Tacos Baja Ensenada ~ 5385 Whittier Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90022 ~ (323) 887-1980

If you looooove tacos, you’ve surely hit this small spot on Whittier Blvd. or have been planning to. Tacos Baja Ensenada has a well-deserved rep on our city’s streets for the sublime fish and shrimp tacos that they sling. True to the word, these friendly guys know seafood and surely have a way with tacos. Baja Ensenada started when owner Martin showed his skills making free fish tacos for the neighborhood. It wasn’t long before entire blocks clamored for him to open up his own shop. That same love is evident in everything this place serves, from our beloved tacos to the soups, cocktails, and plentiful other available options.

A small buffet of fresh abalone, octopus, wee clams and other bivalves sits daily awaiting the cocktail treatment, next to a smattering of goodies like limon, radish and salt-dusted deep-fried peppers. The tacos are large and covered in the works, a hot mess of sour cream and hot sauce, plus lettuce, onion, cilantro and cabbage. Four tacos each easily filled even the biggest bellies at our table.

Showing up conveniently on Wednesdays (or Wed-senadas as we like to call them) finds you getting a deep discount: fish tacos for 99 cents, shrimp tacos for $1.50, when usually they come at $2.50 each. The mostly neighborhood crowd is still very sparse at dinner despite the slashed prices, ensuring seats for you and your motley crue (there are no umlauts on this keyboard). Lunch is another story, however, with crowds willingly waiting a while to get theirs’.

The fish comes fried in significant long strips, with a thickish, but light shell of batter that barely seems to touch the meat. It really just floats there, waiting to melt in your mouth, followed by the pescado, which does the same. The fish tacos are so light and fluffy, they are barely even noticeable in taste, just subtle hints of freshness reaching out through that soft crunch. The addition of crema infiltrates the fish, providing extra substance and gooey flavor. Baja Ensenada gets HUGE points for their homemade, fat, yet soft tortillas, which put the tacos into the A+ category.

Even better are the shrimp tacos, which are gathered individually in a gang of fried critters that pop with every chew. The shrimp seem to take on extra flavor than most shrimp tacos, exploding with intricate tastes as each meets its fate under a blanket of sauce, shell, and secrets. I’m not sure what the geniuses at Baja Ensenada do to them, but it works. The batter again is super-light and airy, making everything go down as if the tacos are made of the same substance as the clouds. They are mouth-wateringly delicious, and the freshness of everything is discernible with each bite. $5 makes for a fantastic, unforgettable feast.

(Continued)

Money Saver’s Meats, Inc. ~ 3233 W. Florence Avenue ~ Los Angeles, CA 90043

Welcome and thanks for visiting the “home of the best chicken sausage” in Los Angeles. For more than 17 years, Money Saver’s Meats, Inc. has been supplying families, restaurants, hotels, caterers and institutions with premiere chicken and turkey sausage products.

Murals by Joseph Giri

La Playita ~ 3306 Lincoln Blvd. Venice, CA 90026 ~ (310) 452-0090

I know I’ve got a bad reputation, and isn’t just talk. I’m guilty as charged of treating some of these taco stands and taco trucks out here like little taco hoes; ripping off their layers, slurping up their tender vittles, bailing, and never stopping by to say hello again. It’s just the way players play. All day. Everyday, in fact.

But you will find me fucking with La Playita (formerly dubbed with the catchy name Mariscos Guillen) regularly. You will. In fact, hey, I’m there right now, for all you know…and where are you? Not at la Playita, I see. Or do I?

So yeah, these guys do tacos right. Really right. They are not fudging around with two abuelas in the back stirring a single pot or some ex-con on a skillet. No, they’ve got like six dudes in there getting the deliciousness done, working like God is watching. You know this joint if you’ve ever cruised on Lincoln. A giant Seizer head and a Watch Out graffito mark the spot. La Playita is typically slammed from the moment 11AM shows its face, but is best before closing when the crowd is thin and it’s just you and traffic and the last lifeguard on duty at this lil’ beach.

What’s really popular here is sea critters; giant styrofoam cups of watery, fresh pulpo, abalone, shrimp, and crab, which you can get mixed together in a campechana or “cocktail,” and topped with aguacate. They taste deeply of the sea and leave you feeling Herculean, with all that Poseidon-provided protein. These, and the flat, piled-on tostadas with seafood ceviche, are what really gets the crowd pumped.

(Pastor Tostada)

But look on high a second. We’re not named Ceviche or Tostada. So how are them tacos? Flawless. And nicely sized. I don’t think I’ve ever had a mediocre taco here in my life. The plump shrimp pop with juice and flavor in the mouth, with just a lite dressing of some cilantro and tomatillo sauce. Tapatio really makes it shine, the shrimp maintaining firm composure, almost a little sweet in their freshness. The fish tacos also kick ass, and are kind of honeyed on the palate, the tiny cubes of fish smothered in a reddish sauce that seems to caramelize the tiny shingles of fish. It’s like someone was playing Tetris with the fish cubes and decided to just glue it all together hastily at the end with sweet sauce. Uh, very good, in other words.

(Carnitas)

Pastor, asada and carnitas are all very great here, just the way I like them and maybe not reaching orgasm status, but this is one of the most dependable spots I’ve found for fantastic versions of all three, especially out West. The carnitas is moist and shredded, pastor is sublimely chewy, and asada is juicy. The tostadas also kick major ass. It’s basically a taco, but open-faced and on a crispy tortilla, the soft fillings mixing nicely with the CRUNCH!!!!! I usually leave the buche and cabesa alone, but I bet they rule too.

(The fish)

The one beef I have about La Playita isn’t with the eatery itself. With all these different people standing around waiting for and eating tacos, there should be lively discussions and peals of laughter echoing to the sea, but everyone kind of just stands there and mean-mugs each other instead. Certainly, one of the city’s many tragedies in inter-connectedness.

So while not my taco bottom bitch (you know who you are, babygirl), La Playita and I will continue our romance as long as she stays delicious and I stay addicted to her good, cheap eats.

(Truck is mobile, but we often find Birria de Chivo at 83rd St. and Compton Ave.)

For the true goat lover (the eating kind, not the romantic), Birria de Chivo is for you! Like any good Birriería, chivo is basically all they serve. Every time I ask for anything else, like a torta or pastor taco, I am denied, even though it’s on the truck panel. Sometimes they forewarn black and white munchers that they’re all about goat before orders can even escape their mouths. They did have cabesa tacos the other day.

But people step up for goat and it’s what they get. Juicy, saucy plates of pierna y aldilla and birria tacos fill Florence’s plates and mouths for the short time the truck idles the area’s lots. I skip the plate of goat (I haven’t asked if they serve truckside chamorro) and head straight to the tacos. Tacos come with the shredded, glistening roasted pink meat on an open tortilla face sprinkled with onion and cilantro, with the consomme-like birria on the side, in a cup. In true taco-head-style, throw lime juice on top, roll it up and dip it into the birria. Mmmmnnn, this allows the natural taste of the goat to stand out with sauce on the outside, or stand alone (if you choose to skip the sauce), or swim in it, if you’re hard to the core.

The goat at Birria de Chivo is as clean as it comes, something that can be hard to discern at a lot of this town’s spot that drown the meat in red salsa-like birria. There’s no fat to speak of, just pure meat. The taste is very strong, natural, earthy, with almost the first taste hitting you a little like the sea, and there is a balanced taste of game, but not necessarily in a nasty way. The flavors are powerful, morphing and weird, but pretty pleasant. The feel of goat is something else; it’s a nice slippery meat, but not something I’m entirely used to. Chopped and served nearly naked, the goat stands up to be as savory as it does with its accessories…

(Continued)

Taqueria Chihuahua ~ 1909 Lincoln Blvd. ~ Santa Monica

Chihuahua is a local with some ambition, it has branches on both Venice and Lincoln Boulevards after previously losing their lease on Olympic and 20th. The Lincoln location is brand new and TACO paid it a few visits last week. They advertise a lot of different options on their menu and on the walls and windows, but were known primarily for their tacos and burritos at their old location on Olympic where they had legions of fans who liked the quality of the ingredients and the low prices.

Clockwise from bottom: Potato Dorado, Carnitas, Cabeza, Asada

The Lincoln location lives up to the standards of the old Olympic spot. The carne asada is very flavorful, somewhat tender, and perfectly charred. The meat quality is a cut above the usual and equal if not slightly better then its main competition in the area, Tacos Por Favor. The cabeza is great, very well stewed and served shredded with lots of rich gamey flavor. The carnitas are solid, not out of this world but flavorful and authentic. There are tacos dorados with lettuce, cheese and hard shells which aren’t bad but are inferior in just about every way to the regular tacos. There is a potato one though for the vegetarians in the crowd which is pretty good.

Lookin’ out on to Lincoln

Each order comes with chips and two types of salsas, one a fresca for the chips and the other a citrusty chile del arbol with a small bit of heat. The only real problem at Chihuahua is a lack of a salsa bar or at least some hotter and fiery salsas. You do get some jalapeños on the plate, but a super-hot salsa would’ve really gone well with any of the beef tacos.

The people at the Lincoln location are friendly and nice, and the price is right: $1.25 to $1.50 per taco. The crowds on the days I went included paint-speckled workers, an old grandmother with her grandson, a pair of cops, and some hipsters discussing biofuel. The space is small but clean, and it gets good sunlight during the day. The kitchen has a window so you can check out the cleanliness back there for yourself.

Recipe modified from Kraft Food’s African American Flavor Center for your taco-centric Hallowe’en party tonite:

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef
2 tbsp Mexican spice mixture
12 Taco Shells
3/4 cup Salsa
3/4 cup Sour Cream
1 can (2-1/4 oz.) sliced pitted ripe olives
Preparation:
Mix meat and spices. Shape into 36 (1-inch) balls; place in 15×10x1-inch baking pan.

Bake at 350°F for 15 to 20 minutes or until cooked through. Fill each taco shell with 1 meatball; drizzle with salsa. Top with 2 meatballs dipped in sour cream. Garnish with olives to make “eyeballs.”

La Estrella #3 ~ 6310 N. Figueroa St. Highland Park, CA 90042

There are a few La Estrellas around the area (we even reviewed their truck right here), and this one on Ave. 61 never does me wrong. The food is always solid, from the butt-kicking breakfast burritos to the small, near-perfect lunch and dinner menus, which consists of tacos and burritos of many meats, including a small selection of fresh fried seafood, plus mariscos cocktails and tostadas.

I dove into a pastor taco which was full of deep flavors, both from the pork and the barbecue flavors as well. Definitely not spit-roasted but grilled and chopped, with a strong, but balanced seasoning. It was delicious, lightly oily and torn into medium-sized pieces, topped with cebolla and cilantro, plus Estrella’s great signature red salsa for a perfect mix. The pastor is sometimes different here than it was this day, but it’s always a good call.

The carnitas at Estrella is not my style, it’s sort of like pork machaca without any oil or juice, dry and cooked long and hard ’til the exteriors are shellacked and scorched. The natural flavors of the pork are nearly overwhelming and the chewing interminable. The asada, on the other hand, was awesome, though a little different than most, chopped not like steak, but almost to the consistency of ground chorizo. It is properly oily, saucy, and savory on its own, but mixes excellently with the sparse but powerful ingredients of the taco. All three tacos skipped any nasty or fatty bits.

Best and most beautifully presented are the shrimp and pescado tacos. They are also impossible to hold together, but totally worth the finger-lickin’ mess for fresh fish and plump shrimp covered in a light tempura-thin shell of golden-brown batter. The sour cream tastes somehow home-made and gets into the openings between the batter and crunchy shrimp, mixing sensually. It is a little pricey at $3.25, but huge and really good.
(Continued)

Original Pantry Cafe ~ 877 S. Figueroa St. Downtown L.A., CA 90017 ~ (213) 972-9279

My grandfather is currently 99-years old, with all his mental faculties intact and I guarantee the man never ate raw foods, sushi, or wheat grass in his life. As nice as he is, he’d probably choke you if you tried to take him to Urth Cafe. A grad from New York’s Slavic L.E.S., he grew up on kielbasa, pierogi, and blood sausage, and continued on the path of meat n’ taters-World War I foods stuff you can still find today at Original Pantry, which has been serving pork chops, sausages, and steaks in Downtown since 1924.

Said steaks and chops here aren’t all frou-frou’d up “American Cuisine” with blueberry reductions and cauliflower foam, but rather kind of look like they’ve been through a battle with your car tires. In fact, few really come here for the food, so much as for sustenance, ambiance, and a look back to Downtown’s olden times.

Every dish is a little tough, and judging from some of our counter-mates, these patrons are what they eat. The hardscrabblest customer here seems a cut above homeless, really just staying at a flophouse, and not yet a true member of the ‘Row. They still have like 1980’s walkmens and semi-clean haberdashery along with their DTs.

When you sit at the counter at O.P., you’re usually greeted by this cool old waiter with a warm disposition and a serious-hustle that puts our beloved Lakers to shame. First thing you’re hit with before you even agree to stay is a mountain of free coleslaw, drowning in mayonnaise, surely considered a healthy vegetable serving back in G-Paw’s day. Next comes a great big loaf of bread, perfect for dipping into the slaw slime or buttering up. By this time, I’m usually full and haven’t even ordered, but stay anyway.

Again, things come simple and very-grilled or very roasted here, whether it’s sirloin tips , the hamburger loaf, or the rib roast, none of which are that cheap really. Most dishes are from $8-$14.

(Continued)

Kat’s Margarita ~ Double Recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup lemon juice

1 cup lime juice

2 cup Triple sec

2 cup White tequila

Optional: Grand Marnier

(Continued)