavor, and the peppery salsa roja gives the tacos a little bite. It was nice having a grilled jalapeno to add a little extra heat. The burrito filled me up otherwise I would have had more tacos on my plate.

There's solid competition in this area and it shows with trucks all being on their game. The fun seems to end after Tacos El Galuzo however. One night I took Whittier Blvd all the way past the Rio Hondo River and there were no tacos in sight.

Tacos Arandaz
Whittier Blvd and Goodrich Blvd
East LA, 90022
3.5/5
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Tacos Cuernavaca
Whittier blvd & Eastmont
East LA 90022
(323) 377-4603
4/5

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Tacos El Galuzo
5555 Whittier St
East LA, CA 90022
3.5/5
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Tacos y Burritos El Texano - Boyle Heights

“Are you from the newspaper?”

I used to get asked this all the time when I would pull out my camera. Sometimes I would respond, “No, I’m from the internets”. But this was back before the food truck craze and social media; back before yelp was big. I never saw anyone else take photos at taco trucks or food trucks and there I was with a lousy camera with an obnoxious flash that would wake up half the neighborhood. It’s different these days; we’re a nation of facebook status updaters, yelpers, and tweeters. We’re expected to take photos of everything we do then share it with people who probably don’t give a shit.



So tonight, when I started to take photos at the corner of 4th and Breed St at Tacos El Texano, and one of the patrons asked if I was from the newspaper, I thought of those Taco 1.0 days, and then thought how passé my “no I’m from the internets” comment had become. Because for all I knew he was already updating his facebook status from his smartphone to say that someone from the newspaper was at Tacos El Texano.


carne asada, al pastor, chorizo

I ordered al pastor, carne asada, and chorizo. The tacos came bare, and I garnished them with onions,cilantro and salsas from the dispensers (my favorite salsa delivery method by far). They also had a container with avocado salsa but I opted for salsa roja and verde. The al pastor was cut from the spit, and then griddled with onions. It reminded me of El Taurino’s al pastor;the salty-sweet flavor and tender slivers of pork went well with the spicy salsa roja. The chorizo was cut into little bits and not that discernable from the al pastor but the salsa verde, a blend of tomatillo/tomato and chile arbol had enough heat and flavor to persuade me.


carne asada

The best of the three was the carne asada, which was miles above most carne asada you’ll find at LA taco trucks. A lot of carne asada is finely chopped and then paired with a chile salsa, and onions to masquerade its lower quality. But this asada had a nice amount of meatiness to it and the tenderness and flavor were on point.

Tacos are $1 each (asada, al pastor, cabeza, tripa, buche). Burritos and quesadillas are $4. They didn’t have jarritos, but they have aguas frescas.

El Texano isn’t that far from Tacos El Pecas, one of East LA’s most popular trucks. So if the line at Tacos El Pecas is getting you down, or if you’re wondering which trucks to add to your Friday night taco crawl, El Texano is a worthy addition.

4/5

Tacos y Burritos El Texano
2308 E 4th St
East Los Angeles, CA 90033

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Tacos Guadalajara in LA - West Adams

(review #18 of the 30 taco trucks in 30 days challenge)



It’s a van converted into a taco truck. Technically it’s a taco van. It’s called Tacos Guadalajara in LA and it parks at the old location of the Tortas Ahogadas truck at Redondo and Adams in front of the R Bodega Ranch market. The vehicle is reminiscent of a lot of the street dog vendors in the fashion district in Dtown LA. I wouldn’t be surprised if this used to be a hot dog vending truck.





This is a great place to get a taco during the day(and night) because everything is cooked to order. The van is equipped with a grill, several refrigerator compartments and a convenient salsa bar.

I ordered asada, al pastor , and buche and watched as one of the women tossed raw meat on the grill. After the meat is cooked it is taken to the cutting board next to the grill, chopped up, then laid to rest on corn tortillas. You're handed your tacos to garnish yourself from an excellent salsa bar equipped with a spicy salsa roja a tangy salsa verde and all the fixins.


buche, al pastor, carne asada $1 each



James Black of Cincuenta Taquerias tells me that at night they roll out a trompo of al pastor and serve sidewalk street tacos. Our cities arcane anti-al pastor laws prevent this delicacy from being carved during the day. But you can bet that I will be trying some tacos from this trompo very soon.

Freshness is the key here. Everything comes hot on the plate and ready to be devoured. The asada is tender and crispy at the edges and pairs well with the salsa roja which is deceptively spicy. The buche is cooked til crispy and the al pastor during the day is grilled on the plancha.

I was enjoying the asada so I got two more. A thin slice of raw beef was tossed on the flat grill, seasoned and cooked then finely chopped and scooped into tortillas. The ritual started again : the adding of the onions and cilantro, a ladle of salsa roja ; then the first bite and the sensation of hot greasy salted steak and salsa roja that hums on the lips. Then a swig of pineapple jarritos with the sun in my face and then another bite, another swig, and then the last bite and then I was done. For today.

3.5/5

Tacos Guadalajara in LA
5212 W. Adams Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90016
tacos $1

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Mariella's Tacos - Westchester

(review #12 of the 30 taco trucks in 30 days challenge)



At the corner of Aviation Blvd and W 102nd St on a roadway between the factories that serve the aerospace industry parks a taco wagon called Mariella’s. The truck is impossible to see from Aviation Blvd and mostly serves the workers who work at the factories that stay open all night and day. It’s a working man’s truck with tortas, burritos, quesadilla, tacos and hot dogs.



I ordered carne asada and al pastor. It was a ghost town. The wind was howling through the roadway. It was cold and I was miserable. The girl that took my order looked at me oddly. Her eyes said that I didn’t look like I worked in the factories but her smile said she’d make my tacos anyway.



The tacos were $1.50 which for taco truck tacos is a little pricey. Maybe if I had been wearing coveralls or some kind of factory wear I would have gotten a discount. I don’t think it helped much that I pulled up in a Prius.




al pastor

The tacos came on top of a single fresh tortilla. It wasn’t hecha a mano but it wouldn’t surprise me if it was pressed in a tortilla factory that morning. The tortilla was the best part of the taco. The salsa was a little weak and the meats were lacking. The asada was a little gamey and the al pastor, which was the better of the two tasted a little bit like pork candy.

It was eerily quiet. I was the only one around. And then out in the distance on the roadway I saw an image of a someone walking towards me. The image got bigger the closer he got and then he was right next to me, a wide built Mexican hombre, big dark goatee and beanie cap. “Dame tres tacos porfavor” he said to the girl in the window and pulled off his cap. “Tres dolarers” I heard her say as I made my way back to my car.

2/5
Mariella's Tacos
W 102nd St. and Aviation Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90045
Neighborhood: Westchester / LAX

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Taqueria San Jose

The choking air of summer hit me as soon as I opened my car door. The air conditioned ride from the Westside to the San Fernando Valley left me unprepared for the heat assault.I needed a cold beverage and a plate of tacos.

The taco hut wasn't my destination, just a stop on my way to visit friends in Van Nuys. In some ways I think I make friends with people in different parts of LA just so I can eat tacos in their city when I visit them. Before this blog I would make excuses for reasons not to hang out with people. Now I find myself mapquesting taquerias in their neighborhoods(I really need a friend in Highland Park).



Taqueria San Jose is a small taco shack a block east of Hayvenhurst on Vanowen in Van Nuys.They advertise tacos al vapor which are typically tacos de lengua or cabeza that are pressure cooked but i was in the mood for the taco trifecta so I went with al pastor, carnitas and asada.

The tacos came topped with onions, cilantro and a chile salsa. The carnitas, crisp at the edges had that perfect salty porkyness that goes so well with a squirt of lemon(or lime) and a spicy chile salsa. Both the pastor and asada had that grill taste and went well with an ice cold mexican coke.

I could have gone another round but the tacos al vapor will have to wait til next time. I wasn't in the mood for tongue.



Taqueria San Jose
16435 Vanowen St,
Van Nuys, CA 91406-4730
(near the corner of Hayvenhurst Ave & Vanowen St)
Phone: 818.782.9741
Tacos $1.25

Tacos El Vaquero

Summertime in LA.

Tacos are good year round but they seem to have an extra bite in them when it's hot out and you have an ice cold beverage in hand.

I was on my way home from Fry's Electronics in Manhattan beach when my stomach started to growl. I had two choices : eat at Chipotle or find a taco stand.

I have no beef with Chipotle. When you are in the mood for a burrito with a gummy tortilla and basmati rice accept no substitute.

But when I need a real taco, I need a real taco and no corporate substitute will do.

It wasn't long until I found Tacos El Vaquero, a taco stand on Inglewood Ave in the city of Inglewood. When I saw the tortillas hecha a mano sign I couldn't resist.

Once inside the taco stand I noticed a steam tray a which looked like tacos al vapor.

"que cocinar?" I asked the taquero

"lengua" he smiled.

"oh, my favorite"

I lied though. Lengua is not my favorite. I'm still trying to acquire a taste for it and a part of me orders lengua just so the taquero will think I'm cool.

"dame un taco de lengua , un asada, y un pastor"



Each taco came on a single corn tortilla hecha a mano. Lengua was soft and a little fatty and was a little slimey going down. Both pastor and asada had that char taste and were excellent.Points off for the empty bowl of onions and cilantro at the salsa bar but other than that these were great tacos.

Tacos are $1.25 each. Mexican coke and jarritos available as well as horchata and aguas frescas. Outdoor patio seating is relaxing and on weekend nights they sell tacos from a taco cart in the parking lot and grill carne asada on their outdoor grill.



Tacos El Vaquero
10020 S Inglewood Ave
Inglewood, CA 90304
(310) 672-0226

King Taco #15

Before I started this blog I would eat at King Taco three or four times a week. I ate there so often the gentlemen that prepared the orders knew me. They knew me and acknowledged me. It's one thing if they know your face, it's another if they acknowledge you as a regular . That can go a long way to getting an extra salsa roja or cup of jalapeños or often times just the correct order. It always helps ordering the same thing every time. As they knew my face they also knew me by the name "2 carne asada , 2 al pastor guy".

One time one of the workers at the King Taco on San Pedro St said to me" Hey, you normally eat at the Pico and Alvarado king taco"

He was right, the Pico and Alvarado location was my King Taco.

After starting this blog I stopped going to King Taco. Not because I didn't love King Taco but because as a taco journalist I had to cover the overall taco beat and not the same beat everyday. There were other tacos to report on, the city was waiting.

So when I decided it was time to go back to King Taco I wanted to go to the King Taco I had never been to before. The King Taco stand in East LA on Olympic blvd, a region I refer to as the taco mecca.

To my knowledge this King Taco is the only King Taco that is a traditional taco stand(it has no indoor ordering) It is also one of the biggest taco stands in Los Angeles.


asada y al pastor

King Taco's carne asada is the popular choice . These are classic LA tacos. The perfect amount of oil is applied to each tortilla, and the way the onions and cilantro and meat combine with the hot salsa roja is just magical. Al pastor, suadero, carnitas are all excellent as well but it is the asada tacos that I fell for first.



But it is the salsa roja that sets firmly the crown atop the King's head. It is what you think of when you hear King Taco, and for heat lovers it is what you crave.

It is what makes King Taco the King.



King Taco #15
4300 E. Olympic Blvd.
Los Angeles, Ca 90023
http://www.kingtaco.com

PS : I'm looking for classic taco stands or taco huts. The kind that have an outdoor window ordering only and no indoor seating. The taco stand(as well as burger stand) is kind of a dieing art. The westside has only 1 taco stand, La Playita on Lincoln Blvd in Santa Monica. So my friends, email Me the taco stands in your area. Even if they are not the greatest tacos I still want to check them out.