Double Dipping in Glendale, Gina's Tacos/Los Tres Hermanas

I just love tacos and Tacoteering.  My good friend Brandon and I have been trying to hook up for tacos for a while now.  I keep getting on planes flying around for work, Brandon has been working like crazy selling homes in Southern California.  Finally, we were able to get together and do what we do, eat some tacos.  We plotted out the plan of heading to one place in Glendale called El Toro.  Supposedly it is open from 9-3 on Sundays.  It was not open at all when we went.  The mixed reviews and feedback had us wanting to try the place out for ourselves.  It was either a scathing review or glowing review.  The best part of the reviews is the one's that are clearly put on their by the owner of the business.  He talks in them about what a nice guy he is.  I wanted to meet this guy and quietly snicker and laugh.

Taco destiny took us about 250 feet down the street to Gina's.  Gina's is an interesting little spot.  The guys working there were pretty nice.  Menu is simple but cool.  I was really intrigued that they have cerviche on the menu at all times.  I was craving a taco experience so bad that I did not try the cerviche, but a guy that was there got some and it looked pretty decent.  Maybe next time...

Looks pretty cool.  Pricing is not too bad.  Seriously, if your tacos start to eclipse that magical $1.50 mark, you are probably getting a taco with filler and of inferior quality.  This place was pretty quick.  They have a few tables sort of  in front of the joint and then a covered tent in the back which has a few tables.  There was a liquor store behind it which looked newly remodeled and nice.

RATINGS:
LENGUA: 3, this place is solid, but it is nothing special.  Tender, but not overly flavorful.
POLLO: 3, again it is pretty run of the mill, nothing exciting about it, but not bad.
PASTOR: 2, my heart is yearning for great pastor.  I'm dreaming about pastor every night lately, this fell far short.  It really seemed like older meat that they threw a bunch of spices on.
BUCHE: 3, usually it has to be really crispy for me to like it, but not the case here.  It was good, but not amazing.  I'd eat it again.
ASADA: 4, kind of surprised by this one.  Nice use of chili powder, well melded flavors, yeah, I liked this asada more then a lot.
CHICHARRON: 4, yeah, boom.  This stuff was different and good.  It was almost stewed in spicy red sauce like a guisado, it was really a nice surprise.  I would recommend you making a trip to try this, it is just unique, but unique in a great way.

Radish is always a nice touch right?  We ate our food and were pondering the drive back to the SFV, but then thought we were already in Glendale, lets hit up another place.  We asked around, we looked around, the use of smart phones were of course a part of the next decision.  Taco Destiny took us not far from where we were to Los Tres Hermanas.

I love the flag in the window.  Great reflection of me taking the picture too.  The sign may not be lit "open," but it was open!  The inside is a bit strange.  Open style kitchen, there is a "bar" area, no liquor but you can sit up on the counter to eat.  There was some dude chowing on some delicious looking taquitos while we were there.  They have Tapatio which is a plus.  Ultimately they just don't season their food very well.  They cook the food correctly, very nicely as a matter of fact, but they don't season it.  The texture is on point, the tenderness is there, the seasoning is just not happening.

The chick working there was kind of nice.  Not super personable, but fairly nice.  The restaurant is clean and well maintained, if you are into that kind of thing.  Brandon and I ordered and began having the discussion that is burning on all of our minds.  Dodger games on TV.  Seriously, can they come to a damn agreement so that we can all see all of the games.  I'm on the road a ton and it really pisses me off that most providers do not have access to the games.  We want to see the Dodgers and we can't make it to every game, heck, I'll be lucky to hit two games this year, but that doesn't mean I don't want to see all of them!
RATINGS:
LENGUA: 2, nothing to write home about.  Just not very good, it lacked the flavor that is so great with lengua.  The meat really soaks up the seasoning or marinade that you put on it and that is part of what makes this meat one of my favorites.
ASADA: 2, yeah, a 2.  It was just cooked meat.  No salt, no pepper, no flavor to it.  I also think that they slightly over cooked it.  Yucky.
PASTOR: 2, I hope everyone is keeping count.  We hit one more bad pastor, that is three in a row, that calls for a burn, a crisis alert, a bad review.  This stuff lacked, flavor, depth, anything.
CARNITAS: 3, I added a little salt and this turned into a surprise.  It was pretty good.  They really know how to cook it to give it the right texture, but it lacked in the flavor department.

The unexpected chips and salsa were cool.  Sadly the salsa kind of sucked.  The lemons were old and lacked a good amount of juice.  They were not rancid, but did not have that nice citrus pop that lemons should.  Everywhere I go I really do try to find the "best" part of the place aside from the wonderful company I usually have when I go Tacoteering.  For this place, it is the mural on the wall.  This thing is great.  It must be the three badass sisters.  Rifle in one hand, bullets across the chest.  I loved it.

How rad is that photo?  I seriously think it is fantastic.  If their food was a third as cool as that photo, I think this place could have been a favorite.  It was great catching up with Brandon.  We are both excited for hockey playoffs to start, baseball season is underway and we are rooting hard for the boys in blue!  I'm so lucky to have such a great friend like Brandon.

Moral of the story for today is I Love LA!  I travel quite often.  I go to some places that suck and some places that are pretty fantastic.  I've lived and spent time in a bunch of cities throughout this amazing country, and no where, no where else can you go up the street and hit one awesome taco place after another.  The bad tacos in LA are the best tacos in so many of these other cities.  We are so fortunate to have so many places with so many great tacos.  The Order of the Taco was born in LA and that is because we have it.  We have the tacos.  San Diego is the only other place I suggest you go if you really want to do some serious Taco Crawling.

Thanks for reading, thanks for being a part of this blog.  A huge thank you to my good friend Brandon for taking a couple of hours out of his day to catch up, vent about craziness of work and life, enjoy great stories of his upcoming wedding and all the amazing things going on in his life.  Really cool day.  Please do keep reading, re-tweeting, re-posting, telling your friends and getting the word out about The Order of the Taco.

Before I go, as always, you get a gratuitous good-bye photo.  Today's is just perfect.  It is Brandon on the pay phone.  A $0.25 pay phone none the less.  So rare to find these in working order these days.  I remember diving to use a pay phone when my beeper would go off, now with our cell phones, we don't have much use, but we sure were intrigued by seeing this bad boy, we had to get a picture with Brandon on it!  Enjoy!

It looks so natural, right?

Stay Excellent Everyone!!!