2007 April archive at goodgoings: mostly good

Archive for April, 2007

Apr

El Chato- Taco Stand- Olympic and La Brea

By paul 3 Comments

Categories: food, tacos and within a 20 min drive of USC

Benefit of the Doubt

El Chato

Anthony and I have been itching to cut a taco swath westward and fill out our Flickr Taco Map. And so my pal Kyle, upon hearing of our westward bound taco ambition, tipped us off to a Mid-City Taco stand named El Chato.

El Chato, like all greatly positioned taco stands, sits in a car repair shop parking lot from 7pm til 2 am- nightly. A pastor spit sits on the the main counter- gleaming like a meat beacon under the dim street lights of La Brea. Kyle, swore by scouts honor- that the al pastor tacos here rivaled El Taurino and King Taco standard. Of course, Anthony and I had to put this claim to the test.

No Carnitas?!?!?!

I ordered 3 pastor tacos, 2 carne asada tacos and one lingua plus a horchata. They had no carnitas option- which was appalling, but they included roasted sweet onions- which was a plus!
Pastor, Asada y Lingua
The asada tacos were quite salacious! Their texture was slightly chewy and packed with savoriness. I found them to be a bit saltier than the standard asada taco, which I happened to like. Anthony disagreed with my opinion though, stating they were thinner than the average taco and nothing really worth getting excited about.

The pastor tacos were great! They were drenched in marinade and had just the right amount of hotness. Its texture was tender, the sauce sweet, and left the mouth with a pleasant burning sensation. Its suprising to get tasty pastor out of a taco truck because the meat spit doesn’t benefit from being out in the night air as many a good pastor stand is.

The lingua taco was savory, slightly pasty and overall decent. Nothing really to say about it, so if I were you I’d stick to the pasotor and carne asada. The horchata was delicious despite being a bit milkier than most joints. However, this was welcome to pacify the hotness of the al pastor.

Overall, El Chato was pretty damned good. However, my stomach was churning for the next two days. Anthony and Kyle were fine- so either I had some remnants of the terrible cod fish I had from Mission 261 in San Gabriel left in my belly- or something in the tacos killed me. Tacos don’t usually do me wrong, so I’ll blame it on the cod and maybe the lingua. I usually stick to the trifecta of pastor, asada, and carnitas; lingua is outside of my routine. So, I’ll leave El Chato with the benefit of the doubt- because they sure tasted good going down.

El Chato

Corner of Olympic and La Brea in Los Angeles, Open 7pm till 2am

Grade: B+

Horchata Grade: B+

Positives: Cheap, Good Asada and Pastor, Free Grilled Sweet Onions, Toothpicks
Negatives: No Carnitas, My Stomach Got Pwned
PS Oje Mijo!!!!

Apr

Flickr

By El Jefe 0 Comments

Categories: food

Trying out the flickr map…

Apr

Chichen Itza

By El Jefe 6 Comments

Categories: food and within walking distance from USC

Hidden in plain sight in the Mercado la Paloma, Chichen Itza is located right across the street from the DMV near the USC campus.

This place sells Yucatan food and sits toward the back of the market…you’ll first walk past the Oaxacan stand with the interesting looking desserts, vegan ice creams, and fresh juices.

A vegan friend first told me about this place, but there is plenty of meat on the menu. Pictured below the cochinita pibil which is a slow roasted pork that is served up with rice, black beans, and tortillas. There was a habanero chilie sitting on top of the tender pork that I avoided biting into - cause its just too many Scoville units for me to handle.

Check out Chichen Itza for Mexican food that’s close to campus…it doesn’t smell like a horse stable like La Barca does, and it beats Chano’s when the sun is still out. According to their website, Chichen Itza has a location in Koreatown as well. Oh yeah, it’s pretty cheap too, considering the quality and presentation.

Apr

Special Taco Review: El Buen Sabor Taqueria- 18th and Mission, San Francisco

By paul 1 Comment

Categories: food, travel and tacos

Last month, I was in San Francisco on business and decided to head down to the Mish for some taco goodness. My friends from the Bay are always talking smack on LA tacos saying the Mish gots the goods. Well, I had to put that notion to the test.

So, among my afternoon wandering of the Mission- I stumbled upon El Buen Sabor Taqueria on 18th Street. Now usually, I don’t do resturaunts unless I get a good tip. But, I was a stranger in a strange land and my belly was empty.

The place had a small kitchen like charm. It had the usual goods: carne asada, carnitas, al pastor et al. I decided I’d go with two carnitas, one carne asada and one al pastor taco con todas (everything).
Usually, when I order everything that means onions, cilantro, and the salsa of choice. But in San Francisco that also means black beans- which I was somewhat appalled by. When I get a fried hard shell taco- I expect beans- but not within a soft shelled street taco. Still, I wasn’t about to diss the taco lady in her kitchen so I begrundginly accepted my tacos con frijoles.

The al pastor y carne asada tacos were- decent. The pastor was savory but not seasoned well enough and the carne asada was suffered from not being freshly grilled. The beans were prominently tasted over the meat, which is fine, if your a hippie vegetarian. I was ready to call up some of my SF friends and laugh over the phone, until I tried the carnitas.

Dios mijo, Batman! T carnitas were well shred which allowed for a amazingly crispy texture. They were fresh off the grill allowing them to be piping hot and reeking with savoryness. The meat overpowered the beans and harmonized nicely with the salsa roja. Coupled with some delicious horchata, I closed my eyes and for a second felt like I was eating at Taco Zone back home in Echo Park.

San Francisco, you pass the test. Saved by the skin of a piggy.

El Buen Sabor

Overall Taco Grade: B, Carnita Grade: A+

Horchata Grade: A

Positives: Nice Setting, Good Service, Delicious Horchata and Carnitas

Negatives: Pricey, Beans, So-So Asada and Al Pastor

Price: $1.75 a taco

At the Corner of 18th and Mission Street, San Francisco CA

Apr

taco taco

By El Jefe 0 Comments

Categories: tacos

sent to us by matt korba

Apr

the end is near..

By El Jefe 3 Comments

Categories: food

…at least for pushcart vendors in Gardena. Matt Korba tips us to the possible end of street vendors in Gardena .

There’s an article about it here, and one from the Daily Breeze. Where a person states

“..But, I don’t want them here. It’s not healthy. I’m pretty sure if they sell tamales on the street corner, they can’t be too clean.”

Well, I’m all for sanitary food, but street food, at least in every other country, is some of the tastiest food and I’d hate to see the end of tasty food.