Tacos El Gallito - Westwood

A few years ago if someone said that they ate some good tacos from a taco truck in West LA you would probably want to punch them in the face. Or at least call them a newb for not knowing what a good taco is. But its 2012 and I’m here to announce that the era of bad tacos on the streets of West LA is over. Well, you’ll still find bad tacos from taco trucks in West LA, just not at the corner of Santa Monica Blvd and Westwood. At this corner you’ll find good tacos.


carne asada $1.50 each

I’m not sure what’s been going on with El Gallito but I like it. The carne asada they’ve been slinging at this truck and some of their other trucks has been top notch. Back in October I gave a mixed review for the El Gallito truck that parks day and night at the corner of La Brea and Venice (bad during the day , good at night). That truck busts out the charcoal grill at night and has developed a bit of a following despite parking across the street from the legendary Tacos Leo.


at night the counter is stocked with salsas and all the fixins


el gallito carne asada...I think ur freaky and I like you a lot.

For what its worth I’ve also found the carne asada to be slightly better at the Westwood location at night, though they're still pretty good during the day. I’m not sure why this is but I’ve been eating from the El Gallito truck for a few weeks now and it seems to be the case. The al pastor and carnitas are okay but are lesser tacos when compared to the carne asada which is just a ridiculously addictive taco. For optimum flavor drizzle some of their salsa verde over your tacos and have a freshly grilled jalapeno ready to chomp on.

4/5

El Gallito
Westwood Blvd and Santa Monica Blvd
Tacos $1.50

Gringo Taco Showdown- Tacos Por Favor vs Taco Plus

tacos por favor hard shell taco $3.35


For the second installment of the Gringo Taco Showdown I decided to pit two Westside taco establishments against each other. Tacos Por Favor is pretty well known to anyone who eats tacos and lives on the Westside. Their chorizo and cheese taco with the spicy salsa roja never disappoints. The carne asada is above average as well. It’s the Westside so you’re going to pay more. Soft tacos are over $2 each and the hard shell taco I had was around $3.60 with tax. But generally everything at Tacos Por Favor is pretty good.

Taco Plus however might be the blandest taqueria in all of LA. Now and then someone will tell me I need to try the tacos at Taco Plus. I can only gather that these people have never been east of La Brea if they think these are good tacos. Not to mention they are also around $2.25 a taco.

The Tacos Por Favor hard shell taco came with carne asada which was suprising. I don’t think I’ve ever had a carne asada hard shell taco. It also came with pico de gallo, sour cream, and guacamole. The asada was fresh and seasoned well and the shell was nice and crispy. I’m not sure this taco falls into the gringo taco category. It’s not what I generally look for when I get that gringo taco urge and I probably wouldn’t order it again. But it was good for what it was.





I was looking forward to the Taco Plus gringo taco. They even call it a gringo taco on their menu. It comes with the three main ingredients associated with the gringo taco: ground beef, lettuce, and grated cheese. However, this may be the worst gringo taco I’ve ever had. The ground beef was cold, unseasoned, and tasted like it had been sitting around all afternoon.



Sometimes for a treat I will cook up some ground beef for my dog. After draining the fat I’ll let it sit and cool for a bit and then spoon some in her dish. The beef has a very bland, beefy, unseasoned taste to it but she loves it. Well, that’s what this beef tasted like. My dog loved this taco but she doesn’t blog, I do.

Winner: Tacos Por Favor

Gringo Taco Showdown- El Taco vs Pepe's

Ever since I ate the horrendous dorito loco taco I have been thinking about the American hard shell taco. It is commonly referred to as the gringo taco and this is as good a name as any I can think of. For many people the gringo taco is what comes to mind when they think of tacos.

I was also thinking about how once I had graduated to “real tacos” I began to disassociate myself from the gringo taco. I think this happens to all taco eaters. At some point we reject the gringo taco as something inauthentic, too white, and just a bastardized version of a real taco. This rejection of the gringo taco is similar to how the American teenager pretends not to know their parents during their formative teenage years. Then they reach a certain age when it is ok to admit to their peers that they have parents. Similarly, the taco eater eventually comes around and admits to his peers that he eats gringo tacos.

My ideal gringo taco comes with a prefabricated taco shell, ground beef, lettuce, cheese and hot sauce. Tomato is cool too but not a deal breaker. Shredded beef will do too. The gringo taco just must have some kind of beef. My favorite gringo taco remains the 1980’s Taco Bell taco; may it rest in peace.

So for every tuesday for as long as I feel like eating gringo tacos I will put two gringo tacos against each other and then determine which taco I enjoyed more. This week’s taco showdown starts in the city of Downey where I munched on gringos from both El Taco and Pepe’s.







I was really looking forward to El Taco after reading a little about its history. Apparently Glen Bell modeled the original Taco Bell taco after the tacos at El Taco. So as I was getting closer to Downey I felt a little tingle go up my leg. Was I once again going to taste that magical taco of the 80’s? It was too much to bare really. And I should have known I was setting myself up for disappointment because after that first crunchy bite I quickly realized I was eating a very poor taco with overly seasoned ground beef that did not taste good. I started to wonder if I had heard correctly about this El Taco – Taco Bell connection and then I started to wonder if the 1980’s Taco Bell taco was really that good to begin with. Had I just tricked myself all these years into thinking it was better than it ever was? Had time deceived me or had El Taco met the same tragic fate as Taco Bell?






With the bad taste of El Taco in my mouth I drove about five minutes until I came to Pepe’s. Someone once mentioned that this Pepe’s makes a good bean and cheese burrito so I ordered one with my taco. The bean and cheese burrito was good but it was too big and I became demoralized as I got half way through it and the beans began to gush out of the bottom on to the plastic tray. If it was the best bean and cheese burrito in the world then I would have implemented an all hands on deck approach to save the burrito. This would have included using tortilla chips to stabilize the leak or in an extreme case saving the burrito by allowing some of the beans to gush out and then grafting the wrapper to the bottom of the burrito, attaching napkins to my palm, and then eating it with the base of the burrito sitting firmly cupped on my palm. It is a ridiculous way to eat a burrito and should really only be implemented with really good burritos.

The taco was big as well and it really required a fork to eat . The beef was shredded and had okay flavor. The cheese spilled out all over the wrapper and there was a lot of lettuce.It was not a fun taco to eat and eating tacos should be fun. I ate about half of it.

Well there you have it my friends. This was the first gringo taco showdown and there should be many more to come. I wouldn’t order either of these tacos again so there is no winner this week.

Taco Bell's Doritos Locos Taco

If you’re under 30 you probably don’t remember how good Taco Bell tacos once were. You’re probably thinking I’m having a laugh or that I’ve finally gone mad but it's true.Now make no mistake, these weren’t the kind of tacos you’ll find on the streets of Boyle Heights or El Sereno. But they were traditional tacos in their own way; crunchy ground beef tacos that were greasy and delicious.

I don’t remember the exact date when the Taco Bell taco began to degrade in quality but it was some time around the beginning of the 1990’s. Like most young people during this time I used to eat at Taco Bell religiously and when the poor quality taco came to be me and my pals recognized it instantly. Everything changed about the taco right down to the type of pre-made taco shell used. The Pre-90’s tacos were packed with fresh finely grated cheese. Post-90? A few strands of thick cheese that taste like they were grated during the Reagan Administration. Pre-90’s Taco Bell ground beef was cooked at the restaurant. Post-90’s “beef”? Outsourced to Mars I think. It’s funky, mushy, and just gross. The only thing that hasn’t changed at Taco Bell is the hot sauce. The only difference is with post-90’s tacos you need about 6 of them per taco to prevent the gag-reflex.



Which brings us to Taco Bell’s latest disaster, the doritos loco taco. It’s a post-90’s taco(gross beef, a few strands of cheese) with a doritos flavored taco shell. The commercial says one guy drove 965 miles to get one; I drove two. I really only have two words to say to Taco Bell about this taco and I think I’ve been waiting since 1990 to say them. Fuck you.

Guisados- East LA

Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;

-Keats "To Autumn"



It’s the first day of spring and I’m back. I wasn’t really gone but I’ve been really lazy. It’s easy to be lazy during the winter. I know, it’s LA, we don’t really have proper seasons, but now it’s spring, and I feel like I’m back. Back from what, I’m not sure. But that’s the thing about spring. You feel brand new. I saw a bird yesterday and I said to him, “tomorrow is spring” and he said, “go fuck yourself” but today I’m sure he would say, “it sure is!”


Guisados sampler taco plate

Guisados has been very popular with LA taco aficionados since they opened their doors. It took my awhile to try the tacos. It usually does with the popular places. And since the blog has mostly been about taco trucks the last couple of years rather than taquerias I hadn’t written about Guisados until now. Well, what a mistake, guisados may be my favorite place for tacos in all of LA. LA Taco asked me for my top tacos in LA recently for their Taco Madness, I put Guisados cochinita pibil #1.I really love this taco.But all the tacos on the sampler are great. The chicken mole with sesame seeds is delicious; the bistec with chile rojo is a wondrous blend of tender beef, beans, and chile, the tinga de pollo and chicharon are also unforgettable.

Some friends from Scotland were visiting LA and wanted go out for tacos. Normally I take out of town people to El Taurino for a pitcher of beer to wash down some carne asada and al pastor with the spicy salsa roja. But this time we went to Guisados. They had never had homemade tortillas before. They wanted to move to LA after eating their tacos. Not just LA but right across the street from Guisados. They talked about the tacos everyday for a week. Scrap the itinerary they said. Forget Disneyland they said. Take us to Guisados. Forget Hollywood they said. Take us to Guisados.Forget Venice Beach they said.Forget Malibu too. Forget everything you know about tacos. Forget the lonely days of winter. Just sing us the songs of spring.

5/5

2100 E Cesar Chavez Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90033
(323) 264-7201
http://www.guisados.com