El Jacalito, Culver City, CA...Amber Birthday Lunch!

Yeah, this place is pretty interesting.  They left up the awning from Whole Foods, which has been gone for a damn long time.  Interesting place.  They do both Oaxacan and Mexican food.  Separated only by the page on the menu.  Very cool to have the options.  They try to appeal to anyone who is on their way down Washington to Santa Monica/Venice area.  The place doesn't really stand out.  You need to be looking for this place to find it.  If you are not really looking on the street, you will drive by it.  Signage is exactly what you see in the picture above.  Is it pricey?  Yes, the place is not afraid to charge you, be warned of that. It is "special occasion" Tacoteering.  Enough about this place for now, why were we there?  Who was I with, what was going on?

That is one of the many pictures of Amy.  Amy is one of the great folks that I work with.  I guess all that you can really see is her hand, but don't worry, there is going to be plenty of more pictures of her, whether or not she wants. The day before the actual anniversary of Amber's birth we went to surprise her.  Ramon orchestrated all of this.  He did quite an amazing job, but really, when does he not?  We have been buried.  All of us at work.  Have we been having fun?  Yeah, we have, but super, crazy busy.  We met at one of our locations, Built Custom Burgers and were working.  We told Amber that there was a place that I really wanted to go Tacoteering at and it was in Culver.  We definitely took the long way to get there.  We went all over the place.  Had we not used our phone to find the place, we probably would have gotten there in half the time.  We get there and take a seat inside.  Amber, Ramon and I.

Ahh Ramon, he is so cute.  Look at him excited to try his beverage.  I stuck with the same, water, no ice, no lemon, no straw.  Ramon ordered horcata, it comes with ice cream in it and Amber ordered a pumpkin beverage that we had never heard of.

 
Yes, those are the pictures of their drinks.  The inside of this place was simple, pretty cool.  Deli counter was still up and they used it to store their ice cream in.  They had a few flavors, I didn't really look.  We were there for a celebration which automatically means tacos.  This place is a very Mexican place.  Most folks sticking to Spanish.  The reason that I bring this up is because it was hilarious to be in there and then have the TV show Friends playing on the television.  A nice flat screen none the less.

As we were sitting there, we made sure that we were by the window.  We had been communicating with Amy.  She had picked up Danger.  Danger use to be the "office" dog at our home office for work.  When Carly our Graphic Designer took a position with another company, she took her dog Danger with her.  Everyone misses both of them, but Amber really misses Danger.  Danger was everyone's buddy.  Danger would greet everyone at the office, try to steal your food.  Amber went nuts when Amy walked around the corner with Danger.  It was awesome to see Amber get so excited.  She yelled, it was even better to see the confused patrons as Ramon, Amy and I were laughing while Amber is playing with Danger.

This is the excited embrace as they saw each other.  Yes, the look of joy on both of their faces was awesome.  I mean how cool is that?  Carly let someone pick up her dog and let the dog surprise someone else for their birthday?  I loved it.  Really cool to be there.  Again, kudos to Ramon, Amy and Carly.  Ramon and I asked if we could move our table outside to eat with Danger.  She was reluctant but allowed us to do it.  We took the table apart, took it outside and we got set up.  We then had to again take it apart and get it back inside.  So well worth it.  It was pretty cool.

So this is our set up, OOH, another Amy sighting!  Danger couldn't take his eyes off of Amber.  Back to some about the food. The chips they served are bad out of the bag corn tortilla chips.  The salsa they serve was unreal.  It was good.  I look forward to the ratings part.  Ramon ordered guacamole, another great call and the queso fundido, umm, not bad...

Nice presentation, but its about the flavor right?  Well that was not too shabby either.  The place is good.  Not top 10 good, but good.  We went through a lot of baskets of chips.  The salsa was just so addicting, the guacamole was off the charts.  The menu was huge, it took some time to get our food ordered.  Of course, we asked what kind of tacos.  They have Oaxacan and Mexican choices of meat.  The only part I found a bit off, is they normally serve it with lettuce.  Not a fan of that, but of course we just ordered no lettuce.  Ramon, Amber and I ordered tacos, Amy got their Mole.  Great call for all.  It was good to see everything on the table.

That was Amy's Mole, yes that is an Amy hair and purse siting in the photo.  The mole was pretty good.  Let just jump to it.

RATINGS:
CHIPS: 2, they could have received a 1, but they weren't stale and they did try to keep them warm, which is a nice touch.  I think I just love the use of a popcorn maker to keep chips warm.
QUESO FUNDIDO: 2, it wasn't horrible, but so many places do it better.  Cheese coagulated pretty quick, meat was really trapped on the bottom, it was also pretty greasy.
MOLE: 3, stuff was solid, but nothing unreal.  I was surprised that it was so highly recommended by the young lady that worked there.  She insisted that it was the best that they had.  It was not bad, but I was hoping for a solid 4, maybe a surprise 5.  Rice was bland, which didn't help.  Chicken was almost on the overcooked side, but not uncommon for mole.
CHORIZO: 3, nothing special here folks.  Good, nothing to be disappointed in, but nothing to call anyone and tell them about.
CECINA: 4, I thought they did a nice job here.  It was good.  A little more cooked then I normally prefer, but I would order it again.  It was pretty good stuff.  Salted well, but not over salty.  They season this on the grill by the flavor, not marinated, and do a good job.  I clearly liked it.
TASAJO: 3, this is one of my favorite things to order, but they overcooked it.  They tend to keep things over the flame a bit long here in general, but this one was really overdone.  I was a little bit sad.
ASADA: 4, this was interesting.  Might have been one of the better asadas I've had.  It was not chewy, one of the few things that was not at all overdone.  I was very happy with the flavor and the texture.
PASTOR: 4, good stuff.  You get some of that cooked pineapple!  Yum.  The meat was seasoned well, cooked nicely.  You get an explosion of flavors which is what I'm always looking for in Pastor.
GUACAMOLE: 5, never thought I'd see that.  It was a bit chunky, definitely made to order.  It had nice cut up cilantro, onions, garlic and a good dose of citrus.  Tasted like lemon and lime.  Really good stuff.  Worth and order if you ever go by.
SALSA: 5, this was the highlight of the food.  This stuff was addicting.  I had a dream about it last night. I want to bathe in this stuff.  It was spicy, sweet, savory, salty, tasty, smile making goodness!

Great sideways shot of tacos right?  Nice presentation, maybe a bit more cilantro and onions and use of a better quality tortilla?  Yeah, that would be a victory.  

Amber was into it right?  Great shot of how we are always on the taco attack.  It was all about her and her birthday.  Amber is great.  She takes amazing care of all of her friends and is one of the best I've gotten to work with. She is kind, giving, and very intelligent.  She does so much for all of us, we really wanted to surprise her and give her a quick break from the crazy long days that she's had.  Glad Danger made it out.

Yes, Danger made her happy.  It was great to get to see him again and great that he was able to join us for lunch.  Well, Happy Birthday Amber Morales.  You really are a great friend and I'm lucky to get to call you a co-worker.  Amy and Ramon were excellent.  Very cool, very nice job making this happen.  Carly, we miss you at work and thank you for being a stealthy part of this.  Danger, you rock.  

I hope everyone enjoys this story.  It is again a testament to how it doesn't always matter what you eat, but who you eat it with.  The food was great, which is a heck of a bonus.  The journey, the story, the company, that is what really makes it awesome.  Before I go I want to thank everyone for reading, tweeting, posting and following The Order of the Taco.  It continues to take off and the friends that are in this group and the people that are on this blog are amazing and help make my life better everyday.  Before I sign off, I'd like to show you one more gratuitous Amy Chu photo:

Stay Excellent All!