LOGO DESIGN COMPETITION, DESPERATE HELP IS NEEDED!

THE ORDER OF THE TACO IS CALLING YOU FOR HELP:

How's it going?  So we need a logo for The Order of the Taco.  Something original, something tacoesque.  I have absolutely no talent for this kind of stuff.  I have debated on how to go about this for some time.  Here is why I'm reaching out:

The Order of the Taco has a great following.  I've received great messages and feedback so far.  I feel like the following is going to keep growing for a bit.  I have great love for The Order.  I want to know how you see us.  How each person that reads, that shares in the experiences feels about the Order.  This is why I'm asking for help designing the Logo from anyone and everyone.  Whatever you see, whatever you think.  I ask a couple of things:

• don't waste my time with jokes
• be creative
• have fun
• incorporate anything you've seen or taken from reading the blogs
• give some thoughts and ideas to colors to go with it or in the background
• I have no preference for colors, if you know me, light to dark, pink to blue to purple to grey works
• If you need or want to use some of our Terms, check the dictionary, use them, or don't...

What is this logo for?

• Representing The Order of the Taco
• Shirts, hats, I don't know for sure yet
• It will be on the blogs, duh

How to get this to me:

Email me at either: CZaferis@Gmail.com or TheOrderoftheTaco@Gmail.com

If yours is picked:

• I'll take you and me out for some personal tacoteering when we are in the same city and you can help me rate and judge the places that we go for the blog
• I'll send you a t-shirt with the logo on it
• I'll be your friend
• 2 minutes of uniteruppted eye contact from me
• 3 unsolicited high fives
• 2 really amazing, high level hugs from me

Thank you to all for your time, I really hope that someone reaches out with something cool.  Stay Excellent!

Taqueria Cuernavaca, Ventura, CA

I know, the menu looks solid.  So, my dad and I are helping my brother, who is single ladies, oh, did I mention his name is Doctor Uncle Paul?  He has a great place, walking distance from the beach in Ventura, CA.  He is a doctor of physical therapy.  He is great with kids, my three kids love Doctor Uncle Paul, he loves dogs, Buck is his dog who goes everywhere with him, except for work.  Anyways, shoot me a message, I'll guide you single ladies towards him.  Oh yeah, the tacos.  We are helping Paul move into his great new place.  We decide we are going to do some quick tacoteering.  They stay back to get the place set, I run to a joint I've been to a couple of times.  I've loved the food.  This place had the potential to be a staple for me.  As I'm sure you're all tired of hearing, I'm in the restaurant industry.  We know that we are only as good as our last shift.  We can have years of success, but a bad visit or two is detrimental to our existence.  I'm often reminded we are one bad yelp review away from being an empty restaurant.

This is Paul, Buck and my son Alexander.  Told you he is good with kids...

Here he is dressed as Robin, what a sense of adventure...

This is him celebrating Easter last year with the family.  He is in the blue shirt next to me.  PJ is with us.  We are so happy to be together.  Paul is again showboating his great family values...

Like I said ladies, he is successful and single.  Message me for more information about him!

Back to Tacoteering:

I normally have a great time at Taqueria Cuernavaca.  This visit hurt.  It hurt my soul.  It has taken me a few days to write this as I've struggled with what to say.  I have to write about my last visit.  Not the good times that I've enjoyed.  Start off, that they are rude.  They have been every time.  Food took forever, that is normal.  I got overcharged, they never fixed it, yeah, I'm frustrated.  Come on, win me over with the taco delightfulness.  This did not happen.  I'll start by saying everything was dry.  Salsa bar is still on point and pretty darn good.

RATINGS:
SALSA BAR: 3, solid.  The green avocado salsa is their best by far, giving it a 4.  Their orange is a solid 3, their Jalapeno is a 2.
PASTOR: 2, um, you normally have it coming off the cone!  This stuff was dry and not off the cone.  Your cone was empty!  Why are you wasting this genius, wonderful piece of equipment?
CHULETA: 1, if you like to eat shoe, you might like this.  It was tough and horrid.  It tasted old and was chewy.  I can't say enough bad things, normally pretty delicious.
LENGUA: 4, I will say that this was pretty yummy. Flavorful, buttery, nicely cooked.  This was by far the highlight of the trip.
CECINA: 2, I am a huge cecina fan.  I love this stuff.  I mean it is an Asada alternative that just diversifies the meat a bit, at least when it is done right.  Way overcooked and dried out.
ASADA: 2, Eww.  Let me repeat eww.  Horrible...

Here's the deal.  I think that everything is just sitting under heat lamps for extended periods of time.  I mean, really long times.  It is unacceptable.  They know how to cook, they are too focused on being a factory.  Please don't rest on your taco laurels, strive for taco greatness.  I will not be returning for a very long time, if ever.  I'll just have to find other places to go.  This is sad, you are conveniently located and I use to like going.  I write this with a tear falling from my eye.

Thanks everyone for reading.  I do appreciate it.  We are starting to get a strong following.  I love the momentum.  Please help me keep this momentum going.  Retweet, share, whatever you can do is appreciated.  We are also looking for someone to help design a logo for us.  Email me if you have some thoughts.  I'm going to make some T-Shirts.  Thanks again, Stay Excellent Everyone.

El Faro, Sylmar/San Fernando, CA: WOW

To every ying, there is a yang.  A time to reap, a time to sew.  Yesterday was one of the worst visits I had to a restaurant in my entire existence.  If you did not read about it, check it out and fulfill that morbid curiosity that is looming inside of you.  Bask in your happiness of not having to endure the foul tastes and experience that I had to call "lunch" on Thursday.  Know this, Karma has come back to me today and apologized.  I have again fulfilled my Taco Destiny for the day.  It is amazing how much brighter the sun shines today.  The warm glow of its rays just make me feel better and better.  I think I even heard birds chirping a song for me as I left this rare gem, found in the foothills of Sylmar, CA.

El Faro is a recommendation from a genius of a woman.  A truly brilliant lady that has forever changed all of our lives by sharing this information with the right people.  Rosa Mora had passed the knowledge of this place onto me through my mother as they work together.  I have been thinking about going for some time, and the time became today.  I needed a "pick me up" after yesterday's fiasco.  I hoped that El Faro would deliver.  If you are familiar with the 118-210 interchange, then you are close.  It is right off of McClay, and I mean right off.  Just head toward San Fernando and just before you hit the sign, on the corner of McClay and Bromont you will find this place, you are welcome for passing this on.

Menu is good.  Great options, but sticks to what they know.  I can assure you, that if you walk in, see the spit going round and it looks right, it is.  I had to look around and noticed no grilled pineapple.  OK, I'm still interested.  You could smell this place from down the street.  Even if I was slumming it in my mommy's Lexus.  I know, I missed Dolly too.  The only thing that kept me going is the Blue Suede Shoes I'm wearing and channel 19, Elvis Radio on XM.  FYI, food flies out of this kitchen.  I barely finished paying and my food was ready.  I saw everyone's food coming out like this.  What a treat to see this team work like this.  Real teamwork.  I love it, it makes it so much better for my experience to see this.  My anticipation and excitement grew as I got my plate.

I had to head over to the massive, two picture salsa bar.  Red/Green salsa, fried jalepenos with salt on them, sauteed onions, cilantro, raw onions, limes, cucumbers, and on and on and on.  I was so excited I started to salivate more and more.  I mean this was exciting, really exciting.

This leads us to the table and the eating which was more then delightful, so without further a due, the Ratings...

RATINGS:
SALSA VERDE: 5, So spicy, so delicious, layered with flavor after flavor.  This coats your tongue from front to back and hits your throat with a delightful tingle.  It is a hot one, not for the fair tonged.
SALSA ROJO: 4, I liked it a ton, but 5's are not easy to come by, I mean they have to knock my socks off.  This stuff was good.  Juallios are involved and they were soaked in vinegar for sure, worth trying, I'd say it is a great compliment to the chicken and leaner meats, check out the verde for the fattier meats.
SALSA BAR: 5, no way this place could have gotten better.  This thing had it all and I'm about to weep just writing about it.
POLLO: 3, solid all the way through.  It was really good.  Light, seasoned, not overcooked.  I think it is very good and has solid neutral flavors that kids and adults alike will enjoy.
TRIPA: 4, they know what they are doing.  One bite and you will taste what I mean.  This stuff was succulent.  If you don't like tripa or think you don't, try this, you might have your mind changed.
LENGUA:  4, what?  There is another above 3?  I'm shocked too, but when someone deserves it, they get it.  This stuff is something special.  Soft, but good, cut nicely, not too big, not too small.  Boiled, then hits the flat top is my guess, nicely done.
ASADA: 5, I'll preface this with, I don't know if we'll ever see a 5 on Asada again.  This is a hard one for me to say above 3.  They cook with something, I'm not sure what, but I'm going back to taste it out.  This is not your abuela's Asada.  this is some interesting, complex stuff.
PASTOR: 5, yeah, I mean it.  This is Rincon Taurino good.  I mean, the business, right here.  They put cold pineapple on top, didn't think I was going to enjoy, I normally don't, but I was proven wrong at first bite.  WOW, great job.

A fried little corn tortilla finds its way onto your plate.  It is perfect.  Great for scooping and tasting the salsa, but not distracting.  The guys and gal working there are great.  I was talking to them post meal and loved their time.  I really think that if you are experimenting with tacoterring, you need to check this place out, you will not be disappointed.

A very special thank you to Rosa Mora.  She directed me towards this place and says they have a truck that upholds the amazing integrity that the restaurant has.  Rosa, you will forever be a friend and advisor of The Order of the Taco.  If anyone has sent me a place, I'll get there, Rosa set the bar pretty high on this one!  Thanks Rosa!

Thanks to everyone who is following and getting the blogs sent to their email, please tell your friends, enemies, acquaintances and passer byes!  Stay Excellent Everyone.

El Don Pepe-Jefferson Park...Los Angeles

Order of the Taco

I really took one for the team here.  This might have, and by might have I mean by far is the worst place that I've been to.  Lets start with how I got here.  I was leaving a restaurant heading towards Home Office.  I was driving down beautiful Jefferson towards Culver City.  This vibrant neighborhood has some very interesting residents.  I knew I was going to be writing a bunch of 5's or a bunch of 2's.  You can guess by the tone, or just wait until you read below.

I pulled over at Ed Don Pepe's.  This place is sort of into/attached to a coin laundry mat.  Really cool people hanging out around here.  Many folks were eager to speak to me.  I know, I was the token motorcycle rider.  When I walked up to the counter area, there was a young lady that was ordering food.  Well, she was trying.  There was a huge language gap here.  Anyhow, the girl's total was $2.51.  She was unhappy with this.  She said that she only had $2.  She asked me for the $.51.  I told here that I had a penny and would be happy to give it to her, but that I didn't have that much change.  She told me that it was "bullshit" that I did not have the $.51 for her.  I apologized.  She then pulled another dollar out, shook her head at me and said "I guess I gots to give her another full dollar cause you ain't got me $.51!"  I again told her I embarrassed myself and apologized.

I finally got to order and was a bit taken back by the selection.  Pastor, Asada, Pollo.  Yep that is it.  She told me they also had some eggs, when I asked if that was really all that they had.  Really?  In this neighborhood, you have only those three options.  She said that they don't have time to do anything else.  This should have been the sign that I needed to know to walk away right then.  I tacoed on and decided to stay.  I asked the lady to make me four tacos, one of each and a second of their "best" meat.  I received two "asada" tacos and one each of "pastor" and "pollo."  Here's the thing, I have put them all in quotations because I know they may have had the intention of making those meats, I just don't think that they succeeded.

I wish I could give an "A" for effort, but no dice...

RATINGS:

POLLO: 1, this dried piece of meat?  If I didn't see it put on the grill raw, I would not have believed that it was chicken.  There was no flavor or seasoning.
PASTOR: 1, WORST I've ever tasted.  It was burnt to a horrid crisp.  Never tasted any pineapple.  As a matter of fact, I love Ancho chilies, and they need to be a part of pastor, but it shouldn't be pork burned to a crisp after soaking with Ancho's.  Yeah, you might want to go back to the drawing board or just flat out not serving it!  HORRID!!!
ASADA: 1, I'll give her credit, this was the "best" thing that I ate there.  I'm being generous with the "1."  Salty, chewy, nasty.  Not gristle, chewy.  Yeah, I don't know how she made this so bad, but she did.
SALSA VERDE: 2, not disgusting, but close.  Tomatillos were old, peppers were not very flavorful, I'll have to honestly say that I could not really identify they flavor of the pepper.

I would encourage you to avoid this place.  I mean, just drive by really fast.  I don't mean to just knock a place, but it even took forever to get my "food."  So you know where not to go Jefferson and 7th Street.  Sorry I didn't have better news everyone.

Thanks for reading, please keep telling your friends, follow the blog and all of that other stuff that will make me feel better.  Stay Excellent!!!

DICTIONARY OF TERMS USED, MUST READ

This will be updated and re-posted when necessary. 

Order of the Taco: an elite group of keenly palleted individuals who do the hard work so you know where to get tacos, I'm the guy who finds, records and writes about these findings
Tacographic Memory: the memory of great tacos and great taco experiences
Taco-off: when people come together to put one taco against another and someone with the right palate is judging
Tacoteering:  adventures in tacos and taco excursions
Tacoteer: the individuals who brave themselves by trying out new, possibly questionable places with no fear to make your taco experiences better
Taco Destiny: the way that tacos draw me towards them;  the belief that I can find tacos anywhere and conquer them
Tacoversation:  A conversation with someone about tacos.
Taquecoma:  The relaxed sleep and or feeling of serenity that is induced from eating a lot of tacos.
Happiness: enjoying great tacos with great people
Stay Excellent: a sign off I've used personally and in business for many, many years,  it is my thank you and well wishes for reading the adventures in Tacoteering from The Order of the Taco

Thanks all, I'll update when needed.  Please do tell your friends,  enemies and everyone you can.  Stay Excellent!

SAN PANCHO, Roswell, GA

Well, what a day.  You know how it goes.  It is just long and full of unnecessary stress.  I was just done.  I mean the 15 hour day after a long day of travel was what it was.  I had one thing on my mind.  Taco Mac.  If you’ve never been to Atlanta or stopped by their location in Chattanooga, TN, you are missing out.  This place is a treat.  It is truly Buffalo Wild Wings gone WILD!  I just wanted some spicy wings and a cold IPA.  If you are unfamiliar, Taco Mac has that name because it was either remodel the kitchen of a closed Mexican restaurant in Atlanta or change the sign.  FYI, great call by those Buffalo transplants.  Wings are great; atmosphere is a bit loud for me, but fun.  Beer is always awesome.  So, I get there and there is a line out the door, I figure there is just me, I can sneak into a spot at the bar which is where I’m planning on sitting anyways.  Well, that just wasn’t going to happen.  Braves are playing and the Falcons were playing a preseason game.  Four deep at the bar after the past few days, no thanks, I’m out.  I head towards where I think my hotel is and make a right turn.  This finds me somewhere on Alpharetta Drive in beautiful Roswell, GA.  Needless to say, I am just looking for somewhere to stop.  I spot this place, San Pancho and figure, yeah, I guess I could eat some tacos.

So it begins.  I walk in and the place is a neat little taqueria.  Guy at the counter is not too personable, but I’m coming to expect this in Atlanta area taquerias.  I order and sit down.  Neat little salsa bar, I dig it.  I really like the onions.   They have dried chilies and carrots shredded in there.  Yeah, that is for sure in my future.  They have a verde, rojo and a spicy jalapeno salsa.  I size the salsa up, grab some onion mix and head to the table.  Lots of employees just hanging out in the back, needless to say, food is pretty quick, I’m pleased by this.

RATINGS:

PASTOR: 2, I really am convinced this is a three or a four if it was not so burned.  I mean burnt to a crisp.  It was so charred it crunched when I bit down.  I’m not looking for that in Pastor.  Give me the juicy goodness that was created in the 1960’s by Lebanese and Greek immigrants in Mexico, thanks.

ASADA:  2, Once again, turn the flame down dude!  Burnt to a charred crisp.  I honestly did not even get close to finishing.  Stuff was junk.

POLLO GUISADO: 3, What?  Am I on a Guisado kick lately?  Yeah, fair assessment.  Stuff was ok.  It was no Guisado’s in Boyle Heights for sure.  I don’t even think they were related, but this stuff will stand up to a lot of what I’ve found in San Antonio and other parts of Texas.  It was pretty good, cooked properly, not overdone (shocked) and had all the flavors that you would be looking for.

ADOBADA:  2, This was a low blow for me.  I’m a huge fan when Adobada is made correctly.  I mean it is a pastor-esque treat that I really enjoy.  I’ll be totally honest, I don’t know if they know what adobada is. 

VERDE: 2, just not very good.  Too sweet, way too sweet.  I couldn’t enjoy it at all.

ROJO:  3, It was good.  Bit of spice, they put some love into this.  For sure more then they did with many of the other things that they were willing to serve.

JALAPENO SALSA: 1, this runny snot was one of the worst things to hit this tongue.  I considered making a rating of zero just to point out how this stuff tasted.  I don’t think it belonged on the salsa bar.  I don’t think “salsa” should ever be in the same sentence. 

ONION MIX: 4, Why is this even on here right?  I just had to find a redeeming part of this journey and the onion mix was it.

Yeah, avoid.  Avoid this place at pretty much all costs.  They had some other things on the menu.  It is surrounded by a bunch of places to eat.  Go up about two miles on Alpharetta and you will run into Mi Mexico and you can get a great meal.  Oh, and the tacos are only $.25 more at Mi Mexico!  The onion mix was solid.   I will steal that recipe and make it better, I’m sure. 

Here is the thing.  The place was bad, but the journey to get there was great.  Nice trip to Atlanta, sorry it was short and I missed some of the great friends and people that I know in the area.  I’m sure that I’ll be back, whether or not I want to!  Well, off to Miami, my plane is about to board.  Thanks for reading everyone, Stay Excellent!

Mi Mexico Taqueria, Roswell, GA

What a crazy day.  My flight was delayed, I witnessed the idiot that drove me nuts on the plane break the door and shut down the train at the Atlanta Airport.  I mean, come on!  I finally get to my rental car and it is a Ford Festiva, not quite my size or speed.  My hotel was a mess.  I had to change rooms three times, yeah, I know, living the dream.  Needless to say, I was starving by the time I got to work.  You'd think this would be a good thing as I work in a restaurant, but no, I wanted tacos.  So tacos I should have.  I did a walk through, spoke to the crew and asked them where to go.  I don't think they really understood that I write a taco blog, yes, I did tell them over and over.  They pointed me towards this little gem.

Mi Mexico Taqueria....this place is great.  It is a grocery store in a strip mall a little North of downtown Roswell, GA.  I walk in and take a look around.  I can dig it.  Pretty normal family owned grocery store.  Place was sort of clean, looked fun.  I'd shop there, I'd just lie to my wife about it.  Good thing she doesn't always read the blog, she might find out where I go grocery shopping.  I walk to the back and there is three sort of tables and a little counter.  I walk up and am not too sure if this is a guy or a girl who is staring at me with an insane amount of hatred.  I stuck with my strengths, played stupid and began to order in English with a Southern accent.  It then tells me that they had no lengua and it seemed shocked that lengua was the first thing that I tried to order.  It said back, "no, we no have no no tongue for today or maybe tomorrow."  I nodded and continued my order.  Everything looked pretty solid.  This individual then makes my order.  I watched as the tortillas were pressed out by hand.  The meat was cut and put on the grill.  When they were short, they went over to the meat counter and grabbed what was needed.  I loved it.

Food is done and individual actually walked it right by me as I was standing there and put in on the table and looked at me and pointed to the food.  I then noticed a small stitching on the apron that said "Stephanie."  I thanked Stephanie for bringing the food out.  She scowled at me and shook her head.  I think it was her apron, I mean, she was wearing it and I'm a taco lover, not a mind reader!  I sit down to eat.  Holy delicious taco, she knew what she was doing!  Food was great.  Made a bit different then I'm use to, but legit.  I wouldn't be embarrassed to take people that I like in here.

RATINGS:
Tortilla: 4, this is no Guisados or Los Cincos Puntos, it is not even that car wash in Birmingham that I still dream of, but they are above average tortillas.
Chicharron: 1, please crisp it a little.  When it tastes like slime, I just don't love it.  I really think that you need to make this stuff edible.  It is like eating a raw jellyfish, and no one wants that.
Carnitas: 3, this is a borderline 4.  I really liked what she had going here.  Stuff was moist, juicy, delightful, but it just didn't push me over the edge.
Pastor: 3, ugh, I really wanted to post a 4 here.  The stuff is cooked then finished on the flat top with onions and pineapple that were so amazing.  They were cooked to where they were almost burnt, but pulled off in time.  Sadly, there was zero salt and Pastor needs it.  With the use of the chilies, it craves salt, sorry, you stay a 3.
Barbacoa: 3, so psyched to see this on the menu and it is made with goat, like it should be.  This slow cooked goodness was stewing on her sort of steam table.  I really was happy with it, but again, lacked some salt and pepper.  They did do a nice job overall.
Asada: 5, what?  A 4 on Asada, isn't that against the rules of the Order of the Taco?  I know, but this stuff was something really special.  It was good.  Grilled over an open flame with salt, pepper, lime, red wine vinegar, cilantro and garlic, then finished on a flat top.  Holy amazing Asada, forget it, I'm changing this to a 5 but am not rewriting everything, you get the point, it was stellar.
Red Salsa: 3, not a true rojo, but delicious.  Solid all the way through.  I though the flavors were pronounced and nice.
Green Salsa: 4, I know a solid four at that!  Had some avocado chunks and was darn spicy.  I really liked this stuff.  It complimented everything and was great by itself.

So, one of the rudest people that I've ever encountered, I'd go back in a heartbeat.  It was so over the top and hard to understand that it just made the experience better.  I would say go, go whenever you are in the Atlanta greater area.  Place is totally worth it.  The two folks that were working the market seemed really cool.  The meat looked great and I love the support of the local business.  Go see Stephanie, if that is her name and if that is a her, she is worth the price of admission.  Tacos were only $1.50 each, and were huge.  I couldn't finish the five I ordered and that's not just because the chicharron was horrible.

I can't say enough thank yous to anyone and everyone for reading.  I really do appreciate it.  As always, please tell your friends, foes and strangers and Stay Excellent!

Carnitas Uruapan, Boyle Heights

Each story is a different tale.  It is communicated in the same way, but maybe a different style.  This will be told with many pictures, but few words that will describe how amazing this part of our excursion was.  The story is about a great man by the name of Eddie.  Eddie owns a bakery in the Boyle Heights part of Los Angeles.  This is no ordinary man in an ordinary bakery.  This culinary genius makes the world better one corn kernel at a time.  Eddie met us as we were raiding his shop one and two at a time to buy pastries that were all to die for.  Eddie being the great guy that he was struck up some conversations with us.  He began asking what we are doing in the area.  James, a founding member told him we were on a crawl through East LA and around and how we have the blog going.  He asked to talk to me to learn a bit more.

After a brief conversation, he asked a really silly question.  "Do you think you and your buddies would like a tour of my bakery and a lesson on Masa 101?"  I mean really?  Yes!  What kind of a person would pass this up?  I gathered the troops and we went in the back of his bakery as he broke down the process for making great Masa, and just to make sure you really understand, this is amazing stuff.  It was so neat as he walked us through each bit of the process.  I will not go into all of his trade secrets, they are his, but I'm sure if you were in the area and he had a minute, he'd give you 10, he's just that great of a man.  FYI, he's also a huge Dodger fan, which is a big plus for all of us!

Corn is started in here about 600 pounds at a time.  Yes, 600 pounds.  This is soaked and cooked to more then double its weight.  Really cool to see.  It is then moved over to another part of the phase where it cooks some more and gets ready to be mashed.

From here it is put into a special masher.  Tamales and tacos tortillas are made from there.  Yes, tamales.  Listening to Eddie talk about his tamale wrapping parties brought tears to this masa loving guy's eyes.  It really made me weep.  He spoke of all the different kinds of tamales and how to make them.  We discussed cooking processes and the whole deal.  It was one of the best parts of the trip that you just won't hear about unless you take the time to read this blog.

Eddie provides the masa at about 20-25 pounds at a time, which is about five times a day to Guisados' two locations.  One is next door in Boyle Heights, the other is right by Dodger Stadium.  You really need to check out Guisados and check out this bakery and say hey to Eddie from the Order of the Taco!  Eddie can be found at:
2102 East Cesar E Chavez Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90033
(323) 265-2474
Thank you so much for reading, please tell your friends, STAY EXCELLENT ALL!

Guisado's, Boyle Heights

 We start this one by explaining what Guisado is, aside from the name of this place.  Lets start personal.  Guisado is something delicious.  Guisado is a style of cooking.  I fell in love with Guisado Style cooking when traveling through Texas.  Specifically when I was in San Antonio.  They had some amazing meats that were made in the style of Guisado.  Technically it means that it is sauteed with garlic, onions and tomatoes.  It is almost like a stew, but much better, and I like stews.  Many dishes made in stews and cassaroles are referred to as Guisados.  Guisados in Boyle Heights takes it to another level.  By another level I mean leaps and bounds beyond anything this guy could have imagined.  As the members of the Order recapped our epic outing, Guisados ranked one for some of us and ranked in the top 3 for all of us.  The hardest part about writing about this place is having to split off the owner's brother's business.  They are tied together, but too much information, so please check out the blog that I do on Carnitas Uruapan Market & Deli.

Guisados is on East Cesar Chavez Avenue in Boyle Heights.  Place is great.  It sticks out just a bit with a super cool contemporary look for the area.  The place is nice, clean and fun.  They have a short line with tons of boiling pots in the background.  They even go as far to make Tinga.  A chicken dish I often struggle to find, but love to eat.  FYI, their's is by far the best I've ever had.  Armando takes his food really seriously.  We jumped in on his mini taco samplers.  You can pick any six of their tacos and they make them mini tacos which were great and a perfect way for all of us to try everything.  A true treat at this place, the fish taco.  This big piece of fish was amazing.  I mean seriously a great fish taco that I did not expect or see coming.  The flavor was on point.  The fish was flaky and good.  They do make  things affordable here, but do not do things the cheap way.  They have an extensive menu with many different meats and their mole sauce was one of the best that I've ever had.  It was subtle, sweet, spicy and flavorful.  I really appreciate the culinary prow-less that this family has.  As if the food wasn't great enough, they had a beverage that you need to get in on.  The Armando Palmero.  This twist on a classic was stellar.  Armando is the name of the owner, that is where the first pun came in.  It has lemon water mixed with some Jicima.  Yeah, you need to try this when you go.  What a great refreshing beverage to compliment amazing food.

What set this place apart?  Well, I really think a lot of that has to do with the tortillas.  What a great part of the food.  We were reminded more and more through this trip, a tortilla is like a fork.  You just need it to eat sometimes.  Their tortillas will be spoken of more in my next blog, but are unique and delectable.  Armando has two restaurants.  One is in Boyle Heights, the other is by Chavez Ravine near Dodger Stadium.  Armando has such a commitment to excellence that he only takes about 20-25 pounds of masa at a time.  Yes, he will run back and forth from the bakery to make sure that he is only serving the freshest product that he can.  The masa is craftily made by his brother Eddie especially for Guisados.  If this doesn't excite you, you need to reevaluate your priorities.

Guisados will be getting another visit from me.  The great service, excellent food and just down right cool vibe in there is worth checking out.  They know how to match a sauce to a meat and that is often lost in translation on these taco crawls.  I can't say thanks enough to the owners and staff of this place.  They embraced, welcomed us and thanked us for putting them on the excursion.  They taught us so much and really made us guests in their home.  Thanks for reading and please check out the blog later today that will be an extension of this visit which was next door at their bakery and includes a tour of the back and Masa 101!  Stay excellent!!!

My Taco/Dusty's, Garvanza, CA

Have you ever eaten tacos out of a tree?  Yeah, we have a high level of commitment, and we're not afraid to show it.  So what was to be our last stop of the day yesterday was My Taco.  It is in Garvanza, CA.  I have to be honest, I didn't know who, what or where Garvanza was until we got there.  High expectations for this place.  We went in and ordered some tacos.  The chick working behind the counter all but asks us to leave.  She was not very happy having the eight of us come in.  Are we big loud dudes, um yeah, you've seen our pictures.  We were there on official business and would have appreciated some better treatment, especially with all the food that we were ordering!  We had lamb tacos, potato tacos and pastor tacos.  If she couldn't see our taco passion, she was blind.  I mean really blind.  I was quite excited by their salsa bar.  It was pretty and they had fried jalapenos on there, score...

Needless to say, we went outside and waited for our food.  Waiting outside led to loud talking, pretty obnoxious behavior and of course they had one of those claw machines and as a team, we were determined to win something.  Twenty something dollars later Paul was the winner.  It was a sweet victory and Buck, his Boston Terrier, loved the blue elephant that Paul brought to him.

When our food arrived, we were told that they didn't have enough room for us, which was only kind of true and told us that they packed our food to go.  We got the message, we got it loud and clear.  Good news, they got our message too!  We took over the tree/bush that they had in front of the restaurant and started to attack.

The pastor was great on the first bite, but sucked after that.  I mean this was pastor crisis bad.  This thing was loaded with cloves.  It really tasted like clove and pepper.  I've said this many times before and am sad that I know I will have to say it again, if you don't know how to make pastor, then DON'T!  Their potato tacos were not very good.  And by not very good, they sucked.  They mix some mashed potato with tomato sauce and hope you won't notice.  Sorry, refined pallet here, they suck.  Their salsa were solid.  Very nice job on the salsa bar and having the salsa.  The lamb tacos were good.  Damn good.  It is worth going to try them.  They had a very Greek lamb flavor which sat just fine with us.

As we are eating, one of our esteemed members goes inside the restaurant and realizes that the entire dining room and staff are staring at us attack food that is in a bush.  I almost went in and asked them to tip me.  I mean come on, they got a free show at lunch.  We did enjoy the jokes we were able to make eating in the bush.

As we left, we stopped into Dusty's Bar and Grill.  This place was a treat.  Regulars in the bar, and I don't think anyone except for regulars go in there began making comments.  As we are entering, they start talking about how "big money" was walking in the door and how happy Dusty would be.    The bartender responded saying "I just hope they're not cops."  We ordered our beers, started watching the Dodgers beat down another team, played a little bit of pool and asked the bartender to take a picture.  As she's taking it one of the regulars throws out this smart ass comment about why we would take a picture at Dusty's and wanted to know what were celebrating.  I told him that we were celebrating me being released from prison.  It was amazing how many less comments were made after that!  I got a couple of high fives and they were really cool after that.  I'd recommend Dusty's if you find yourself in Garvanza.  Nice joint, dim lights, great bartender.

Thanks for reading, keep following and tell your friends!  Stay Excellent.

El Atacor #1

El Atacor, what a treat.  So we had planned on going to the original which is at 3520 Figueroa.  On our way, we pulled over to at another location of theirs, listed as #11.  When we walked in, the girl lied to us and told us that they were out of their famous potato tacos.  We left the place and got back into our cars to head to the planned original location.  As we are sitting in the cars, we got stuck.  Stuck staring at a very strange interaction between two people.  A man drops to his knee as if he was proposing.  She leaned down and kissed his head.  He then began to use his hand to sweep the ground, or was he looking for something.  I'm going to tell you, I really don't know what this dude was doing.  We had to wonder, was he proposing, apologizing for sleeping with her sister, did he just feel the need to talk to her when on his knee, was he really upset with how dirty the sidewalk was and wanted to clean it with his hand for her?  Seriously it was impossible for us to look away.  We spent 9 minutes watching this couple.  As if it couldn't get any more strange this dog's head pops out of her over-sized purse.  It was just weird.  We finally drove off, but we couldn't stop talking about this for the rest of the day.  Shame on us for not taking any pictures of this.

We drove down the road to the restaurant, went in and ordered 8 taco de papas and two tacos with pastor for us to share all of this.  Our bill was $8.71.  I really was pretty sure that they did not charge us correctly.  The food was FANTASTIC.  The Pastor was on point.  Nice flavor, some spice to it.  I really enjoyed it.  Their salsas were great.  Nice flavor, great texture.  These tacos de papas were stellar.  They were one of the best things that we ate the entire day.  We went and ordered another round of the same thing so that we could be sure that everything tasted as good as we thought.  Much to my surprise, $8.71.  Place is legit.  If I had to do this one over again, I'm saying if I could go back in taco time, I'd order the plate of taco de papas and sprinkle the pastor meat over them for ridiculous, delicious bites.  I will be going back, and that is going to happen to my mouth.

The pictures above are a clear illustration of the hard work and dedication the Order has to let you know where to go and where not to go.
Go check this place out if you are North of downtown LA, totally worth it!  Thanks for reading, I'll catch ya soon!  Stay Excellent!!!

Los Cinco Puntos

Los Cinco Puntos.  With a sign like this, how could you not want to go inside?  This was such a great spot to start our crawl yesterday.  Los Cinco Puntos is known for their handmade tortillas and excellent meat.  The folks working here are always nice and I can't say enough good things about this place.  For sure this is one of the best places that I've ever been to.  A big thanks and shout out to my BFF Nikki for finding an article about this place a couple of years ago and sending it to me.  I've been here a few times and I think it just gets better each time.

We ordered a variety of things and just kept eating each others food.  The chicharones are a crispy delight that can't be missed.  The Beef Carnitas was unreal.  They have food all over the place and it is just such a treat to watch them chop and prep meat.  The lengua is solid and cut into large juicy chunks.  Cactus is served on everything unless you ask for none.  I will say that it is great on their food. Their guacamole is the one thing that I have to say was sub par.  It just doesn't match up with the rest of their great food.

There really is no place to sit and eat which is perfect.  They have a sort of ledge on the outside of the building and that suited us just fine.  We got some local entertainment from the dog that had just given birth as she was begging for food. I have a hard time not loving this place.

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy the photos!

The Great East Los Angeles Order of the Taco Excursion

As I wrote my fellow members this morning, I awoke today a different man.  Yesterday was one of the greatest days of all time.  It can be compared to the rise and fall of Rome, the day that Columbus found American Indians and told Europe about them, the birth of the King, Elvis Presley.

I've had many tacos in my day.  I've made them, I've bought them, I've taken them without paying for them.  At the end of the day, I've consumed mass amounts of them.  The excursion or journey if you will was unreal.  The pictures above do no justice to the excitement, passion and love that was had yesterday on a beautiful day in Los Angeles, CA.  This blog will outline the trip for all of you who just wanted to go but were unable to.  I will write some blogs about the specifics of each place at a later time.  I'd tell you to close your eyes as you read this to enjoy and envision the journey, but if your eyes are closed, you can't read and this becomes pointless.

On the morning of August 10, 2013 I rolled out of bed as a founding member of The Order of the Taco, not realizing all that, that meant.  I showered, shaved, put on my Dodger shirt and a pair of jeans just like any other morning.  What I didn't realize, is that this just wasn't an ordinary day.  Days like this don't just happen.  It is not a matter of chance or coincidence.  It was in fact a day of destiny.  A day of true infamy.  Brothers uniting for a common love, passion and purpose and rising to a greatness in taco.  Brandon Begley, Nathan Lee, Michael Phillips, James Anastasios, Paul Zaferis, Christopher Randall and The Buck Monstrosity, Nicholas Thomas made this thing happen.  With myself lucky enough to be a part of this band of guys, we became the founding members of The Order of the Taco and did in fact do some true Tacoteering.

We left the San Fernando Valley about 11am PST.  We piled into my wife's red Toyota Sienna and The Buck Monstrosity's grey Hyundai.  Little did we know these vehicles would help us transcend greatness.  We took the 118 to the 5 and got off the road as they tried to follow my crazy driving.  I was again reminded how different driving a car is then riding a motorcycle.  Lane sharing is a ton easier when you are on a bike.  Changing lanes is a completely different story.  The various places that we passed, like the Korean Taco stand and the Hawaiian restaurant tempted us, but we stayed on course.  We had a path a plan and were following our Taco Destiny.

Our first stop was to be Mi Casita.  I had been there a couple of years ago, we got there and it was closed down, graffiti ridden and clearly no longer serving delicious tacos.  This did not slow us in anyway.  This did not hinder our journey.  Not an eye was blinked as we made our way to Los Cinco Puntos.

I did make four lefts, with took us in our first circle, but that is all a part of what happens as you go on an adventure like this.  I've been to Los Cinco Puntos prior to this trip.  My BFF Nikki Dushinsky turned me onto this place a couple of years ago when she sent me an article written about it.  By no means did this place disappoint.  It was a hospitable, delicious environment.  Entertainment was provided by some random stray dog that had just given birth.  She was walking around begging for food like a homeless guy on a freeway off ramp.  We did not oblige her on this trip as everything was consumed.  Big tacos, big fun here.  We laughed and joked of my sub par driving and the ability that I have to drive in circles for absolutely no reason.  We left there and went for a short drive up the street to Guisados.

Guisados was a hoot.  This place was much more contemporary then my colleagues expected and I have to say much more contemporary then the neighborhood of Boyle Heights can handle.  What a treat.  The food was excellent.  There options are fantastic.  They have a great sampler of mini tacos where you pick six and just eat.  We got a couple of those with a fish taco that was fabulous!  I'd love to tell you that the highlight of this stop was the Armando Palmero, their delicious version of an Arnold Palmer made with lemonade and Jicima, but it was in fact the owner's brother Eddie.  Eddie runs, owns and works in a bakery next door.  Guisados has two locations, one is in Boyle Heights, the other is right by the Great, Dodger Stadium.  Eddie provides masa for the tortillas multiple times throughout the day.  This is not just a one time stop for the week or day for these places.  The masa is so fresh, it is given to the stores at about 25# at a time!  Yeah, fresh and delicious.  Eddie gave us an amazing tour of the facility and we got a lesson of Masa 101.  It helped make this trip so much more amazing.  I will be writing a blog soon about Guisados, Armando and Eddie to go into more detail.  From Guisados, we drove in a huge circle all the way around LA, thanks to my once again, sub par driving skills.

We were headed to Mexicali and sadly there were some street closures.  Instead of taking the easy way, we drove all the way around the 5 to the 10 to the 110 to the 101 to end up basically where we started from.  Needless to say, we safely got to Mexicali which is located in Chinatown.  If you are on a date and need a taco, go there.  If not, don't.  The food was just ok.  They have a sting ray taco.  Yes, it is actual sting ray.  It tastes more "shelly" then fishy.  I would recommend not touching it.  As was said at the table, "there is a reason that sting ray is not main streamed for consumption."  The chef or owner guy that was there was very nice and tried to be very accommodating.  The only really great thing I can say about this place was the seating.  I dig the long picnic tables in a restaurant.  Anyways, the place was trendy, the tacos were not nearly as good as we could make them and this was by far the least entertaining and most disappointing part of our journey.

Our next trip took us a little more North of LA.  We were headed to El Atacor.   There is two of them on Figueroa.  We were headed to the original one.  We saw the other one first and decided to stop.  This proved to be a fantastic decision.  The chick working there saw the eight of us barge into the door and ask for their famous Taco de Papas.  This little hooker lied to us and said that they were out because they had been so busy.  I called the place later in the day and they were not out.  Shocking right?  Anyhow the reason this stop was so great was the outside entertainment.  As we got back into the cars, we see this guy drop to his knee.  Was he proposing?  We had to stare.  We sat in the cars and stared at this couple for a good 9 minutes.  He was brushing the ground in front of her with his hand, she would kiss him on the forehead, it was weird.  She had a big purse that was zipped 90% shut.  This little dog would pop his head in and out.  It really was pretty creepy.  We couldn't leave, we couldn't look away.  He was either searching for something on the ground or wanted to sweep the floor in front of her.  This led to many laughs and jokes throughout the day.  El Atacor #1 was indeed a treat.  The food was great and really cheap.  I mean 8 potato tacos and 2 pastor tacos cost $8.71, both times that we ordered.  The bathroom reminded us of a walk in cooler that had been converted.  We loved the decor, the place was great.

Leaving El Atacor, we were a bit sad that we had probably had our best meals behind us.  We trekked deep into a part of LA we had never heard of.  Seriously, have any of you heard of Garvanza, CA?  The place exists.  Not too far from Pasadena.  So we park on the street after I take us on another famous circle and we notice a bar, Dusty's as we walk into My Taco.  The lady at this place was a totally miserable woman.  She refused to let us eat in the restaurant and told us we had to take our food to go.  We ate in a tree, yes, a tree.  We ate right in front of their large window out of a tree just to show this lady what a large middle finger that we had.  Everyone in the restaurant was staring trying to figure out what the heck was going on.  On a positive note, Paulie won a stuffed elephant from a claw machine that we played for way too long.

So we walk into the dimly lit bar Dusty's and the bartender says to the regulars that she just hopes we are not cops.  As we each order a beer to toast and celebrate the awesomeness of our journey some jackass decides its in his best interest to heckle us.  He makes some comment about us and "why we are there."  I turn to the group of knuckle heads and tell them that we are all celebrating me getting out of prison.  There were no more stupid comments from these guys.  Got a couple of high fives and hellos from some of the dudes as they left.

Post victory beer, we made a great decision.  Drive back to church car wash that we passed and ask if the food we were watching them make is for sale.  Yeah, it was.  They were really big fans of us as we probably quadrupled their sales for the day and pretty much built them a playground with all the money spent.  Pupusas were great.  They were afraid to take our picture, but were some really nice folks that I'm glad we met.

My friends, readers, haters and anyone I left out, this concludes the story of our excursion.  We ended on the famous, beloved Route 66, which in this writer's opinion made the trip all that much better.  In the end, as good as some of the food was, as great as some of stories, antics and jokes were, the best part was the company that I was with.  A group of amazing guys, with keen palates, good looks and a sense of adventure that is unmatched in the taco eating community.  A huge thank you to all readers, please do tell your friends about this blog, and endless thank yous to the amazing guys that I got to spend the day with.