Big Burrito Taqueria, Canoga Park, CA

Usually the best place to start a story is in the beginning.  Melissa, Eleni and Yiayia went out with friends to see a movie.  They were doing some girls outing thing.  Melissa has been complaining for sometime now how the shower head was not fitting right and that she has lost the piece needed to fix it.  We went out today to get the piece needed so that Melissa can finally shower properly after all of these months and be clean.  Will she finally be clean?  I don't know, I really don't.  Only time will tell, but I feel with two shower heads, she has a heck of a shot and I'm really rooting for her to take a shower and be clean.  I'll try to remember to keep you posted.  

After we left Larry and Joe's Plumbing, we decided to go Tacoteering.  Today's adventure took us to this little gem tucked away in a strip mall on Canoga pretty close to the mall.  Like I said the girls went out to the movies, dinner, I'll tell you, I don't know what they are doing.  My dad, my two sons and I decided that we would go have some fun of our own.  Jason is two, Alexander 10 and if you've been reading or following on Twitter or Instagram, you know them.  

Inside of the restaurant is pretty cool.  Nothing too fancy, but it has what it needs.  You go order at the counter and they make the food as you are ordering it.  Not the most efficient, but these guys were working hard and were really nice. I seriously don't know if they charged us correctly.  We had a lot of tacos!  Alexander, my dad and I can put away some tacos, Jason got a burrito but then was eating tacos.  Yes, he ate lengua, yes he liked it and yes I'm proud of this young tacoteer. 

Alexander and I got one of each of their taco meats except the cabeza, we shared that one.  Don't know why, but thought just one of those.  Good call, it rated the lowest.  They also have "Americano" tacos which come with lettuce, cheese, sour cream and tomatoes.  We got an extra pastor one that way to get some variety, Papou (my dad) got all of his that way.  Not too bad for a little change up.  It might make the place a little more colorful on the plate and approachable for when you take a lady friend out on a tacoteering date.  They might like all of that stuff.  Plus, it had lettuce and tomatoes so I can comfortably say that we ate vegetables aside jalapenos, onions and cilantro, we were being very healthy and responsible.  

Place was loud, the soccer game was blaring, it was pretty cool.  I meant to also have pictures of the salsa bar, but really screwed up and must have moved the camera.  Most people check that stuff, but I was so focused on eating tacos.  The salsa bar again, yeah the one that I don't have pictures of has some amazing peppers and onions.  They were spicy and good!  

RATINGS:
POLLO: 4, slow clap and a bravo on this one.  All four of us liked the chicken.  It was really good.  It was tender, flavorful but not overwhelming.  Often we get salt bombs on the chicken, that was not the case here.  

CABEZA: 2, I'm really on a string of bad cabeza and I want to get out of it.  I love cabeza and I have not encountered good cabeza in a few blogs.  The Juggernaut spit it out when he took a bite, Alexander did not really care for it either.  

LENGUA: 3, I like this.  I am wondering why I didn't give it a 4, but I already wrote it, and this is on the internet, so who am I to change it?  They chop the tongue right in front of you and they do a great job.  It is worth trying and is great in their tacos.

CARNITAS: 3, this was nicely done.  Texture was good, not overcooked. Seasoning was pretty solid.  Worth trying without a doubt.  Would probably be perfect in a burrito.  

PASTOR: 3, consistently inconsistent.  Had it all tasted like the good part, holy cow, this is knocking on the door of a 5.  We had a number of pastor tacos on the table and a half asada half pastor burrito for the Juggernaut, and the pastor tasted different.  None was bad, but some was average and some was crazy good.  

ASADA: 5, this took me by surprise.  I did not see this one coming.  It was good stuff.  It was tender, it was very flavorful.  They had some good seasoning on there, but it was not at all overwhelming, so you could really taste the meat.  This was pleasing to me.  

SALSA ROJO: 2, spicy but just not very flavorful.  This was just below OK.  It was watery and not really very good.

SALSA VERDE: 4, this was quite the delicious surprise.  I asked for a to go ramekin to take home as I need to recreate this.  Nice light spice, great texture, heavy tomatillos, really, really good.

The food was really good overall that the boys enjoyed it.  They both attacked and ate as many tacos as quickly as they could.  I wonder where they got that from?  The asada really was one of the best I've had in sometime.  The biggest issue with the food was a bit inconsistent.  Some of the pastor was incredible, some was OK.  Chicken and lengua was the same.  It was all chopped right in front of us, but is kept in steam wells and it depends on how deep they went in their for how much good flavor and juice you really got.  Here is Jason kind of mad at me for taking a picture and Alexander chomping down.

Thank you as always for reading, following, telling people.  I have added a thingy to make it easier for you to follow me on Instagram.  Many up to date taco pictures, some Jiu Jitsu and the crazy people and antics that I'm up to, but mainly tacos.  Today was extra fun with just the guys, it is nice to get time with my dad and my two sons, hope you enjoyed our adventure, please tell your friends to read about it, tweet about it, post about the blog.  We always need more followers at The Order of the Taco. 

Before I go, I want to update you.  Melissa still has not taken a shower and is still not clean.

Today's goodbye/gratuitous photo is a two part photo of my son Jason, the Juggernaut.  It is amazing how much more he will eat when his sister is not around.  He attacked a carne asada burrito with hot sauce on it.  I asked for none, but there was some on there.  He was drinking water like crazy but kept eating.  We learned that he does want his burritos wrapped tightly.  He was quite the trooper and was incredibly funny throughout our trip.  Here is him getting ready, then him taking that big bite, it is good to see you tacoteers learning and growing into their own taco eating professionals.  

Stay Excellent!