Tuesday, December 29, 2009
El Paladar Oaxaqueno ~ West Los Angeles
El Paladar Oaxaqueno
Barry Ave and Santa Monica Blvd
Nightly after 8pm
El Paladar Oaxaqueno is the only taco truck on the Westside that has an al pastor spit so if it’s meat tacos your looking for stick to the pork. If a couple tacos isn’t enough do yourself a favor and order the Tlayuda, a crisp flour tortilla stuffed with your meat of choice, black beans, avocado and salsa. Read the rest of the review at DailyTaco.org.
We reviewed this truck back when it was still a wagon in 2006.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Taco Task Force: LA’s Best Baja Fish Taco
The King of Baja Fish Tacos
with all pics:
The Taco Task Force was first and foremost assembled in the spirit of adventure and fun. I talked with several blogger friends that I thought would engender a broad range of experiences. Cathy Danh, Josh Lurie, Javier Cabral, Matthew Kang, and myself would take on the LA taco scene to give another perspective on “tacoing” in Los Angeles.
The very popular taco blogs had already turned on foodies and bloggers alike to the local taco trucks, stands, and taquerias. I had gone to many of these places in recent years to find out that they weren’t very good, nor did many resemble what I’d encountered traveling throughout Mexico. There was a complete lack of criteria, baseline, or understanding of what makes a great taco. It was more or less, ” I like this place, the tacos are good, I give it 3.5 tacos(stars)”, with no explanation why it deserved the score. The result was a comprehensive list of mediocre to bad tacos.
There are solid regional and authentic tacos in LA, and there are also taco places that make tacos unique to Los Angeles, the result of Mexican-American cultures coming together.
The main reason tacos tend to be inferior in the US is the lack of ingredients, inadequate sources of proteins, and most importantly the lack of skilled taqueros. Skilled taqueros don’t immigrate to the US, they are more employable in Mexico where stand owners hire these taco professionals. The taco trucks in LA( there are hardly any trucks in Mexico at all) are run by people who know how to make tacos, but usually they come from another line of work. They lack knife skills, don’t know how to select quality ingredients, don’t know cuts of meat, have only basic salsa making skills, lack creativity, and don’t have specialist skills like proper cooking on a vertical spit.They are also handcuffed by Angelinos’ demands for the $1 taco,making Costco,Smart ‘N Final, and other relatively inexpensive sources the supplier of taco ingredients.
Using the fish tacos at world famous El Fenix in Ensenada as a basline, which we all had the pleasure of trying, we raced across town one Sunday to sample fish tacos at five different locations in Los Angeles: Tacos Baja(East LA), Tacos El Nazo(), Senor Fish(Eagle Rock), Best Fish Tacos in Ensenada(Silver Lake), and newcomer, Ricky’s Fish Tacos(Silver Lake).
(Continued)
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Under The Tuscan Gun
Under the Tuscan Gun is a site/blog that features recipes from Tuscany. And It is here where Debi Mazar and her husband Gabrielle Corcos come in. They have created this show/site to bring you homemade Tuscan food and share their family recipes. The couple takes you through a step-by-step cooking process and shares a list of amazing recipes from appetizers, to cakes, pastas, meats, drinks, desserts etc. The show is casual and intimate as they allow you to enter into their kitchen at home.
Gabriele Corcos and Debi Mazar
Well it was recently announced that the show has been promoted to Television. The show will premiere on January 8th of 2011 on the Cooking Channel. It is anticipated to be a fun show mixed with comedy, good food and some fashion.
Here is one of their videos of some of their cooking:
To read more visit click here —> GALO EATING or simply visit their site, Under The Tuscan Gun
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Chile to LA ~ Fisek in DTLA
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
MAYOR V! Blog Update. Funniest photos of our mayor.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Los Angeles ~ Sino Tequila ~ A New Perspective
Sino Tequila was present at the Juxtapoz Anniversary Event a few weeks back providing product samples to those in attendance. After the event I contacted Sino Tequila’s owner and president Judy Rivera for a rundown of the brand and its idealogy. Judy was kind enough to break it down for LA Taco. Here are the key elements of the brand.
CREATING A HIGH QUALITY TEQUILA-
Sino 100% blue agave tequilas are born from the red earth of the
highlands in Jalisco, Mexico but live and breath on the streets of
your neighborhood. Sino passionately produces artesanal tequilas of
unparalleled quality, proudly steeped in the tradition of Mexico
using Mexico’s only 100% Latina owned and run distllery.
TRUE STREET CULTURE MARKETING -
Sino Tequila is also dedicated to aligning itself with true street
culture artists that push the envelope of creativity in everything
they do.
With the help of SA Studios and artists such as Patrick Martinez the
message of Sino Tequila to the market.
GIVING BACK TO THE COMMUNITY-
It is Sino Tequila’s extreme honor to partner with Latino Arts Network
to help their mission to promote and strengthen the Latino arts
community and cultural well-being of the artists they serve. For over
a decade, Latino Arts Network has supported community-based centros,
galleries and artists throughout the state of California. This 501 (c)
3 nonprofit arts service organization and public charity is
committed to advocating collaborative programs highlighting Latino
arts and culture.
$1 of every bottle sold of Sino Tequila is donated to LAN to help
continue their journey of artist support. By purchasing our bottle of
Sino, you are not only part of the final r-evolution of tequila, you
are also supporting a network that promotes the art that makes the
streets come to life. For more info or to become a sponsor visit
www.latinoarts.net.
TASTING NOTES-
Sino Silver is a crystal clear, 100% blue agave tequila from the Los
Altos region of Jalisco, Mexico that has a fresh, agave aroma and
clean, slightly sweet finish.
Sino Reposado from the Los Altos region of Jalisco, Mexico is aged for
4 months in new and once used American Oak whiskey barrels resulting
in a tequila of rich flavor and a warm, smooth finish.
Next time you are at your local eatery or watering hole, ask for Sino Tequila. It goes great with tacos!
Friday, December 18, 2009
Tacos Sinaloa ~ Highland Park
Tacos Sinaloa is as far as I know the first traditional taco truck in LA to use twitter ( http://twitter.com/tacos_sinaloa ). Hey if you can’t beat em join em. Because of their fixed location (Figueroa and Ave 55) twitter may not be as essential to their business model as it is for the more transient gourmet wagons but it’s still a great way to let the LA taco populace know where you are. And if they decide to move locations it’s a great way to keep fans in the loop.(see my previous post on Echo Park’s Tacos Arabe)
I had heard of Tacos Sinaloa before but when I was told they were on twitter I had to head out to Highland Park and try the tacos. It was worth the drive, the tacos were excellent…
Read the rest on DailyTaco.org
