Valley Greek Festival

ALL I WANT IS MEAT FROM THE CONE!  For years we have heard this at the Festival.  This year, Chris and Bucky made the cone dream a reality for many Gyro enthusiasts in the San Fernando Valley.  We all dedicate one weekend a year to the festival, well kind of two as last year we were out at another church helping, but are all in for the Festival.  For us, it is another great excuse for us to work together, laugh together, fight over how to cut meat and enjoy the growth of a community that most of us grew up in and some of us fell into.  Festival is a great reminder of one of truths that echo through this blog.  It really doesn't matter what you are doing, it matters who you are doing it with.

 I know you look across that line, see Mary, Frankalicious, Peter the machine Karagianis and the beautiful Mark Schultz.  All are related in some way to the Order of the Taco.  The support and love for our late friend, wife and sister Krissy still hangs in the booth as a reminder of the love that we have for each other.  King's flags and jersey's line the booth as we prepare to watch two games in three days in the booth so that we don't miss rooting on our favorite sports team.

I was serious.  With the help of Tony Iokiam getting us power and Bucky/James IT genius and of course sling box, we did not miss a minute of hockey action.  We love our church's community, but we really don't like to miss games.  Any chance that as many of us are together as there were, we have to take advantage.  A great part was the loud cheers and chants from us and the great reception from the Festival patrons as we yelled GO KINGS GO!

Yes, I brought tortillas and made Gyro tacos for the grew before we got going.  We had onions, we had gyro meat, I brought the tortillas, cilantro, lime, hot sauce.  WIN!  We had a little pre-festival taco feast for those of us working the Gyro booth.  The tacos were delicious, the company was better.

Yes, there were many more tacos made, but this is all that was left by the time I got my camera.  We have hungry Tacoteers pining for some tacos.  The grilled onions with the cilantro and lime were pretty much to die for.  Yes, we are generous, yes we share, we even had a guy come by the booth looking for hot sauce.  I may have pulled some sauce out of my bag and shared...

You bet your pita bread that is my brother Paul cutting some more Gyro Meat!  Look at a skilled craftsman on his task.  FYI, it is darn hot in front of those machines.  There were many booths at the festival, but the one that had the hottest chicks.

Melissa, Nikki and Evie.  Three amazing woman working the Greek Market and doing the cooking demonstrations.  It was a favorite spot for me because they were the ones making and serving the Greek Coffee!  It helped keep me awake.

Like I've said over and over, the community is great.  The way everyone binds together for each other, our church and the faith is pretty fantastic.  It is a phenomenal nod to our Greek Culture and I'm lucky to be a small part of it.

This story was more about the people than the tacos.  I'm lucky to be a part of such a great community with great people, friends and Tacoteers.  I really had to think about this blog and the gratuitous good bye photo.  Today it is Mike.  It sums up what a great guy, excellent Nouno and amazing friend he is.  We've been working the festival together since we were little kids.

Lots of great people in the photo, but look at the winning smile from Mike.

Stay Excellent Everyone!

LAX Tacos, Inglewood, CA

Flying home last night all I could hear was Randy Newman, "I love LA."  Boise, I have taken your taco challenge and just missed LA more and more.  I was thinking to myself as I was coming home, why would people not fight to pick me up from the airport?  It just doesn't make sense, you know I'm going to take you Tacoteering if you pick me up.  Your call if it is somewhere tried and true or somewhere new.  Melissa picked me up last night and I had three places in mind.  We braved the streets of Inglewood, CA to get to LAX Tacos.  The serenading of Elvis Presley on XM radio made the ride all that much better.

LAX Tacos.  This place has been around for quite some time.  This is a no frills street taco serving place.  It is on the North side of Arbor Vitae Street in Inglewood, CA.  Inglewood, CA is a great city for Tacoteers to be born, yes yours truly was born in Inglewood.  I think that my taco destiny played a part.  The taco gods knew that there is many great taco places that I could hit up around there.

Here is the beautiful patio layout.  Perfect for the neighborhood and the restaurant in general.  Tables are easily cleaned and kept, they are not easy to pick up and steal, not that there is any chance of that in this neighborhood.  Parking is a bit tough, there is a plethora of night clubs in the area that take a lot of the street parking and there is not exactly a large lot that is readily available.  The decor fits the place and fits the area inside and out.  The menu is good.  I hear their burritos are great, but we just stuck to some tacos.

Not too many frills, but everything that you need for a late night taco.
RATINGS:
BIRRIA: 2, this stuff should be super tender, it was not.  It was not bad, but not great.  I just expect a delicious tender stew and this was tough.  If you cook goat to hot and too fast it tightens up!  I do like the way they serve it in the bowl with the tortillas, cilantro, onions and limes on the side, but the flavor was still lacking.
CARNITAS: 2, too tough!  Really not that great.  It was kind of chewy.  Maybe a trend of cooking on too high of a heat?
ADOBADA: 2, really greasy.  It ruined the good flavors that I think they were heading towards. Again, I found this meat to be a little bit tough.
ASADA: 4, probably the best thing that they made.  It is their top seller according to the guys working.  Not to shabby.  Good flavor, not tough and not too salty.
LENGUA: 3, textbook.  Nothing that blew me away, but nothing I was disappointed by. Flavors were good, texture on point, but nothing special about it.
BUCHE: 3, man this is so close to a 4.  I was impressed Melissa ate some.  That really threw me through a loop!  It was crispy, but not overdone, tasty but not overwhelming, like I said, I could be talked into this being a 4.

Yeah, I ordered a few tacos.  Look, I really have missed the LA taco scene.  I needed it in my life bad.  It was a warm welcome back to the land of delicious tacos that is Southern California.  It was also nice to see the family.  I have really missed them.  Poor Josh, Fo, Jess and the rest had to try to keep me as sane as I can be.  Phil left after only a few days and my sadness just grew from there.  Just a warning about the tacos, they come with some fiery hot sauce on them.  Really damn good, but hot.  It burned Melissa up!  Overall, I like the place, worth a try.

Thank you again for reading.  I really appreciate you all for reading!  Please keep telling folks.  There are many Idaho adventures that have not been read yet!  Don't miss out on all of the Tacoteering that goes on in other states!  More LA trips to come and I hit the road again soon.  Today's gratuitous photo is of my wife Melissa.  Her at LAX Taco last night Tacoteering like a late night champ because of all the flight delays.  11 years of marriage has taken her on a lot of taco trips, glad she still enjoys them.

Stay Excellent Everyone!

Senor Fresh, Meridian, ID

Why?  I really don't know.  Not many options.  I do think I've hit about every single taco place in the area.  Still one on my radar that looks promising.  That is for another day.  Today, I walked over from the hotel.  You see on the window where it says that it closes at 8?  They mean they walk out the door at 8.  Pretty interesting.  Back to the non-friendly service in the Boise area.  At least the food matched the service today...don't be discouraged, its worth getting to the end of this blog.

You know these types of places, they try to sell you on the fresh and natural.  Some are good, some are worth it, not this one.  Seriously the people working here are some of the rudest people I've met.  They had the salsa bar packed up while people were still ordering.  It was pretty bad.  The cool thing about this place, is the two posters.  They have a poster with different Chile's.

I really like this one.  The hot meter and the listing of peppers is awesome.  They also have a tomato one.  I love it!

I did sit there are read both of these things.  Sadly that is by far the best part of my visit.  The salsa bar looked really cool.  I will say that the salsa were fantastic in flavor, claimed to be hot, but had no heat to them.  Nice and smoky and they did taste like they were made in house.

Lets get to it, there just isn't that much to say about this place.
RATINGS:
ASADA: 3, it wasn't bad.  The burrito itself was really small and did not pack the flavor, but the meat itself was decent.
SALSA: 4, yeah, not so hot.  If there was some heat, it could be a five.  Very nicely balanced flavors, smoky, yeah, good.
CHICKEN TORTILLA SOUP: 1, it was really bad.  Really, really bad.  Not enough flavor, not really any flavor.  It was cheesy and a mess.

See, doesn't even look good.  Didn't taste that good, could you tell.  This meal just accentuated my desire to be back in Los Angeles, CA.  I'm in need for the delicious tacos of LA.  I miss the family too and of course Dolly, but I am still pretty hungry.

This blog gets a great gratuitous photo.  It was taken at the Meridian Village fountain.  We went over there to take a few photos really just to entertain ourselves. Thank you for reading, please keep following, send me suggestions and eat more tacos!  Enjoy the photo of Fo, Josh and me.

Stay Excellent!

Random Truck, side of the road, Idaho

We get one day off in what is a long trip for me.  I was first to get to Boise, I will be the last to leave.  So today is the day to relax, unwind, recharge the battery.  I mean, I'm on a huge stretch here.  I had to have some tacos.  I was content with just hitting a vineyard or two, hoping for tacos.  My taco destiny again prevailed and I ended up here.  Were the tacos good, NOPE!  But, I still got tacos and that is important in it's own right.  We were heading to the Snake River Valley Wine area.  Bitner Vineyard to be exact.  Great place to go and check out if you are in the Boise area.  Very scenic and pretty.  Not too far of a drive from downtown Boise.

The blue turf of Boise.  We had to go to the stadium.  It is not like the trainers or I have any trips planned to come back.  Stadium is pretty cool.  We spent a little time there and then were heading to the vineyards.  On our way there, a few of the trainers noticed the truck.  They knew that I was stopping on the way back.  I appreciate the fact that they indulge me with the quest for the perfect tacos.  While at the vineyard, Miss Canyon County Idaho showed up.  She was quick to ask me to take a photo with her.  Look at the expressions on both of our faces, we know who wanted to be near who more.

It is my kind heart that allows taco fans everywhere to take pictures with me.  After this photo we headed back to the city of Meridian for lunch.  I stopped for tacos.

I did not blame the troops for being leery of this place.  The lady working was less than kind.  The place seemed sketchy, honestly that is part of what attracted me.  There was no name on this thing, just this little trailer.
RATINGS:
CHORIZO: 1, yes, I don't think it was chorizo.  Maybe sausage links chopped up with chili powder on them?
CARNITAS: 1, again, still not sure what meat this was, but yeah, ok, enough said.
ADOBADA: 1, umm...
ASADA: 2, yeah, this high rating was achieved with some salt and lime added to the chopped product inside of the chewiest tortilla I've ever put in my mouth.

Hard to tell which taco is which by that picture.  That might be why ratings are so low.  I had a hard time distinguishing which one is which.  Random taco trucks are always a guess.  I'm glad I stopped by, I'm more glad that no one else ate these tacos.  Lucky for me, we went to Willie B's and I was able to have a delicious sandwich.

Thank you for reading, thanks for following, I still have a place on my radar here in Boise, I'll get there before the week is out.  Before I go, the photo today is of all of us up at the vineyard doing the wine tasting.

Stay Excellent!

Tacos Veloz, Boise, IDaho

Ha, I just realized that you can see my reflection in all the chrome.  Yes, I'm wearing a chef coat.  Another day of tacos with some great tacoteers that are braving the Idaho taco truck world with me.  I'm very lucky to have such a great group of folks with me.  Phil, Fo, Ashley, Josh and company.  We went the day after Jess's birthday, of course she joined us again!  So did Sannae, tacos are important to existence and happiness.

 Look familiar?  All these taco trucks look pretty similar.  They are trying to be carbon copies of each other.  Some do it better then other.  Without a doubt, El Rey has remained as king of the greater Boise area.  This place did have a Super Burrito.  More then one in the group went for it.  Looked pretty darn good.  One of our tacoteers was unable to finish their asada quesadilla.  I was nice enough to finish it, pretty good, for a quesadilla.
RATINGS: 
ASADA: 4, I'm going to state it again, Idaho does beef pretty darn well.  Impressive.  They need to keep it up.
PASTOR: 2, a bit too much pineapple.  I was also excited that they had pastor and adobada, but the pastor was the exact same meat with pineapples put on top.
ADOBADA: 3, this was good.  Nicely done.  This was pretty good, mild sweet flavors and the meat was tender.
CARNITAS: 2, tasted burnt and dry.  Not very good.
LENGUA: 1, this stuff was horrible.  I did not eat it.  I took a half a bite and spit it out.  It was horrible in texture, flavor, yeah, I have nothing nice to say about it.

Not a bad looking spread?  Yeah, kind of was.  What really chapped my ass, is that I never got any salsa!  Yeah, no damn salsa.  Really frustrated by this.  Really stupid.  So it has been really windy here.  Really windy.  The napkins have been blowing everywhere.  I know, you have been concerned.  Each taco place this has been an issue.

Boise for sure has a "type" of taco.  We are learning all about it.  We are missing the deliciousness that is California, that is the Los Angeles Taco scene.  I can't wait to get an LA Taco.

Special thanks to the Idaho tacoteers and to all reading.  Keep spreading the word!  Keep telling people!  Re-tweet, re-post.

Couldn't get a great gratuitous photo, you get a picture of the front of the taco truck and a sort of in action snap shot with beautiful Phil as the centerpiece of the picture!

Stay Excellent All!

El Torito, Garden City, ID

Two weeks left in Boise.  We went to the beautiful part of Boise known as Garden City.  It is like taco central for Idaho.  I had some excited and brave tacoteers with me as we got some lunch at another truck.  El Torito is a Mexican Market, with a taco truck in the back of it.

Looks legit right?  We are learning that the Boise taco and way of cooking is much more of the stew cook than the grill and crispy way.  The people were nice, the English was not there.  They really did not speak English at all.  It was so windy!  The wind was blowing like crazy.  It was so windy and it was a pretty chilly wind, well chilly for us.  Most of us are SoCal residents.  We had some fun.  A bit less laughing than our last outing, but that is possibly a good thing.  We had to roll up in two cars.  The beautiful Buick rental and the VW Bug that I'm still not sure how we ended up with.  Here is a shot of the tacoteers:

Yes, it is Jessica's birthday, good eye.  She is the blond next to Fo.  Jessica went to the opening in Florida with us earlier in the year, she is back at NRO summer camp in Boise.  We did an amazing job of embarrassing her later on in the day with a sash, crown and singing off key to her with all of our trainees.  This place has a market in the front, a taco truck in the back.  Pretty interesting market.  For all of the things that it does have, it doesn't have a lot of products.  I will say it was very tempting to buy a pinata for Jess!

I really feel like we had a missed opportunity with not getting any pinatas.  I love how Fo and Ashley are intently looking at something.  I really don't know what it is that they are looking at, but it seems important.

Menu is very simple and great.  Very clearly marked with all information.  They really don't over do it with trying to appeal to everyone and everything like some of the other trucks that we've been to around here.  Burritos looked pretty righteous, but I had to stick to tacos.
RATINGS:
CABEZA: 3, soft, but pretty good.
LENGUA: 3, pretty run of the mill.  They do not cut lengua too small and do not shred it here in Idaho.
TRIPA: 4, this was soft and crispy?  Really good.  I like the way that it was sauteed.  It really was one of the better ones that I've had.  A great texture, nice flavor, I liked it.
CARNITAS: 3, total textbook.  good, but did not blow me away at all.
ASADA: 4, really good job in Idaho with Beef.  This was well flavored, not overcooked, quite tasty.
PASTOR: 3, close to being a 4, but just not above and beyond enough.  Good pineapple flavor, but not too sweet.

Pretty nice spread.  I appreciate it anytime that people pair their tacos with the salsa it should go with.  Nicely done.  Idaho taco adventures a bit different.  They have a "style" of taco.  Not bad, but it sure isn't the tasty greatness of Southern California!  I'd be lying if I said I wasn't pining for some SoCal Tacoteering.

I love them advertising.  Really made us all kind of chuckle.  Cool to see them making fresh tamales.  I love tamales.  I did ask, they don't just serve them, you have to order them for a party, they take great pride in their masa.

Thank you to the great trainers that I'm working with and Tacoteering with.  We have hit a few places and I still have another blog I have yet to write about.  They have really been troopers, granted I think that they are lucky to eat so many tacos.  Another shout out to Phil!  Chef Phil has been taking his mad skills to each place.  Josh, Fo, Ashley and Phil have yet to miss an Idaho adventure.  Thanks to all who read, keep following, I'm going to find the best tacos that Boise has to offer over the next week.

Before we part, the gratuitous photo from this adventure is of the birthday girl, Jessica Taylor.  Happy Birthday Jess, glad we got to spend your birthday eating tacos!

Stay Excellent All!

Calle 75 Street Tacos, Meridian, ID

Quick bite of food.  This place, I'm told use to be a truck.  They have a sort of restaurant now in the Meridian Village.  "Sort of" is not a knock on their food or operation.  It is a really cool, open spaced shared area.  It does a great job of bringing the beauty of the outside, fountains, scenery and beauty of the town-center into their space.  All windows, no walls, open big doors the length of the building.  Really a special set up that I think is second to none.

So here is the set up.  Pretty cool right?  You see everything and all that they are doing.  It is wide open in front of you and damn cool.  This place fits the town-center so well.  I think the food, ambiance really fit this place.  The fountain is huge and awesome.  It plays music that goes with how the water is dancing or whatever you call it.

Seating area is great.  Yes, that is a fireplace and couches for the casual taco conversation.  They don't have a ton of options.  They do have a special right now, yes, you guessed it, PASTOR!
RATINGS:
ASADA: 3, textbook?  Really by the book, good, not amazing asada.  Eat it, enjoy it, but it is nothing special.
CARNITAS: 3, again pretty textbook.  Savory, sweet, good.  Didn't blow me away, but I would order it again.  Great with their green salsa.
PASTOR: 2, way too much pineapple.  Pineapple was also not ripe enough.  The pineapple is also served cold, not grilled, it needs to be grilled to pull the sugars and juices out of the pineapple.  It really would make a great difference.
CHAN CHAN BURRITO: 4, really good.  This stuff was good.  The lovely girls working there talked me into trying it.  Spinach, garlic aioli.  Liked it for sure.
SALSA: 4, they have a red and a green.  Both are pretty great and enhance the flavors of the tacos without overwhelming them.

It looks great and that is part of it for this place.  They are generous but not over the top.  I have to say that I enjoyed it and will be eating there as it is less then a block from the new restaurant that I'm a part of opening.  I actually have eaten twice.  I started writing the blog and went back for another round.  That is when I had the Chan Chan Style burrito.  Sam and Emily were working and they were so excellent and helpful.  I do recommend this place, without a doubt.  I feel like you need to see a picture of the fountain.  There are multiple fountains, but this is the main one.

Thank you so much for the reads, hope everyone is enjoying the adventures of different cities, trying to hit as many as I can.  Trying to keep the stories interesting for all of you.  I really appreciate the reads, re-posts and re-tweets.  If you are not following on Instagram yet, please do!

Gratuitous photo today is of Rosie.  Rosie is the owner of Calle 75.  She is a wonderful chick that I'm very glad I got to meet.

Stay Excellent!

El Rey, Boise, ID

This is the picturesque background that we get.  As nice as that is, how are the tacos?  Tried Kobe Beef Tacos at a restaurant.  Horrid!  Service pretty much everywhere that we have been has been atrocious.  We literally walked out of a restaurant after being there for almost two hours and not getting our food.  We had to find tacos.  We tried asking around, checking what we could on the internet.  We got a huge assist from some of the great folks who work in the kitchen at the restaurant that we are opening.  They gave us a few places to go, the first mark was El Rey.

I snapped this picture as we were on the road.  I know, Josh looks focused, Phil is super excited and Ashley really isn't using her hands to drive.  What you don't see, is my beard and Fo.  Both were in the car, both were hiding in this photo.  Kind of concerning, but this blog would not be written about if I didn't make it back alive.  The ride there was full of jokes and stories.  The ride back, I don't think that I've laughed that hard in a really long time.  I laughed the entire time.  We all did.  There was tears flowing from everyone's face.  If you've ever opened a restaurant, it's like summer camp.  You make friends, form bonds, connections and relationships that are special.  There is a closeness and comradery that is pretty special.  You miss the folks and it is like you've known them forever, even if it is your first opening with them.  We lean on each other to help get us through not seeing our families, house, pets, friends.

This is the brave group.  Yes, I'm wearing my apron still.  We were busy at work, I spent the day working in the kitchen mainly with Phil and Josh.  What a great time.  Let me make some introductions.  Ashley is the one in the green shirt.  I'm sure everyone remembers Fo.  Philly Cheese Steak went to the vending machine in West Hollywood with me, I'm the guy with the beard and I'm sure that you know Josh.  We got to this Taqueria Truck and knew we were in the right place.  We ate there and brought food back for the trainers that were left behind.  We ate the good stuff, lengua, cabeza, tripa.  We brought them back the pollo, asada.

They are a truck.  Yes, "just" a taco truck, but they make their own tortillas, and they are fantastic.  Really good white corn tortillas.  Did I mention that Phil had us laughing hysterically the entire time?  He really is a funny dude.  The tortillas were light and soft.  They were not grainy.  I was impressed that they were able to knock out tortillas like that in such a tight space.  It took a few minutes longer to get food, but well worth it with the fresh tortillas.

The menu had enough going on, but was simple and perfect for this joint.  The Tostada de Camaron was tempting, but we stuck hard to tacos on this trip.  I would not be surprised if we found our way back there, so there is probably some tostadas in our future.  They have some great variety on meats.
RATINGS:
LENGUA: 2, just too soft.  Not the right texture, almost a bit slimy.
CABEZA: 4, pretty delicious.  This was solid.  The seasoning was great, the texture was on point.  I wasn't going to try it, but Phil came through with a big win here. Thanks for Tacoteering hard on this one Phil.
ADOBADA: 3, this was good for Idaho.  I don't know if it could really hang as a three in SoCal, the land of Pastor and Adobada.  Still, I appreciate the effort, like the texture, maybe a bit heavy on the aciote and clove.
BARBACOA: 3, solid.  Nothing that was out of control amazing, but without a doubt something I would order.  We brought it back for the folks left behind that we didn't take Tacoteering and they attacked.  They did a nice slow roast on the meat, seasoned it well.
TRIPA: 2, this was so close to a three, but it was overcooked and got too crunchy.  It is a hard one to make perfect, they made a heck of an effort.  I think it was just cut so small that it was easy to overcook.
ASADA: 4, this was really well done.  Smaller cuts then I normally prefer, but they marinated and seasoned it well, it was cooked very well, not overdone, and came out juicy and tender.  It was even good cold when I ate a left over taco a couple of hours later.
POLLO: 4, yeah, this was the shocker.  Really good.  It was tender, well seasoned with red pepper flakes and a hint of tomato.  I would get this again without a doubt.

Why the Twinkie?  It is a mean, malicious inside joke.  The Twinkie has been going on adventures and been all over the place.  Food was plated well.  We had many more tacos then this, but you get the picture.  I do think that they need to get more onions and cilantro on there, but I liked it none the less.

Yeah, those shorts were awesome.  We had to get a photo of them.  This guy was ready to show everyone what he has going on.  It wasn't much, but he wanted everyone to see.  He's way too young to remember the basketball ear of the early 80's to make it acceptable to sport those in public, heck or private.  His fiance was with him, I'm still not convinced that she is not a minor.

This "Captain Morgan" photo happened organically.  Really not planned like this, but it happened.  We had some fun there, it was a quick trip, but we needed to get back to work!  There will be more tacos to come.

Thank you to all who have read, continue to read and tell your friends.  Thanks for the re-tweets and re-posts.  A huge thanks to Ashley as this was her first time Tacoteering and I don't know if she knew what she was getting into.  She ate tacos like a trooper.  Yes, usually with a new person I give them the goodbye gratuitous photo.  Today you get a gem from the Order of the Taco Instagram.  Phil and I wish you the best on your day.

Stay Excellent!