Las Equipales, Sylmar, CA..a must eat

I'll start with the address:
Las Equipales
15963 Yarnell Street
Sylmar, CA
(818) 833-2902

If you are not careful, you will drive right by this place, maybe even multiple times.  Just a warning.  You don't want to miss it.  Homemade tortillas, fantastically flavored meats, yeah this place has it going on.  Word from the Taco Wise, go early.  We got there 30 minutes prior to close and they did not have their adobada.  Still had their famous, handmade tortillas.  It made me very sad they didn't have the pork I was so craving.

So Brandon and I have been talking that we just need to get out and go somewhere.  I've been scouting places everywhere and this place keeps coming up.  I have read about it, looked at what they have, the whole deal.  I called, asked questions, I wanted to make sure that I was going to the right place.  They were very nice on the phone and even cooler in person.  Brandon and Allison are so damn cool.  They are recently engaged and I am so excited to see them tie the knot.  Great people, great couple.  Knowing people like them is great.  Getting tacos with them is amazing.  I of course have been telling Brandon about this place over and over.  I know you read it before, but homemade tortillas!  Yeah, they were obviously really tasty.

So when you walk in, there is a small area with tables and guys and gals working hard behind the counter, they know what they are doing.  These folks are masters of their craft.  We ordered our food, a nice little spread.  I again will cry that I was sad for no pork.  Just a great reason to go back another day.  I mean, I need no reason other then how awesome this place is.

Slightly to the left, you can see them hard at work pounding out the tortillas.  I mean, handmade deliciousness.  There are great places that make their own, but this place hit the spot.

They use old school restaurant ways, I really enjoyed watching them work.  It was really cool seeing them do what they do.  They all seem to enjoy working with each other and enjoy working there.  I think that really helped the experience.  Just nice folks there.

Chips and salsa were a great start.  Chips were thick good and crispy.  Salsa was smoky and good.  Ratings are coming up soon, so I don't want to give away too much.  Brandon has been spoken about in a number of my blogs.  He is a great dude, his fiance is awesome.  They are fun loving, Dodger loving people from great families.  I've said it before, I'm lucky for the friends that I do have.  I can't say enough that it's not what you eat, but who you eat it with.  I will say though, this place is righteous.

This is Brandon's face of, really?  Will you stop taking pictures and talking and let us eat already?  Allison is looking for her knife, some chick looked at her funny, Allison wanted to throw down.  I caught Allison in a quick less aggressive photo right after that.

Doesn't she look nice.  Allison too, not just the chips.  She's really a cool chick, if you didn't get that from my earlier comments.  But seriously, if you can't tell, she liked the chips.

Yeah, I'm getting excited right now just looking at that.

Get Excited...
RATINGS:
SALSA: 4, smoky, flavorful, nice tomato flavor.  I loved it.  I thought that it was just really nice stuff.  There was the salsa for the tacos and a separate one for the chips.  Both were yummy in my tummy.
TORTILLAS: 5, delicate, but firm, soft, but strong.  These things are great.  You need to go and try these soon.  You will be thanking constantly.
POLLO: 4, yeah, way above average.  This stuff is really good.  Moist, nice, eat it, you like it.
BIRRIA: 4, shredded beef goodness.  Yes, very good.  Flavorful, little bit of clove in there.  I found it to be nice.  So often you get over boiled beef that is just not good, well readers, that is not the case there.
ASADA: 5, perfect.  I need say no more.

ATTACK:

Yeah, we totally attacked.  Stuff was good, day was fun.  I needed that day.  We all have so many things going on, so many pressures, this was a great afternoon of distraction.  It was great to hang out with two great friends and eat such great food.  I'll probably write a part two about this place.  I'm going back, I'm going to have their adobada and their carnitas and more of their asada.  Thanks for reading, please tell your friends and of course, Stay Excellent.

Whole Foods, Porter Ranch, no not a typo...controversial, rugged writing, read with caution, a bit offensive

Look, I just can't say it enough, I don't find tacos, they find me.  I was minding my own business heading to the chiropractor with Melissa, Alexander, Eleni and the Juggernaut.  We go to a chiropractor in Porter Ranch on the North end of the Valley.  There is a Whole Foods right next door.  Anyhow, I was overwhelmed by the smell of tacos.  They have a little tent set up right outside of the store and are selling street tacos.  I held low expectations, but was delighted and excited by what I saw.  I think that the menu impressed me the most.  It was potato, asada or pollo.

I got one of each.  Just thought I'd eat them in the car.  I was with Melissa, and I know I've never put a picture of her on the blog as she doesn't normally go Tacoteering with me, but I did snap a shot of her driving and eating.  I know that she will be happy to find her picture on the blog.

Yeah, I know, I'm a lucky guy.  Ha, I chuckled while writing that one.  So that is my wife eating.  She is really good at eating.  I know that she eats often.  Well, only in California are you going to find a supermarket that sells street tacos outside, so for that, I commend you Whole Foods.  I kept my expectations lower then a midgets urinal and that was in my best interest for sure.  You pay, walk over to the grill, they fill your plate with what was ordered, then you head over to their salsa bar.

So, the salsa bar looks promising right?  I mean it really did, but looks were very deceitful.  The cilantro was wilted, the onions were too sharp.  Yeah, that came from me.  I love sharp flavors and onions and I'm screaming NO!  Yes, that bad.  Salsas looked good.  They looked homemade and fresh.  They had the look.  We are jumping into the ratings, trust me, looks is all that the salsas had.

RATINGS:
RED SALSA: 2, this might be a generous score for this flavorless blunder.  I would not call this salsa.  It was old tomatoes mixed with old onions, canned jalapenos and yeah, it sucked more the a hooker on Sherman Way.
GREEN SALSA: 1, it really hurt typing the word salsa, as this was not a salsa.  It was more like a bad aioli.  This stuff sucked more then a drunk cheerleader at prom.  Yeah, I said it.  The cuts are deep on this blog.  This food insulted me, my palate, my taco integrity.  I look back into my Tacographic Memory and can't find many salsas that suck more then this one.  It was like food colored mayonnaise.  Just to hold up my end of the deal, just so you know, I did not like it.  It was confirmed by Melissa that it sucked.  She is the chick stuffing her face while driving up above.
TACO de PAPA: 1, yeah, lets call this what it is.  Unsalted potatoes, boiled with onions and shoved into an unsuspecting, helpless, victimized tortilla.  Me no like.
ASADA: 1,  I don't know how you one asada.  I mean it is grilled cow.  It is easier then my high school sweetheart at a college party.  This stuff was junk.  No flavor, no fun, no nothing.
POLLO: 3, yeah, three makes the highlight of the trip.  That is embarrassing in itself.  The chicken wasn't bad.  It was well seasoned, cooked perfectly, light crunch, juicy, but cooked.  I thought it was good, but it sure did not impress me enough to rate it better then the "norm."

So this is after Melissa had attacked the Pollo Taco, the second it made it into the Big Red Dragon (her van).  The food was not good.  By not good, I mean that it sucked.  I'm going to go on record and say it.  My house is just shy of 4 miles from here.  If you feel that tempted, call me, come over, I will make you tacos so that you do not have to endure the poop plate that I did.  Even those of you that read this and I don't like do not deserve this trash.  Run, run fast, seriously, really fast.  This stuff is not good.  It is worse then the Jaguar's record this year.

Thanks for reading, sorry for the bad news, but you are welcome for the warning.  On a very positive note, I'm heading out tonight with Brandison and we are going to a very promising place off of the 210 near the 5 freeway.  This place has been on my radar and I have taco sources that say it is better then the highly acclaimed, infamous El Faro.  I know, hard to believe, I'm so excited my nipples could cut glass.  Party one everyone and please, Stay Excellent.