Grubstreet LA lets us know today about Komida‘s “12 Days of Tacos”, a wacky holiday celebration of traditional American holiday food put into tacos. Komida is the taco shop from Yamashiro’s executive chef Brock Kleweno. The list of tacos…

• Roast Turkey with Pinot Noir/five-spice cranberry sauce (12/8)
• Brioche Stuffing with Kleweno Family Farm Sausage (12/9)
• Grandma’s Green Bean Casserole with/ haricot vert, roast garlic bechamel, crispy shallots (12/12)
• Spiced Sweet Potato with brûléed homemade marshmallow (12/13)
• Agave glazed ham with blood orange and pineapple salsa (12/14)
• Caramelized onion Yukon gold smashed potato with mom’s lumpy gravy (12/15)
• Smoked Gouda Mac and Cheese with buttered bacon breadcrumbs (12/16)
• Shiitake scalloped potato with Grafton cheddar crisps (12/19)
• Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer with/ grilled venison loin and ginger cherry salsa (12/20)
• ‘Fruit Cake’ with Figgy Pudding Sauce (12/21)
• Gingerbread cookie with yuzu icing (12/22)
• Pastrami and sauerkraut with Asian 1000 island and rye seed tortillas (12/23)

Read the full story on Grubstreet.

Join our hero, Bandini, as he investigates a taco truck outside his comfort zone…

I parked on the street, walked towards the truck, and got about halfway when I had this creepy feeling of someone watching me. I turned back to my car but didn’t see anyone. I looked all around. Then I saw a dog run by me nervously. It was a pit bull or Staffordshire bull terrier or a Rottweiler or maybe not even a dog at all. Something told me to just go back. The truck was so bright, the street was so dark; the bulbs hanging from the wires along the truck were like lights on a runway guiding me in. I got the feeling I wasn’t ready for this truck. Whatever it was I wasn’t ready for it. I didn’t need it. The people standing near the truck stared over at me. They knew I wasn’t ready for it. I knew I wasn’t ready for it. Everyone knew. The dogs knew. The crickets knew. The night knew.

I was back on Vermont driving north when I saw a truck at the corner of Gage at a car wash. I parked on the lot and walked up to the counter and ordered. I was ready for this truck. The girl inside the truck smiled. The patrons smiled. I ordered my tacos.

Read the full review here.

hard shell shrimp taco from Mariscos  Jalisco

The second LA Street Food Fest was held on August 16th in Pasadena, and writer, artist, and blogger The Minty was there to document her gustatory adventures. While these are not all of the delicious tacos that were served that day, it’s a nice selection that will make your mouth water. Enjoy!

pork taco from Tacos Cuernavaca
(Continued)

This article has been reprinted with permission from Lady Ducayne

I was born and raised in Los Angeles, my beloved City of Angels, a place that I love exploring, even today. It doesn’t matter that I’m from here, there is always something happening, people to meet, places to see…never a dull moment. At the age of five, I moved to the SCV, but my love for LA has never decreased.

When I was a kid, my uncle introduced me to an OG Taco Truck called “El Paisa” that always parked on the same street in El Sereno. It was near his home and I remember that I loved to visit my uncle because it meant we got to eat from “El Paisa” before heading back to SCV. Everyone knew the guy that owned the truck as “Paisa” and there was also a woman on the truck that made me special mulitas! I wouldn’t even have to order them anymore, she would see me and immediately get to work hand forming my mulita.

El Paisa prepared Tijuana style tacos with the creamy guacamole and used mesquite charcoal which made his tacos different than what I would typically find on street corners. Yet, more than anything, his accent, and his tacos always took me back to Tijuana. It was so familiar, and it was tradition. For years I ate with El Paisa, a big man that saw me grow up, always asked how I was, and just one of those people that you meet and is always so kind. And then, one day, El Paisa fell ill and he wasn’t on the truck anymore…then the truck wasn’t on the usual street anymore…and then years later, we learned that El Paisa had died. This was about seven years ago, but often El Paisa would come up in conversation, and we always remembered him fondly.
(Continued)

With all of the Jaliscans, Capitalanos, and Michoacanans here in Los Angeles you’d think we’d have some better carnitas. Carnitas are various pork parts fried in pork lard; while it’s done all over Mexico, the predominant styles are from Michoacan, Jalisco, Mexico City, San Francisco de los Romo in Aguascalientes, and in the Bajio (eastern half of Michoacan, and all of Queretaro and Guanajuato) region of Mexico. Outside of these regions, carnitas are usually prepared by artisans from Mexico City, Michoacan, and Jalisco.

A carnitas Taco Task Force run was looking hopeless last year; there just weren’t enough solid locations to even make the minimum 5 stops, and nothing outstanding besides Metro Balderas. We all love carnitas, and you can usually do pretty good even with the carnitas found around LA using the cheater method– boiling the pork in water and frying them up before serving. This cooking style is like the kind you get at Olvera St. or just about any Mexican-American restaurant around town. The texture is stringy, but the flavor can be passable, often times more attractive than having dry carne asada.

Taco Task Force Mission: We are here to rate tacos without prejudice, and give this culinary treasure its proper due. We are the antidote to amateurish taco blogs, we are a tacoligarchy.
(Continued)

JOSExy and Tacos go together like fine womens and fine wines.

As a public service to the taco lifestyle, we have asked famed street gourmet Bill Esparza to drop some taco knowledge in this ground-breaking series we call TACOS 101. Read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

The Crowd

The universally accepted rule of stands and trucks is that where there’s a crowd, you shall find good tacos. This is more applicable in Mexico where there are full on taco wars, a gaggle of stands all serving carne asada for example. Customers will have established the supremacy of a stand over time. It’s always true that a crowd keeps the tacos fresh, with a higher turnover than a slow stand.

In Los Angeles, a place can sometimes be popular for various reasons, look for the crowd, but look for other indicators of excellence too.
(Continued)

The first time I ever heard about Cacao Mexicatessen was from reading an article somewhere about their duck carnitas tacos. Those tacos sounded so delicious that I filed the name of the restaurant in the back of my mind as a place to hit up when I got a chance.  A year later, I finally got a taste of those Duck Carnitas Tacos (duck confit, avocado, vinegar, onion, radishes and chile oil) at the 2010 East LA Meets Napa Event and in the process also sampled their Wild Boar Chorizo Verde Taco (ground boar, Mexican spices, avocado and pico de gallo) as well. Wow! They were absolutely delicious and I loved the thickness of the handmade tortillas. I can’t believe I waited a year to try their food.

A month later, I finally made a trip Cacao Mexicatessen’s actual restaurant in Eagle Rock and in fact, I went there 3 times within a month and a half.  That’s pretty unusual for me because generally, it’ll take me months before I re-visit a restaurant, let alone weeks.  Walking into Cacao, I could see it really was also a working deli.  Available for purchase were prepared foods, cheeses, tortillas and various other Mexican foods.

Ordering at Cacao means perusing a menu near the counter before placing your order.  Since I already tried the duck carnitas and wild boar tacos, I opted to order 3 other tacos from their menu along with a couple of other items.  One of those items was a Cucumber Agua Fresca.  It was just a tad sweet, but still very refreshing and I loved the added touch of the fresh cucumber slices added to the drink.

The other item was their Mexican Corn on the Cob (grilled white corn, queso cotija, lime aioli and powdered chili).  The sweetness of the corn and the tart, spicy, salty flavors of the condiments really made this corn sing on my palate.  If you’re planning on eating the whole corn, I’d limit myself to just one or two tacos because it’s quite filling.

Now let’s talk tacos.  The three I ordered all came on one plate. I took a bite out of the Tocino  en Chocolatado Taco first.  Made with house cured bacon, salsa de cacao, creme, bean puree and Serrano chilies, I thought these ingredients made this a more unique taco.  The salsa de cacao had a slight bitter and sweet taste to it which went well with a little bit of heat from the Serrano chilies, but then the creme did a good job of softening all the flavors together.

Second to receive my undivided attention was the Chicarron de Pato (fried duck skin, cabbage, radish, onion, cilantro and salsa verde).  The funny thing about this taco is that if I hadn’t known ahead of time, I may not necessarily have identified the skin as fried duck skin.  The skin didn’t taste “ducky” per se, but regardless, crunchy skin, crunchy cabbage, radish and everything else made for a delicious taco.

Third but not least was the Venison a la Yucateca (shredded venison, achiote, habanero, red onion and cilantro)  The ingredients were quite complimentary to the venison with the achiote providing a hint of earthiness, the habanero with a bit of heat, the cilantro adding some pepperiness and finally, the red onion with just a hint of sweetness.

(Continued)

As a public service to the taco lifestyle, we have asked famed street gourmet Bill Esparza to drop some taco knowledge in this ground-breaking series we call TACOS 101. Read Part 1 here.

Condiments

This is an essential skill of the taquero. The best stands actually pair salsas with their menu items. The red salsa is for the buche (hog’s maw), but try the green salsa on the suadero (brisket). It’s okay to have only one or two salsas if you are specializing in a single item, or just a few items. More isn’t better if the salsas aren’t good.

Nina’s salsa bar in East Los Angeles

The salsas should be colorful, fresh, and stylized. The station should be maintained, and the vegetables should be vibrant and fragrant. The area should be clean. A poorly maintained condiment area, especially when things are slow, is a sign that you’re dealing with a hack, or a careless taquero. You’ll know when you come across a top tier stand by the condiments.

Where’s the Beef?

In Mexico, taqueros are specialists. Carne asada should be flame roasted with charcoal or mesquite. Anyone working carne asada shouldn’t be cooking any other meats. If it is cooked on a flat iron, it isn’t asada, it’s called bistec (steak). The verb asar means to roast, and you can’t roast on a flat iron. Al pastor (spit roasted pork in adobo) or adobada (adoboed,a regional name for al pastor) is performed by a lone specialist. If you have asada and al pastor, there has to be a minimum of two taqueros. Brisket, buche, tripe, chorizo, longaniza, eyes, brains, cheeks, tongue, sweetbreads, and head can be done by a pair of taqueros, or a single taquero. These are called tacos de fritanga in Mexico City. A stainless steel comal with a convex grilling area is the beacon for this style of cooking. Chorizos, briskets, and offal are mingled and fried in the well of the comal, while the brains, head, and other delicacies are steamed. The selection is usually around six different meats, but there are places that have all the aforementioned cuts.

Lengua (tongue) Tacos

Fish tacos are performed by a specialist, with the only other menu item being shrimp tacos. This is done in a stainless steel comal with a concave well for frying. Some fondas serve great home-style fish tacos along with a larger menu like Mariscos Becerra in Playas de Tijuana, or McLulu’s in Loreto. These are sometimes cooked in a cast iron pan, just like families do in their home kitchens.

The quality of the meat and selected cut should be of the upmost importance. Seasoned taqueros select the proper meats, fish, poultry, and vegetables for their tacos, and have professional knife skills. Poor knife skills are a dead giveaway that you’re dealing with a weekend warrior.

Tortillas

Handmade or recently made? Flour or corn? Crispy or soft? Store bought? Made from scratch or from corn flour?

The tortilla is important. Hecho a mano means handmade on the premises. Recien hecha means they were purchased from a tortilleria. The northern states of Mexico, especially in Sonora where they do the best carne asada, flour tortillas are common. These range from small taco sized flour tortillas made from scratch or from a tortilleria, or the sobaqueras, thin flour tortillas the size of a pillow case. In the south and central regions of Mexico, corn is king. Corn tortillas are used in every state in Mexico, always depending on the cuisine, and some states use both equally.

Cheap store bought tortillas are a no no, but there are some quality brands out that the taquero might choose because of the neutrality of the tortilla or for deep frying, but in most cases, there’s no excuse for this. Homemade tortillas please!

The use of store bought tortillas is too common in Los Angeles. Let your taqueros know that you’d rather pay a few cents more for the real deal.

Lastly, the range of tortillas whether they’re made from corn or flour is vast in Mexico. Different textures, consistencies, and flavors are available. This is another area lacking in Los Angeles. A corn tortilla from one truck to the next is that same soft, bland, wrinkly wrapper. Look out for the stand with a signature tortilla.

Previously: Part 1. Next: Part 3

As a public service to the taco lifestyle, we have asked famed street gourmet Bill Esparza to drop some taco knowledge in this ground-breaking series we call TACOS 101.

Maize, corn, was first domesticated in Mesoamerica around 7000 years ago, some archaeologists date this as far back as 12,000 years. Around 1200-1500 B.C., nixtamalization was developed, the process of soaking and cooking the grain in lime water, and hulling it to prepare corn tortillas.

Tacos are a pre-hispanic food consisting of a tortilla, corn or flour*, folded in half, but sometimes rolled, filled with vegetables, meats, fish and seafood, insects, even just plain salt. The fillings are cooked using a variety of methods. While tacos were observed by Hernan Cortes and his men when they entered what is now Mexico City in 1519, and the current forms of taco production were established throughout the 20^th century, certainly, there has never been a better time to enjoy tacos than the present.

In Spanish, a taco means tack, to plug a hole. No doubt, a taco fills that hole in your belly when you’re on the go, whether off to work, grabbing a quick lunch, shopping with the family, or just a little recharge after leaving the club.
(Continued)

One thing I love about the Assistant Organizers of my dining group, Pleasure Palate, is that they are truly passionate about exploring LA’s culinary landscape. This past Saturday, 7 of us went with one of my AOs, Cecilia, on her East LA Foodie C’Rave. C’Rave by the way is short for Culinary Rave and I can only rave about the fun we had, as we hit 7 foodie destinations in East Los Angeles and Boyle Heights. Our first stop was at Cemitas Poblanas Elvirita.

While waiting for the rest of the group, a few of us early birds shared a Taco Abaje with pork and chipotle. It seemed more like a thinly rolled burrito than a taco. I liked the kick of the chipotle sauce and a squeeze of lime added a tart freshness to the pork.

Once everyone arrived, we ended up sharing 3 different Cemitas. Since we weren’t sure of everyone’s heat tolerance, we ordered the chipotle on the side, which I thought was a good idea, because it gave me a chance to taste the meat by itself before adding the spice to my sandwich. My favorite was the Milanesa. I really enjoyed the beef’s crispy battered coating. I liked the Barbacoa second, although I found the lamb to be a bit dry on its own. The addition of the chipotle sauce fixed that right away. Unfortunately, I thought the Carnitas Cemitas was a little too salty for my taste. For all three, I really enjoyed the bread, which was crusty and not overly thick.

After finishing off our Cemitas, we headed to Birreria Chalio. Walking in, I was quite surprised to see all the deer heads on the wall, especially since I don’t recall seeing venison on the menu.