That picture is not from my phone. I just wanted to point that out. Been working a lot and working crazy. Needed to do some Tacoteering, so I did. Amber and I had early meetings this morning at Built, but USC. We had to get up to the office, but of course decided to take a slight detour into the Echo Park area of Los Angeles. Maya's has been on my hit list for sometime now. Melissa Chan, a friend from growing up took a picture of this place and posted it on my Facebook. I've wanted to go there since I first laid eyes on this building. I would show a picture of Melissa for all of you to see, but opted to post a picture of her husband Mark, a member of The Order of the Taco. Mark is a very pretty man who I'm glad to have as a friend.
Yeah, that is a winning smile. This place is 1600 North Alvarado. Pretty easy to find. It is where Alvarado hits Glendale Blvd. We parked on the street on the side and walked in. There is a cool bench right outside, I just have to show you.
I just really like that bench. It says "yes, we sell authentic tacos in here." There is a strong following and Maya's has been around for a while. The ambiance was perfect. They have a big flat screened TV and it had a bear juggling on there which was so entertaining to me. They have a jukebox, a grabber thing to try to win stuffed animals and then a shelf where they were selling peanuts and cup of noodles. It was pretty wacky, but perfect. The decor is a bit dated maybe, but really good.
The open sign was on that table for most of our meal, they hung it out by the front door before we left. Pretty crazy. The menu is huge, in size. It looks really big, but they don't have a ton of things. They make a few meats, a few salsas and then do a variety of things with them. I really like that. If you don't know by now, I love when places stick to what they know.
Big menu right? The people that work there are so nice. They might have been some of the nicest folks as a whole. It was great to be around them. They all seemed so happy to work there, so happy to be there and so happy to connect with each guest, and that was so great. It really just makes the experience that much better. They utilize the old school steam wells right up front behind a sneeze guard.
That just gets me excited. Lets go, lets get to it. I know this is what you want:
RATINGS:
COCHINITA PIBIL: 3, good stuff, but nothing amazing. It does not hold a candle to some of their other meats.
CHICHARRON de VERDE: 4, this stuff was great. I normally like my chicharron really crispy, but this stuff was great. It is more like a guisado style pork, but it was so good. Sweet green sauce with some nice layered flavors.
CHICHARRON de ROJO: 5, yes. Yes, that is a 5. It was spicy on the back, sweet on the front, salty in the middle. Good, all the way through. I was really impressed with the way that they did this. It was just downright good stuff that I could eat all day.
CHICHARRON y QUESO: 4, this was a pupusa. I had three tacos and a pupusa. Oh man, oh man. They have a few different pupusas and this one was so delicious. It was so nice, hot, tender and sweet masa really made this a necessity when I go back. Yes, I said when.
SLAW: 2, the cabbage slaw that they give you for the pupusas was not that great. It lacked the depth and flavor that so much of their other food has. It really made me sad.
SALSA: 3, they had a regular salsa that was a 3. It was a run of the mill good salsa.
SALSA PICANTE: 5, this might be my second favorite salsa of all time. It was so good. I was just drinking this stuff. It was one of the hottest salsas I've ever eaten. I really enjoyed it. It was thin, lots of habeneros. Oh my goodness, my mouth is watering just typing about this.
Check out that spread! I love the two slices of avocado on each taco. So nice! My plate is the one pupusa with three tacos, the other plate is Amber's. That small ramekin of salsa is the magical goodness that nailed a 5! I also have to say that the silverware was amazing. Really nice, really heavy. An unexpected nice touch. These guys did it right.
Yesterday, I joined the Instagram to get more taco pictures out for the Order of the Taco and its followers. This was the first Instagram photo I send out so I really feel like it needed to make the blog. Please do follow me on Instagram, you'll never guess the name...
Here's the deal, this place is great. I think you see the rave reviews. Is it a top 5? No, it is probably a top 10, but still can't match Rincon Taurino, El Tarasco, Los Cinco Puntos, Guisado's and some of the other greats that are out there. I will go back, I will recommend, but it's not one of the "big guys" for me.
Thank you for reading, following on Twitter, Instagram, the blog. Thanks for the posts, re-posts, re-tweets and telling your friends, foes and everyone else in between. Before I sign off, you do get the goodbye gratuitous photo of who I was with. Here is a picture of Amber giving off a fake looking smile. Why is it fake? I don't know. She is with her handsome, intelligent husband Eric. Don't you just wan to hug him? I know I do. His smile looks genuine and sweet.
Stay Excellent!
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