Tom's Tacos, Torrance, CA

Seeing "The Original" on here throws me off a bit.  Tom's is a Tito's rip off.  It is hands down a carbon copy print almost of the infamous Tito's.  One of their big claims to fame is Tito's with no lard.  Let me remind you that there is a huge debate out there if lard is really "bad" for you.  I stay out of it and stick to flavor and service.  One way or another, this place is a pretty good option if you are in the market for a good hard shelled taco.  I know what you are thinking, "I rarely want one, I enjoy street tacos just like the guys in the Order of the Taco."  Every once in a while, these places have a time and a place.  I also figure that it was a Tuesday, so why not branch out on a "Taco Tuesday?"

We'll zoom in a bit more on the menu in a moment, but want you to get a good visual of the restaurant.  The guy behind the counter has to be Tom.  I don't know if I've met a nicer or cooler dude.  He was awesome to every single person that came near the restaurant.  His attitude alone made me enjoy the meal that much better.  He invited us in, as he did everyone, and thanked us and invited us back.  Really cool dude.  Great community support displayed in the restaurant which I enjoyed seeing.  

Little bit closer up on the menu.  You can see the awesome simplicity and honing in on the specialty.  Love it!  They keep it simple with the cups, decor, everything.  I think that it all fits perfectly.  I can't say enough good things about all of that.  

RATINGS:
BEEF: 2, this was hard to give a 2 to.  It wasn't horrible, but just not that good.  It was a bit too blah for me.  Lacked the flavor, lacked the fun.

CHICKEN: 3, so this was about to be a 4.  I am sticking with a 3, because of the style of taco as it is not a true street taco which is the focus, as if you didn't know.  The chicken was pretty good.  It tasted great in the taco, looked great and I thought it was an impressive option.  If you stick with this when you come in, you will be a happy person, if you are looking for this type of taco.

SUPER NACHOS: 3, what a generous, filling, good portion.  The flavor was not too bad.  It was pretty average, a Chili Colorado type of flavor going for itself.  The cheese is pretty cool and the beans are runny, but again, this is the place we chose and they deliver on their niche.  

SALSA: 3, it would not get a 3 many places, but for this place, it is perfect.  The flavor matches what they are doing and it is good for dipping and goes well with their style of tacos.

Not a powerful force of a spread, but good just the same.  The salsa is alright, nothing to write home about, but it was a cool touch.  The nachos were surprisingly big and the portions were generous all the way around.  They know who they are and I really like that.  They don't try to do anything that is off the reservation or different.  The food is not bad, I would go again, stick with the chicken tacos and be quite happy, that is if I'm not overwhelmed by my burning desire for street tacos.  

Thanks to all for reading, trying to get some good taco diversity here and make sure you see and know all the options that are out there for you.  Southern California is a taco lovers paradise, don't miss out on all the flavors and things that you can try.  Don't be silly and not recommend your favorite place/places to me.  I want to go, I want to try, I want to enjoy with you or tell you about how great it is!  We are fortunate for our SoCal Tacos, take advantage with me.

Today's goodbye/gratuitous photo is of my daughter Eleni.  She is currently four, about to turn five.  I took her to school since Melissa was volunteered at the Church this fine morning.  We got there a few minutes early and walked through the rose and prayer garden at her school.  It was a blast for both of us.  We took a bunch of photos of here running through the garden, by the fountain and up on the bridge.  It was a really nice time.  She told me stories, made plans for us to go to the park, it was one of those moments that I was so fortunate to enjoy.  

Stay Excellent!

El Indio Mexicano Restaurant, Northridge, CA

These are some of the hardest ones to write.  A place of great childhood memories.  A joint I've been to well over a few hundred times.  Stopping by for breakfast at 630am or after a fun night at 4am.  This place has seen it all from all times and hours.  When I was younger, I use to call it the star place because it had a large monument sign with a star on it.  I loved the chili verde burritos that they would make.  I think the food is still good, but a cry from where it use to be.  If the question is being asked if I still love going here, the answer is a quick yes.

This menu has changed color and design more times than I could ever keep track of.  The prices seem to still change almost daily, but the place remains affordable.  What hasn't really changed is the options.  This place has always stuck to the same things.  They know what and how to make great stuff.  They stick to what they know.  Some of the recipes have changed slightly, but never have strayed too far.  If you are doing your Lenten fasting, their bean burrito is really second to none.  If I was rating that bad boy it would be a 5.  It has great flavor and is consistently one of my favorite things to order when I go.  Truth be told, I almost ordered it when Alexander and I went, but he told me that he wanted me to write about this place since I hadn't yet.

There is some indoor seating if you don't want to enjoy the ambiance created by the corner of Balboa and Roscoe.  I will say that Friday and Saturday night when the night club that is attached is popping, the inside seating is not a bad option.  It causes for less distractions from your taco dining experience.  You can still see the fun and crazies, but you miss out on some of the RIF-RAF.

These colors are newer.  They do a good job of updating every so often.  They change up the colors, paint and try to keep the place appealing.  I hope that they never stray from keeping it simple.  That is always the fear, but as long as the guys who have had the place for a while are there, I don't fear there to be any issues.

So that is Alexander in attack mode.  I was going to put this further down in the blog, but had to put it here.  He is one heck of a #Tacoteer.  He loves his tacos and is always trying to get me to take him out for tacos.  I had given him the option before archery to have breakfast or get tacos right after and he obviously opted to go to tacos after archery.  I know what you are thinking, great call.

Quick shot of our food before it was attacked and eaten by Alexander and I.  It is like the calm before the storm when you see tacos wrapped like that in front of the two of us.
RATINGS:
PASTOR: 3, this was just OK today.  They have done a better job, but probably not in years.  Please don't misunderstand, I have eaten it many times before and will again, but it is no RT or Tacos el Gordo.  It was a bit overcooked and was almost too fatty.
CARNITAS: 4, this was exactly the way that I like it.  It was tasty, it was a bit salty.  Nicely shredded, not overcooked but a bit of crisp from throwing it on the flattop to warm it up.
ASADA: 3, good stuff.  I've had it here as a 5 before, but you are only as good as your last shift, and that puts them at a big 3 today.  There was nothing bad or negative I can say about it, in the same breath, there was nothing impressive or above and beyond here.
BUCHE: 4, I really like the way that they do their.  It is good.  Really good.  Flavorful, a bit to chew on but it sure isn't gum.  They crisp a bit of the outside, but leave you some hearty meat to enjoy on the inside.  They don't chop it too small or leave it too big.
LENGUA: 3, pretty textbook stuff here my friends.  It is left a bit large, I personally like it shredded, but it is tasty.  Not overdone, but well seasoned and nice flavors to it.
SALSA VERDE: 4, this is a hidden gem.  It is sweet with a kick, bright green with tons of smooth, balanced flavors.

Like I eluded to earlier, the food has changed, but only slightly.  I read the Yelp reviews and am taken back by the recent negativity.  The complaints about bad service is something I have NEVER experienced here.  They have always treated me wonderful.  Not just the guys that I've seen there for over 30 years, but everyone that works there.  I've seen the long timers working with their kids there and it is so cool to see that evolution.

If you are confused by the streets that I put, understand that there are a few locations.  The closest one, the one that I now frequent the most is on Tampa and Roscoe.  I internally struggle on which one I like better.  From a pastor standpoint, Tampa, from a bean burrito, Balboa.  Most other options are pretty neck in neck.  There are other locations, many places with similar names, but this one will always be known to me as "The Star Place."

A huge thank you to everyone for reading, re-posting, re-tweeting and telling others about the blog.  Thrilling trip here down memory lane.  There is some good stuff here and I do hope that you go by and try the place.  You will not leave upset from a culinary standpoint.

Today's goodbye/gratuitous photo is of Alexander shooting his bow and arrow.  He shoots every Sunday morning.  Pretty fun to go and watch him.  He's not too bad at it.  I will say in my opinion that it is a bit more fun to watch Jui Jitsu, but this ain't too bad.  Notice the LA Kings hat, always represent the greatest team in the league, always.

Stay Excellent!

La Mexicana, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

We are still here in Kuala Lumpur. Obviously we've been researching and this place kept coming up as "the best" Mexican Restaurant in all of Malaysia.  The claims are that the joint is authentic and that people just love it.

When you walk up, there is the patio on the left, the "inside" seating on the right and the kitchen is straight ahead.  The set-up is pretty cool and inviting.  We were seated inside, not really given an option.  Not a big deal, there were people smoking outside, so we would have chosen inside anyways.  

The specials are in front just before you walk in.  Yes, that large, strange shadow is me.  Specials looked pretty awesome, I might have gone that route, but was really craving some tacos.  Pricing is pretty solid here.  It isn't "cheap," but it is very affordable and I thought the pricing was pretty fair.  Portions are fairly tiny, but we sure didn't leave hungry and I don't think that we over ordered.  

Just before you get to the kitchen there is a little garden.  Seems that they are growing some of their food, particularly the cactus.  They had quite a bit of cactus growing in the garden and offered some cactus dishes.  I think this is so cool.  Really loved seeing the garden.  It was pretty big, I just didn't want to stand in the way and take a bunch of photos since the servers were trying to run food from the kitchen to the tables.  

Here is the detached kitchen.  Clean space.  They really do a great job of keeping the kitchen clean.  Looks good back there.  Really enjoy seeing people keep their working areas as clean as these folks.  Uniforms were very crisp, even in their kitchen and I did see some good hand-washing.  Sadly I cannot say that for very many places that we've been to or seen in Malaysia.   

Next to the kitchen and right outside of our table was this fountain.  It was pretty awesome.  It really looked good.  It was just a nice fountain for such a small center.  I'm a big fan of fountains.  They are full of water and they spray the water.  It's neat.  They even put blue colors to  make it look blue.  

So this is only two pages of the menu.  Obviously the taco pages, aka the important pages.  Corn tortillas are not easy to find here in Malaysia.  We have been looking.  We've tried restaurants, stores, everything.  Anyways, these guys make their own corn tortillas.  They taste fresh and they were pretty darn delicious.  There is a talent here, a solid recipe.  Tortillas like this are no accident.  The variety and choice of tacos was pretty interesting to me.  They really try to stay true to Mexican tacos, but make sure that they are taking local desires into account.  Very well done job on planning this menu.  One thing that also blew me away, is that they had Cholula.  We haven't seen any hot sauce except for Tabasco in Malaysia.  It was cool to see that they are really trying to stay true and branch out from what everyone else is doing.  

We ordered the guacamole appetizer.  It was pretty solid.  No one really got very much because Diane was in extra diva mode and not only made sure she sat at the head of the table to try to gain all the attention, but used almost all of the guacamole on her tacos.  Yeah, it was rude, but we are use to her now.  FYI, the chips are not very good.  They kind of suck, but I really think that is probably the biggest and only food complaint that I have about this place.  They do a pretty nice job.

RATINGS:

COCHINITA PIBIL: 4, the pickled onions on this were so good.  For sure a must eat if you are in the area.  The meat was so good.  It was soft in texture, but was not overcooked or dissolving.  Really love this stuff!

BISTEC CON CHORIZO: 4, this was interesting and caught us off guard.  I normally, as you probably know am not a chorizo fan.  The chorizo with the bistec was a nice touch and they were a good compliment that were pushed to greatness with the salsa!  This was JJ's favorite, I'm really glad that we got it.

PASTOR: 3, I'll argue this is probably the best pastor in Southeast Asia.  It was good.  The pineapple was fresh and grilled, the meat was well marinated and tender.  Sadly it does not get a higher score, because it is compared to pastor all over the world, and it does not hit that high level.  Still, not bad, worth a try.  You should try to eat pastor in as many countries as you can, that's a fact.  

CAMPECHANOS: 4, this was probably my favorite of the tacos.  it was just downright delicious.

GUACAMOLE: 4, this was really good.  The veggies in Malaysia are great.  They are truly organic and you can taste the difference.  These guys don't overdress their guac, they make sure it is tasty, balanced and goes great on Diane's tacos.

SALSAS: 4, they hit every single one of the salsas that hit our table.  The verde was so crazy on point.  They also take the time to match proteins to salsa and that is just great to see.  They pair them perfectly and I appreciate that!  

Yes, pastor gets it's own photo, why, because it's pastor!  All descriptions are on the menu of each item that was rated.  Scores were good, because these guys do a pretty bang up job.  Josh pointed out, it smells like Central America when you walk out of the restaurant's indoor seating.  It was a nice touch to a great restaurant.  Like I said, they match all of the tacos to a salsa and that just scores big points with me.  Flatware is heavy and nice, it is what you'd expect in a fine dining restaurant.  Service was a bit slow, but they were some of the nicest people that we've met.  They really were sweet and really cool.  I had the fresh mango juice and it was so tasty!  They know their juices.  Portions look small, are kind of small, but they were pretty filling.  That was everyone's food except for "Diane the Guac" and we all left full.

Let's go around the table, JJ is looking tough and has become a great friend here on this opening.  Cassie is growing up, ordered tacos and even knows what pastor is after all the Tacoteering she has done.  Diane is being all diva back there and is doing some sweater drop thing off her shoulder.  Josh has that winning smile, beautiful face and looks great.  I look like total crap.  Yeah, I know, I should not let anyone see a photo this bad of me, but it does grab the horrible way that I look.  At least my beard is still with me.  

Thank you to everyone and all for reading.  Last KL blog was a huge hit, hoping we can get some great traffic off of this one.  Re-posts, re-tweets and telling people are always appreciated.  I don't think we will find another KL Tacoteering place, there are very few.  I'm really glad we found this place, it is great and some of the best tacos I've had.  Really, tell your friends to go to this place, check it out and enjoy it!

Today's goodbye/gratuitous photo was just downright fun.  We struggled flagging down a cab to get us back to the hotel.  It was not easy.  Most cabs, even the larger ones would not drive us to the hotel, which was only a 20 minute cab ride away!  A cab driver who would take us finally pulled over and I sat up front with him, everyone else piled in the back.  Here they all are packed into the back of the cab.  It really was great to do some good Tacoteering with these great Tacoteers.  Let's break down this photo: Josh is being smooth and all excited.  Cassie is doing the "am I cute?" smile.  JJ is "keeping it real."  Diane is doing the "wait, my make-up ain't right for this cab ride."

Stay Excellent!

Loco, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

I know what you are thinking, yes, this is my first Asian, blog.  Loco is a joint that we stumbled upon in Kuala Lumpur.  Yes, we were out searching for tacos.  I mean, we'd been here for two days, we have to do some Tacoteering.  There is a place that we've heard we have to go to, I've been reading all about it, but that would have required transportation other than our feet.

This is the inside of the restaurant.  They were proudly advertising a pool table upstairs.  They had a number of infused tequilas advertised on a chalkboard.  I stuck with the watermelon water, that was a for sure mistake as it was not very tasty.  Under our table they had some incense going, it was not the most pleasant smell and did not make me want to eat more food.  The place carries only Tabasco for hot sauce.  I don't blame them for the lack of sauces, it is a KL thing.  They are lacking in the hot sauce department.  They are missing out on some great stuff.  They have a chipotle salsa at this restaurant, might have been the best thing that I had here.  It was pretty tasty, spicy, balanced, good.

STOP

We needed to interrupt for a moment and let you enjoy a picture of Josh and me Tacoteering.  I know what you are thinking, "damn these two guys are hot."  Thank you, we are modest and appreciate the staring and glaring, we don't mind the gawking.  It's all good take a moment, soak us in.  Josh's birthday is this week, does he look older?  I don't think so, he still has his youthful glow.

The menu is pretty cool.  There is a good variety, they do try to hit the Mexican dishes.  They do stray off the path a bit and hit some other Latin dishes, but we will absolve them from sin on this one.  We stuck with the street tacos.  We had to try to go with what the Order of the Taco and participants are getting everywhere.  Looking at the menu, don't be alarmed by pricing.  Remember that the prices are in MYR, not dollars.

Table set-ups are pretty neat.  They have the napkins set to look pretty, heavy silverware and the table tops themselves are pretty rad.  I think the decor did a nice job of matching Kuala Lumpur and their overall "Mexican Theme."
RATINGS:
BEEF: 2, not a fan.  No flavor depth, pretty boring and the pieces were so unevenly cut, but they tried to make it look uniform.
CHILI CON CARNE: 3, I don't really know what this was.  I know what chili con carne is, but I don't know what this thing really is.  It was not bad, it almost tastes like mutton, but wasn't.  It gets a 3 because it is unique and something that you should try if you are Tacoteering in Malaysia.
DUCK: 2, a bit sad while eating this one.  I love duck.  I love duck out here in Malaysia, but this duck was not too tasty.  It was tough, but still shredded, the flavor was lacking.
LAMB: 3, oh the lamb out here.  It is a real treat.  It tastes so good.  They don't get higher because it was so far off the reservation from how it would be cooked South of California.
PRAWN: 3,  there was no way I was shying away from the prawn taco.  I was expecting a larger prawn, instead there were a few small prawns in the taco.  It was cooked excellent and the tastes were just on point.  Smooth and good.
CHIPOTLE SALSA: 4, this was some pretty good stuff.  It had a light smoky flavor with a soft smell.  It kicked you a little in the front but finished smooth with a little tingle at the very end in your throat.

Kudos to these guys for hitting local fare.  They made sure that the offerings line up well with the food that the locals would eat, but still try to go true to what the tourist would want.  Flour tortillas, yeah, I'm still not a fan.  I mean, they have their place, but not on a street taco.  These were really thin flour tortillas, and I did kind of like them, but NOT FOR STREET TACOS.  Man, this is burning me up still.  I don't get all the "stuff" they put on the tacos.  If you want to call it street tacos and put words like Tijuana on the menu, then make a true street taco.  Call it something else if you want to make it with all this kind of stuff like corn, tomato, sauce, lettuce and whatever else was on this thing.  Side note, there is corn in darn near every dish out here, but NO corn tortillas, not even in the grocery store, these poor souls are missing out on a gift.

The background had a VHS quality recording of music videos from the 90's.  It was not much of my speed.  The place was clean, the staff was a bit aloof, but very polite and nice while we were there.

Thank you to everyone reading, we are going to try to hit another place here in Malaysia soon before I get back to the US.  Please tell your friends, show them the blog, re-post, re-tweet.  If you hate this thing, tell the people you don't like.  All publicity is appreciated.

Today's goodbye/gratuitous photo is of the Petronas Towers.  This is the view that I have from my hotel room at night at the Istana Hotel in Kuala Lumpur.  It is not the worse thing to see before you go to bed at night, but sure isn't as majestic as the picture of Josh and I above!

Stay Excellent!