Taqueria los Altenos, Canoga Park, CA

Man have things been crazy for me.  I know that I needed to get back to blogging for things to start to get better.  I have passed this place a bunch of times.  Horrible Yelps, not too much of a looker from the outside.  I almost went in more than once.  I was driving from one restaurant to another and needed to eat.  I figured I'd give it a shot.  I drove right by it and turned around to check it out.  I don't really know how to describe it aside from Taco Destiny.  I was drawn right towards the place.  I was not in a pleasurable mood and this place turned it around.  As far as I'm concerned, it was just full of surprises.

Here was a surprise, chips and salsa?  Didn't see that coming.  You order at the counter, they give you this and then bring your food to you.  Two very different salsas, not too shabby.  I really did not expect this.  It was perfect.  I was super hungry and this was a great little distraction as they were making the tacos for me.  Pricing by the way, solid.

BOOM!  Another surprise, and one of the best surprises out there, a pastor cone!!!  Yes, this is the kind of stuff that really excites me.  It looked good, it tastes, well, we are not yet at the ratings, slow your roll...the folks working were busy and did not stop.  Everyone did their part and worked well as a team.

This was an unpleasant surprise.  It was a huge tease.  It is not a salsa bar as we all would assume.  It is a hands off, salad bar.  I was not impressed.  I wanted to try the cactus, but I really wanted the serrano peppers.  I really wanted them.  I wanted to eat them.  They looked fresh and they looked good.  I don't know for sure, I just was staring at them.

The experience was great.  The people working there were so nice.  There was a little boy who was being a total brat.  He was yelling, the dad was ignoring.  The young lady working there walked over and asked him if he was going trick or treating and then gave him some candy.  It was so cool.  Great to see her help the situation.  She was so sweet and checked on everyone eating to see if they needed anything and asked if they enjoyed it.  Her name is Anna, say hello to her next time that you are in.  She was talking to me about their meats, styles of cooking, influences, everything.  No, I did not tell her that I was going to write about them, she was just a sweet friendly individual who seemed to really love her job.
RATINGS:
LENGUA: 4,  buttery goodness.  Tasty, fresh, well cooked, but soft.  This is something to go and try, something to get excited about.
TRIPA: 5, this is possibly standalone best that I've had.  It was cut a little bigger than I normally like, but this did not stop me or slow me down.  It is some good stuff.  With a good crunch, a soft inside, light touch of salt, yeah, you get my drift.  Go try it.  I loved the pride, watching this guy make this stuff, made it all that much better.
PASTOR: 5, yeah, yeah, it is that good.  There is some amazing pastor that I've eaten, this one ranks.  It is as good as RT in my mind.  I'm going to go and try it again to make sure, but initial bite was umm, yeah.  It is on a cone, it is slow cooked.  It has flavors of lime, clove, aciote, multiple chilies.  Very nicely done.  It is a bit crispy, but soft and great.
CABEZA: 3, solid.  Very, very solid.  Soft, buttery, good.  Nothing to shy away from.  Reality, I'll probably order this when I go back again, yes, if you haven't caught the drift, I'm going back.
ASADA: 4,
ROJO: 3, it was solid, bit of spice, nice cilantro flavor and a great starter to a great meal.
VERDE: 2, nothing to write home about.  It almost tasted like mayo, yucky.

Pretty sweet looking spread, right?  Why aren't you following me on Instagram?  You could see many beautiful taco photos.  There is some other things thrown in every so often, but there are for everyone's entertainment.

One of my favorite parts of the food was the pairings.  The meats were paired with different salsas.  They really knew how to maximize the flavors of each meat.  All of the salsas had the appropriate "kick" and meshed nicely with each bit of food.  Very cool to me when they pair them up.  They did ask if I was OK with it before doing it and I was so happy that they did this.

One of the best parts about this blog is that my BFF Nikki lives blocks away.  There is tacos in the future for her, Matt, Melissa and I!  Thanks for reading.  Please continue to tell everyone and read.  I really appreciate people being a part of this blog in anyway that you are.  Today's gratuitous photo is of the mural that they have on the wall.  It helps create some great ambiance.  It was like I was with the guy loading his donkey.  We were Tacoteering together as he got his burro ready to go.

Stay Excellent!