I've been asked more and more why tacos. People want to know where the obsession comes from. Many who have known me for most of my life would say that it is this place, El Tarasco. There might be some truth there. There is influence from many factors, many places, many memories and thoughts, but El Tarasco is a nostalgic place for me. Whether I went with my mom and dad when I was young. Whether I piled a bunch of friends into my parents van and we went down to grab a bite and a walk on the beach. It was fun. I have more stories about El Tarasco adventures then anything else. Some stand out more then others. I remember talking about it forever and taking my wife for the first time when we flew to LA when we were dating. PJ and I had so many adventures, we blew out three tires in one night trying to get home. Bucky, Chris and I had a memorable experience after leaving in front of the "water treatment plant." Mikey and I were telling stories of our El Tarasco runs just the other day bragging to our wives about how lucky they are to have two amazing men that have done cool things like that. Nick Bordokas can recall a few nights that we swore to secrecy that either started or ended there. Point being I went here a lot. I tried to make it almost a weekly trip. We'd head down on Friday nights usually. We'd hit the original on Rosecrans and Highland in Manhattan Beach. The food was good, the people were great, point being, it is a damn fun place. Why have I not written about it? I went last week for lunch after some meetings in Manhattan Beach. Meal was great, service was good. I found out that Angel, the guy who runs one of the restaurants that I oversee is close friends with the founder's grandson Richie. Needless to say, we went together to meet Richie. It was a great trip. My dad joined us to do some first hand tacoteering. My dad first took me as a baby to El Tarasco and has been a faithful customer since 1974. The picture above is from the Redondo Beach location on PCH.
The story is printed on their menu, but does the story no justice after speaking to Richie. What a great man Moises was. There use to be a restaurant in Manhattan Beach called The Galley's. Moises was a cook there and a damn fine one at that. The owner decided to retire and offered to sell the business to Moises. Moises called his wife and asked if they could forgo their plans on buying a house and buy the restaurant. She agreed it was the right thing for their family. They put their blood, sweat, everything they had into the restaurant. There was a period of time where they even lived in the restaurant, staying there to make ends meet and kept going at it. This journey and sacrifice for their family paid off for the community. What a pleasure it is for all of us to enjoy their food and the great place they created. Moises is a man I will admire and revere for all time. I asked Richie about his memories of him. He said that his grandfather passed away when he was young. He says he was always so nice and positive. He remembers him cooking and always having a Budweiser in his hand. They would take trips to Mexico and the best part of the stories told was the way that Richie's face lit up as he spoke about his abuelo. Ricardo, Richie's dad and his siblings took over the restaurants and expanded. There are some knock offs from some cousins, and Richie only said nice things. I have to be unbiased in these writings, some of them suck. Like the one right by the airport on Sepulveda, AVOID! Go to one of the originals still operated by the family, it is worth it. You will get a meal like you've never had.
This picture is of the specials that they run day to day. Yes, we went for Taco Tuesday, I mean come on, what else should we do? I do recommend the Junior Super Deluxe. There is nothing junior about it and it is what put them on the map. It is smothered burrito goodness.
Their salsa is second to none. They serve it with fried tortillas and I tried everything including bribing Richie, the recipe is "top secret." I just want to make it at home!
Junior Super Deluxe:
Taco Tuesday:
I go places for the soft corn tortilla tacos that I normally post. They do an amazing job with those, but they also make a mean hard shell taco. They do it right. This does not taste like anything that may have "macho" in front of it or "supreme" behind it on the menu. It is solid. They also fill it with real meat! Doing some ratings, but understand this place is THAT GOOD!
ASADA: 4, they do a solid job everytime. It is really good, I do love it.
CARNITAS: 5, how? I know I thought about this for a while. It is that soft, but has texture. I've never had it not excellent. It is finished on the grill, so crispy edges are coming at you.
GROUND BEEF: that does not get rated. If I gave an overall grade to ET, they would suffer for having ground beef and not serving Pastor. Gonna have to say demerit on this one, sorry.
CHICKEN: 3, this is good stuff. I enjoy it. Sometimes a bit too much water comes with your meal when you get chicken. Flavors are good, but it doesn't go the extra that their other meats do.
SALSA: 5, I've never had anyone try it, and I've gone with a ton of people and had them say it was not phenomenal.
GUACAMOLE: 4, it is good stuff. Always made with real avocados, some nice spice to it, but not overdone. Too many ingredients in guacamole make it suck. They do it right here, add it to your meal, or get it as an app.
This is not a "normal" place for me to go to as the guy who writes the Order of the Taco. It is between a one off and a normal place. I do recommend that anyone who wants some of the best food that they will ever have to try it. If you are in LA, you need to go. I still have friends from other places that ask me about it. I assure you that it will make an impression. Further, the family is the reason to go. With a great family history, a great story and great people running it, it makes a difference. A difference that you know is there, but you never notice. I thank Richie for his time and his family for what they do.
I want to also thank my dad for not only joining Angel and I today, but for taking me here and building great memories of great places. One of the reasons I write this blog is to help those who read find their places to go and build great memories.
Thank you everyone for reading, please keep reposting, retweeting, emailing and telling folks about this. Don't forget about the Logo Design Contest going on right now. I'd really like to see something cool come out of this soon.
Stay Excellent!
Richie is on the right, my beard and I are in the middle and one of the great chefs they have is in the green shirt:
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