La Fogata, Sherman Oaks, CA

This has been a long time coming.  La Fogata is known in LA.  It has been around for quite sometime.  La Fogata has a great following.  It is an old school popular place in Southern California's beautiful San Fernando Valley.  I have eaten here, its been a long time though.  The building is unassuming, perfect for good tacos.  Menu is big, lots of variety, good place to come, get a good meal.  They do serve beer and wine, but we know I'm just there for the tacos!

You name it, they make it.  I remember their tamales just being OK, nothing amazing.  Meats are usually all pretty solid, service is perfect for me.  You order up at the register and sit down.  As you take a seat in the dining room, you can overlook a beautiful salsa bar:

Yeah, it excites me too!  I will rate the salsas below, but the salsa bar itself sits at a 3.  Some variety, but not very much, nothing too exciting as far as salsas go.  They aren't trying anything new or cool.  They are run of the mill salsas, pickled jalapenos are more carrots and onions than anything and the jalapenos that were in there were limp and just ehh, no bite, kick, punch or anything to them.
RATINGS:
SALSA VERDE: 1, please don't eat this, it is horrible.
MILD RED: 2, lots of canned tomato flavor comes out on this one.
SPICY RED: 3, less of that delicious can flavor, but not much going on.  It is not bad, I'm glad that I ate it, but I'm not super proud.
SPICY PICO: 3, I like it when places do a spicy pico, they do an OK job, but it really isn't very special.
CARNITAS: 2, yeah, I was caught off guard with disappointment.  There was some serious blandness to it.  No real attempt at flavor or tenderness.
ASADA: 3, there is nothing wrong with this.  It is good, it is not amazing, but you will not be disappointed.  Cooked nicely, tender, flavor was good.
DORADO CHICKEN TACO: 4, yeah, I went for a hard shell, shredded chicken taco.  That was a win!  It was good.  The chicken is cooked perfectly, nice flavor, paprika, little spice, I liked it.  Tortilla was fried great, not overdone but a great crunch to it.
FISH TACO: 4, I of course went for the grilled not the fried.  I love grilled fish tacos and this did not disappoint in anyway whatsoever.  I am so glad that the fish was not overcooked!  It was flaky, good and exactly what I was looking for.  I really did not have high hopes, but was very pleasantly surprised.

I know some of the ratings look low, but I like this place.  I will be back, I will take people there.  The people working there are so nice.  The food is overall good.  The atmosphere is cool.  It is that old Sherman Oaks, Studio City feel.  I happen to find it nostalgic and comforting.

Thanks for reading, I know this is a bit short, after rereading it almost seems as if I've rushed it.  I don't know, I can't tell you why.  I have one to two more places I'm hitting this week, if you follow me on Instagram, you know tacos have really been on my mind!  Today's gratuitous photo reminds me of a movie.  Because its nothing, absolutely nothing.










Stay Excellent!