Best Tacos in LA–Hands Down July 28, 2006
Posted by foodies in Cash Only, Cheap, Fast-food, Mexican, Places to go when you're drunk, Tacos, Trendy / Hipster.3 comments
Location: 11222 Washington Place
Culver City, CA 90230
(310) 3915780
Hours: 9 a.m.- 11:30 p.m. (Mon-Sun.)
There always was a reason why my Dad always volunteered to take the annoying in-laws to the airport, drive my brother 4 hours to college, commute to work 45 minutes every day for 5 years, and always pick up his wayward daughter who was always trekking to Michigan for various bi-coastal bootie calls from LAX.
It was one place–Tito’s Tacos in Culver City.
My dad discovered it 20 years ago when he started his career as an accountant and his office building was located one block away. (Since torn down and now working back in the Valley) .
And now, there’s always a reason why I always like to pick up my friends from LAX or attend special capoeira classes at the Brazilian Center for Cultural Arts.
Open since 1959, this place has withstood the tests of time and outlived various competiting taco stands for the past 40 years without having to put on any bells or whistles. The place hasn’t changed. Always hailed the best tacos in LA.
Goddamn, I seriously don’t know where to kiss ass first?!
Service: 10 out 10. The employees are nice, faithful, quick on their feet, and they get your whole order ready in a span of minutes. Tip them. They truly deserve it.
Essential Order: Whenever I’m there, I order the Tito’s taco with cheese. The meat isn’t like Taco Bell. No ground beef, only shredded beef with shredded cheese and lettuce. That’s it. Not complicated, right? A regular ass taco. Moist shredded beef that’s not dry and the perfect amount of seasoning.
Close-up. Any closer and this would be porn
Oh, and we won’t forget their homemade chips (My homemade chips are as good as theirs I have to admit) and also, they’re salsa is the most freshest and tastiest.
Price: Gas per gallon to LAX: $3.15
Parking at LAX airport for 10 minutes: $10
Tito’s Taco with Cheese: $1.80
Shooting the shit with Dad: Priceless
Chips and salsa are always complimentary with the orders and depending on how much your order actually is, they’re very generous.
Things to Know:
- Parking is always hairy there. Just park along Washington and pay the quarter, or do what my parents do and get the emergency handicap pass out and start limping.
- Expect LINES like a ride at Disneyland. They’re long, but the service is quick and you’ll be helped in no time.
- TIP the person who takes your order. They work hard to get the customers out. Almost like the baristas at Starbucks.
- Bring cash–it’s CASH Only. But if you don’t have any on you at that moment, they just put in an ATM machine just a couple of years ago.
My favorite taco shack in the valley June 16, 2006
Posted by starbright31 in Cash Only, Cheap, Late Night Eats, Mexican, Places to go when you're drunk, Tacos.3 comments
El Indio Mexicano Restaurant
Location: 17019 Roscoe Blvd., Northridge, 91325
I owe a lot to Del Taco at the moment for bringing me to a fantastic moment I'll never forget, but I must admit that anytime I eat at a fast-food establishment that claims to be "Mexican," I feel guilty because I know that whatever I order at a Del Taco or Taco Bell will never satisfy me as much as anything I order at El Indio.
I've been going to El Indio since high school. My brother, a.k.a. the king of finding cheap and "good" eats, had always spoke highly of it, probably because it was always open when he'd be out with his hooligan friends. It wasn't until I had their nachos that made me a believer of this place. With living in the San Fernando Valley, there's so many choices to go to for hole-in-the-wall Mexican places. I've avoided many on looks alone of the area, and El Indio look exactly like something I'd usually ignore. It's near a seedy-looking club, it's bench seating, and it doesn't look all that clean from the outside. But you have to toss all pre-conceived notions once you order food there.
Today's order was two tacos, one with carnitas (first picture) and one with carne asada (second picture):
(I would usually minimize the size of these photos, but I'm so proud of how it all looks.)
Tacos are $1.75 and you have a choice of meat you can put in your taco: carnitas, lengua (tongue), carne asada, chorizo, machaca, cabeza, and I know there's more but I've forgotten as I don't usually stray from carnitas and carne asada. I love the tacos here because they always hook you up with tons of meat on there and the salsa they pour on is spicy. I needed about two glasses of milk with that carne asada taco.
And what keeps me coming back here:
Essential order: Nachos #4- carne asada, guacamole, refried beans, and nacho cheese all topped over a crunchy bed of tortilla chips.
Since I started going here, I've seen the price go from $3.75, to $4, to $5, and now it's $6.10. If they raised it up to $10, I know I'd still buy them. Nobody does nachos better than El Indio- NOBODY. I've had nachos at so many places and I'm never impressed- I don't care for using shredded cheese or tender steak slices- I want (most likely canned) nacho cheese and carne asada, damnit.
Service: 7 out of 10. I wouldn't say they're bad or exceptionally great- but they are fast and when you have a craving for this type of food, they definitely get it out quickly.
Price: This order cost me exactly $10.39. They offer a lot of other food there too- burritos, tortas, tamales, chile rellenos, breakfast food, etc. And all of it is reasonably priced. I would say you'd need at the very least $5 with you to order maybe a taco or two and/or some horchata (rice drink) or an Orange Bang!
Things to know:
- It's open till very late at night. It's not 24 hours, but very close to it.
- They always give lots of their salsa in small containers when you order your food to go- don't go buckwild on putting salsa on your food if you can't handle the heat. It's very, very spicy.
- They also offer an atkins style burrito, so there's no tortilla, but again, they really hook you up with the meat.
- Cash only!
Fine dining in the Real OC June 15, 2006
Posted by starbright31 in Bougie, Mexican, Outisde Los Angeles.1 comment so far
Las Brisas
Location: 361 Cliff Drive, Laguna Beach, CA 92651
Type of food: Mexican
"The Real OC" is the tagline of the MTV show, Laguna Beach. I never thought I'd find myself in this city, let alone actually dine there. But after spending about an hour or two in this small coastal city, I can understand why so many rich people would be building their multi-million dollar palaces in the hills. When you're there, you feel like this is what Southern California's supposed to be like- quaint shops, picturesque beach view, clean streets, nice people, great restaurants.
I was enroute to San Diego, excited and anxious to watch one of my favorite bands that I've talked endlessly about on my blog, We Are Scientists. I was with my partner in crime for all W.A.S. adventures, Megan, and she suggested stopping in Laguna Beach since she knew the area well and used to visit her grandfather all the time there.
After finding out that her first choice of where to eat was closed for construction, Megan suggested we eat at Las Brisas. I was intrigued to go there mainly because of the view we'd be getting while we were eating there.
The view is the first thing Las Brisas boasts about on their website, and rightfully so:
It's a majestic view of the beach. And while this above is a view during sunset, here's what we saw during the day:
Although it wasn't 12:00 anymore, it was still busy outside and we couldn't snag a table at their outdoor area. But sitting inside was still great, and we could see the beach and we even saw dolphins jumping around.
But enough about the view, the food exceeded my expectations. It was moderately priced for a Mexican restaurant and very similar to what I'd pay at El Torito. And the ambience there is fantastic. The set up of their tables is formal, and you don't get tortilla chips as a starter. They had bread rolls, with the choice of cornbread or small rolls with bits of olive in it.
I ordered a combo of a halibut taco, spanish rice, black beans and a beef tamale was about $13.
Megan ordered a chicken tostada salad:
I couldn't get over the presentation of this salad.
And the food, as pretty as it all looked, was so delicious. I usually don't order fish tacos outside of what my mom makes at home and what they have at Rubio's, but surprisingly, the halibut wasn't too dry, and it was very flavorful. I almost always order tamales at any Mexican restaurant I go to, and this was also very delicious. The meat was tender, and the masa wasn't dry or bland. I was struggling to finish both my taco and tamale, and only ate maybe five bites of my rice. It was a very filling meal all together.
Service: 10 out of 10 – Our server was attentive and very polite. I was about to give a 69.5 out of 10 on this one, as she kinda flubbed with forgetting to bring the soup I ordered. But not only did she suggest to bring me one free of charge, she gave me one in the most perfect size for a sample of it. If I had this soup in a smaller cup, it would've been such a waste.
It was a chicken curry soup. I don't usually like food with coconut in it, but this wasn't bad at all.
Essential order: I would say that halibut taco was essential, but I have to say that I had the absolute BEST Arnold Palmer there. It's not that it's a hard drink to make, but what they offered me was perfect. They even gave me an extra bottle of lemonade too.
Price: Be willing to spend at least up to $15-$20 for yourself for lunch, and I'd say $30-$40 for dinner. It's not that the dinner menu was that pricey. I just imagine a perfect dinner there would be to get one of the $20+ entrees, appetizer, nice glass of wine, and possibly some dessert.
Thing to know:
- Expect a long wait time during peak hours, especially if you're set on dining outside.
