Manuelito's, Winnetka, CA

Well damn, it has been a really long time.  This is the first blog of 2016 and we are already in May!!  Outraged as I'm sure you are, sorry, I've been busy.  I have still been eating tacos, well, I've been eating a lot of them, but I have not bored you with the stories.  Prepare to get bored, here we go again.

I pass this place pretty often.  It is right next to the Smart and Final that is close to the bar.  I was running some errands, going to be at the bar all night and knew I needed a bite.  I got the burning urge to get some information for a blog.  So, I decided to try this spot and damn am I glad that I did.  They have all sorts of different options and meats, but keep it simple which if you read one of the old blogs which might as well be archives by now, you know I'm all about.

They have a larger menu, but I decided today was a hard focus on the tacos.  It has been a long time.  These guys do a nice job on their menu.  It is fair pricing, good looking food, nice pictures in the restaurant and I will say that my food looked just like the picture.  The kitchen is small and managable. The lady cooking knew her way around a kitchen and was pretty darn quick.  She looked like she was having some fun, but who wouldn't working in a great little restaurant like this?

I didn't realize until I posted this pic on here how blurry it is.  Why would I leave it up?  Well, it is the only pic that I have of the whole working area.  Plus it also shows you how inept I really am so you can laugh about me later, or now...I did not try the waters, but will on another visit.

Nice TV set-up with your favorite shows on Uni-Vision, that is always pretty cool. Decor is nice, appropriate and isn't too much in this place.  Tables/booths are nice.  They really fit and give it a good homey feel inside of this place.
RATINGS:
CABEZA: 3, this is not bad, not bad at all.  Don't let a 3 fool you.  This is a tasty treat.  It is well made, quality meat and delicious, it just didn't go above and beyond.
PASTOR: 3, again, not a bad choice, it just didn't make me say "wow" need this one right away.  It is good meat.  They season it well, it is solid, just not a mind blowing experience.
POLLO: 4, OK, this is a special chicken.  Not just well flavored, but really damn tender.  They know how to cook, how to hold, how to serve chicken, this is a taco you want to try if you are in the Valley.
LENGUA: 4, nice stuff here.  This is flavored well, served hot and nicely shredded.  I recommend this to lengua lovers everywhere.
TRIPA: 4, this is one of those that I had to revisit.  It was a 3, I went back and got it again, asked for it a little more crispy, wow!  This might be a 5 if it was that way the first time I had it.  They do a really nice job with the tripa and you want to go get this, ask for it crispy, you will NOT be disappointed.
ASADA: 4, yeah an above 3 asada.  This is some good stuff.  They didn't go cheap, they went good.  I was surprised their wasn't an up-charge.  If you are only into asada, you will like this joint.
CARNITAS: 4, this was on visit two.  Didn't get it visit one, what a mistake!  This is really good stuff, one of my favorite carnitas.  I want to go back and try again, hope they have some consistency!
SALSA BAR: 5, not all of the salsas were amazing, but there was not a bad one.  The variety was great and they have some amazing salsas!  I did not like their jalapenos, but they had the pickled onions, oregano, fresh lime and some amazing variety in the salsa department to make sure that anyone who comes in is satisfied.
TORTILLAS: 5, why would I rate tortillas?  They have regular ones which are good, they have handmade ones which are incredible.  They are some of the better ones I've ever had.  They are perfect in texture, flavor is good and they don't fall apart.  These guys know what they are doing and she presses them to order, it is worth the wait, I will only be getting the handmade going forward!

Hell of a spread here.  Yeah, I ate all of those in one sitting and I have no regrets, I was damn hungry!  The salsa like I said is solid.  The green with avocado is my favorite.  It is some good stuff.  I of course had my Crazy Harry's Gear with me.  You can look and see the handmade vs the store bought tortillas.  I can't say it enough, get the handmade!

This is that salsa bar that I've been bragging about.  Pretty epic looking right?  It does not disappoint at all.  You will be happy with at least two or three items on here, so get ready to party at the salsa bar.

This adventure was solo, but I'm going to start dragging people with me again soon.  These adventures are always more fun when there are more people with you.  Though the food was good, a great experience has awesome people there with you.  Hope you enjoyed an installment on a blog that's been quiet for a few months, thanks for sticking with me!

Today's goodbye/gratuitous photo is of my youngest son Jason and I at Knott's Berry Farm.  We went on Journey to the Iron Reef, 4 times that day.  It was his favorite as he liked shooting the bad guys.  I was impressed and proud that he beat adults on this one.  He has a hell of a shot and really had some fun, obviously so did I.  Sadly we had to turn the 3D glasses in before we left, I think it's a good look for us.

Stay Excellent!

Fire Grill, Fresh Mexican Grill, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

No matter how hard I might have tried, I could not resist writing about Riyadh.  We of course were asking our colleagues where to go, if we could even get tacos.  They brought us here, to Fire Grill.  Fire Grill strongly resembles Chipotle.  Let me tell you that the line and the set-up is similar, the food, not so much.

Here is what you are walking into.  A warm inviting place with nice wood and great, simple decor.  This is single only, no family dining.  This is a big deal if you are in the area.  Some of their other locations have family dining, but the one we went to does not.  Worked great for us, we were just a few guys grabbing a bite.

Here is the menu, look familiar?  Pretty simple, pretty cool.  They have some great looking food and it only takes them six people to run this line.  In Saudi, unlike America, there are pictures up everywhere of the food.  This is also common in Malaysia.  I had to inspect for myself.

Yes, this looks good.  I wanted to really look to make sure.  I was torn.  I wanted tacos, but had to go with the head to head experience of Chipotle.  I am not a frequent guest of Chipotle, but my trainers are and I went recently when I was in Phoenix with them.

The ordering process was pretty easy on Josh, JJ and me.  Doesn't JJ have a cute smile?  He really does.  What a great guy.  Very lucky to have these two guys with me when traveling, especially to places like this.  We come up with silly games and have a great time no matter what situation we are in.  They really made this trip happen with me.  Love these two great dudes.

Here is what it looks like at the table.  Nicely wrapped, pretty huge burrito, but how's the flavor?  I went with the Barbacoa.  The chicken looked OK, the Shrimp looked really good.  The beef was not grabbing me.  The Barbacoa looked amazing, juicy, tasty, well, it was.  Not doing a number rating here, as I only had the one item, but this blows away Chipotle.  This was really tasty stuff, I was excited that I got it and recommend it to anyone.  Do you want to see more?

Well, you asked for it.  That is my burrito unwrapped.  It looks the same as the last picture only the foil is open.

This is the tray and the paper on there.  Pretty darn cool.  I will say that this place is pretty great and if you find yourself in Riyadh, I'd say to try it out.

Thanks to all who are reading, re-posting, checking out the adventures.  I hope that you enjoy them as much as we do.  Trip to Saudi Arabia was educational and great.  There was a ton of hard work, but that is a good thing.

Today's goodbye/gratuitous photo is of Kingdom Centre.  This is an impressive magnificent building to see, especially at night.  Colors change every few seconds and it really is cool to look at.  It does kind of remind me of the eye of Sauron from Lord of the Rings.  It was one of my favorite things to see when in Riyadh.

Stay Excellent!

Corner of N Soto and Alcazar, East Los Angeles, California

"True love is your soul's recognition of its counterpoint in another."  How about a shout out to the movie Wedding Crashers for predicting the Tacoteering adventure that I got to be a part of in East LA the other night?  Damn, they nailed it on this one.  That cone alone proves that true love does exist.  That cone was, well part of the tastiness.  I can't help it, I can't fight this feeling, I have to show you another beauty already...

OMG!  I'm freaking out just trying to write this thing.  This place was that good.  No, is that good.  I have not been able to stop talking about this place, I mean, yeah, it was that righteous.  Enough is enough, lets start the story, so you know how we got here, why we got here, aside from taco love, and let you know how all of this went down, you will then see the ratings, wrap up and goodbye/gratuitous photo.  

This is a well fed cast.  Everyone knows Josh, Nicole is the girl next to him, I'm obviously the large, bald, bearded Tacoteer in the middle.  That hot guy next to me is Yellow Chocolate, who everyone should know by now, then Amelia is sporting that big smile that she takes everywhere and I'm telling you, I don't think it ever leaves her face.  

Meet the two first timers.  Amelia and Nicole.  See the excitement for just the horchata.  That isn't even the tacos yet.  I'm a lucky dude to work with these two crazy gals.  They are two great people who can always bring a smile to your face and they are strong willed enough to endure watching Big Hungry eat all day when she is in the office.  They really are talented great people and I'm so full of joyfulness to have them as friends.  Anyways, they have been on me about us all going Tacoteering.  I mean, you know I always want to.  We made these plans a couple of weeks ago, confirmed last week.  A few days before, they wanted to go and they wanted a place with margaritas.  I was down.  I have been wanting to do a write up on El Cholo for sometime, so that was going to work out just fine.  I was on the phone with them early in the day as I was training for a new restaurant opening at LAX and they said they were ready to ditch the margaritas and wanted a real, true Tacoteering experience.  I was so happy that I did the dance of joy from Perfect Strangers.  Sadly, no one did it with me, so I looked even more ridiculous.  I was excited to see what kind of Tacoteers my friends would be, and they sure did not disappoint. 

How did we get to our destination?  The van.  We carjacked Melissa's van right from the front yard and drove the Silver Sled to taco bliss.

This place powers it up in a very cool way.  These guys kicked it old school on this night keeping the place lit from the car.  They are all over it and made sure that the place was very inviting.  

When we got there, they were still setting up.  They did a pretty amazing job getting set-up so fast.  While we wait for them to set-up, let me tell you a bit more about them.  So, I have heard of these guys.  They are like semi-underground in the taco community.  They have a Facebook page, but it doesn't always seem to be up, which is honestly really cool.  I have attached the link to the blog.  Worth checking out.  I wanted to go here.  I've been waiting for the right time.  When the girls said they wanted somewhere different and cool, this was the only place on my mind.  I was a bit nervous that they wouldn't be there, it was rainy and they don't really have "hours of operation."  Anyhow, we decided to go and I told the girls I'd get them from the office.  I was obviously even extra psyched that Phil and Josh were going but was bummed some other folks, like Big Hungry didn't make it.  She was working out with her new trainer to bulk up.  

Oh good, they are set-up now.  So, they are on the corner of North Soto and Alcazar.  Often they are across the street from where they were on this evening.  It amazed me how much meat is coming off that tiny grill.  These guys work their tails off.  We also noticed that they enjoy a quick burrito if the line sort of dies off.  Aside from the gill, there is the cone that is pictured in the beginning and the large pot with the meats staying nice and hot stewing in their juices.  They don't just do a great job of flavoring and seasoning, but also of keeping the food hot, fresh and continuing the marinating, flavor process.  

The creation of their mulitas.  These little mules were pretty amazing.  I did not partake as I had for sure had my fill, but I can assure you that my next trip will include one of these.  They looked amazing.  Nicole scarfed one, but who could blame her?  They kept that grill hot and made sure those tortillas were a bit crispy.  Just another great option to showcase the diversity of these guys.  

Ahh, the final product in all of it's glory.  Looks righteous, doesn't it?  Please don't try to call this a quesadilla, you are embarrassing yourself, frustrating me and offending the food itself. 

RECORD, most pictures I've ever put in a row on this blog without my whimsical dialogue!  Look how sad she is that she is down to only one more taco at the end.  You can see the happiness exuding from her from the beginning through the first few, then you see the sadness when she only has one taco left.  
BUCHE: 5, where do I begin?  What do I say.  This was delicious.  Some of the best that I've had ever.  It was so good, texture on point, a bit of a bite to it.  Not slimy or under cooked.
SUADERO: 5, I mean, this thing reads pretty similar to the buche.  Really nice stuff here.  This was served so hot and man was it good.
ASADA: 4, slightly above average here.  It was good.  Really subtle flavors, great texture.  Cooked, but not overcooked, hard or chewy.  Really enjoyable.  
LENGUA: 5, holy guacamole this was some good stuff.  It is all that lengua should be with texture and flavor.  They will cut it right in front of you, so if you can't handle that, look away right after you order it.  It is in small pieces, then just shred and melts right into your hot, delicious tortilla.  
TRIPA: 5, write this down, people, best tripas I've ever had.  Yes, you read this correctly, best tripa I've ever had.  It was so good.  It has a slight kick to it, it is seasoned perfectly, it is soft on the inside with a nice sear from the grill.  You will be forced to enjoy this if you put it in your mouth.  If you've wanted to try tripa but you weren't sure if you would love it, this is the place to try it.  Both Josh and I commented immediately from tasting this candy-like treat.  This was my favorite of the protein choices that I sampled on this adventure. 
PASTOR: 5, this ranks with the best.  Put it in the hall of fame.  This is RT good.  This is Tacos el Gordo yummy.  Yeah, aciote, pineapple, clove, chili powder in a symphony of flavors that really made my day.  I want people to go and try this.  I want people to get excited and enjoy this.  You will be happy, you will thank me.  I know I said the tripa was my favorite, this one is tied with it.  I did go back and have a second of one taco, it was this one.  I had to see if it was as good as I thought, it might have been better.  Please try for your tasting pleasure.  
CABEZA: 5, I just love cabeza.  I go nuts for great cabeza, and this was it.  It has become one of my favorite choices when I'm tacoteering.  Problem is so many places it is slimy and lacks the enjoyable texture.  This place was right on point, yes, right on point.  
POLLO: 4, I stole a piece right out of Amelia's taco.  It was good.  Nice flavor, nice texture.  Why is it above a 3?  The flavor was consistent with the rest of the meats, out of this world.  Really nice flavoring on this chicken, you will be pleased.  
HORCHATA: 5, never would have thought I'd rate horchata, but this was creamy goodness.  I think it is a bit more milk than most, and man is it yummy!  It was a great wash down from the delicious tacos.  I shared one with Josh and Phil, not just because we wanted to, but because it felt more romantic for us.  
SALSA BAR: 5, this bad boy was packed with flavor and excitement.  There was a traditional red, green and an avocado.  Nothing disappointed.  They had heat, they had flavor, they were not overwhelming and they were an unreal compliment to their delicious meats.  The cilantro, onions, radish, cucumber and limes were all fresh and everything was cut by hand.  Really impressive set-up and the guys were right there talking you through your decisions in perfect Spanish and English.

I feel as though I've worn you out with the thoughts about this food.  Plain and simple, it was good, damn good.  They do a nice job of giving us some great options, a good variety and the service was great.  The guys working here were joking with everyone and seemed to be having a pretty awesome time.  The  burrito looked pretty amazing, I want to get Jason the Juggernaut here to see if it meets his high standards.  One of the impressive things to me, was looking into the pot where much of the meat was being kept hot.  I unfairly assumed that it was going to force much if not all of the meats to taste really similar or the same, well it didn't.  Food was really good and it all kept it's own distinct flavor and texture.  Again, these guys really do know what they are doing.  Very rarely have we had a place that ranks this high.  NOTHING below a 4?  Pretty impressive.  I loved the fact that as we were eating Josh looked at me and said "I can't find anything wrong with their food."  Phil and I totally agreed that this was a pretty epic meal.  

I'm a huge fan of the self service prep area.  You can choose your own adventure with the lime, cilantro and onion ratio.  These guys have a fantastic set-up.  They give you four amazing salsas that are all full of flavor and pack a little heat, but not too much.  They want you to enjoy the flavors but not get eaten alive if you are a wimp.  If you want some spice in your life, they have peppers and onions there for your enjoyment.  The fresh cucumber and radish is an appreciated touch that fits in nicely with what they are doing.  
I was thinking, we took and showed a bunch of pictures of Amelia eating, but what about Nicole?  Did she eat?  Did we get food action shots there?

You bet your buttons we did.  

One more shot of this awesome crew of people, it is actually a separate picture from the one above, taken by a very great person who was there eating tacos with her husband.  Good man Charlie Brown, take her for tacos, she will always appreciate.  

Well I can't say thank you enough to the Tacoteers of this adventure!  This was such an epic trip.  The tacos and the company was amazing on this one.  It is great to have new folks, especially cool ones like Nicole and Amelia but it is also so awesome to have shared so many great adventures around the world with Josh and Phil.  These guys are pretty fantastic and they are chefs.  They know food and we always break down how things are made, why and what we would do differently, which in this case is bring more cash to take food home for the family's to try.  I cannot wait to go back to this place and try it again.  I just want to bring more and more people with me.  This place is totally worth checking out.  As always, thank you for reading, re-posting, re-tweeting and telling your friends if you like the blog or telling your enemies if you don't.  The publicity is appreciated either way!  

Today's goodbye/gratuitous photo is a thing of beauty.  The look of true excitement as someone is biting into their taco.  That raw childhood innocence as you are about to indulge in deliciousness inside of a tortilla.  The anticipation of all of that goodness is so exciting for anyone and everyone.  If you really want to break down the excitement, look at the left of the photo.  Josh is excited for Nicole.  It is fantastic to see not only the eater, but the audience anticipating the excellence of a bite.  If you were wondering from the old commercials "where's the squirt?"  We found it, it is right behind Nicole being drank by some guy enjoying these most excellent tacos.

STAY EXCELLENT!!!

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!

Senor Fresh, Meridian, ID

Why?  I really don't know.  Not many options.  I do think I've hit about every single taco place in the area.  Still one on my radar that looks promising.  That is for another day.  Today, I walked over from the hotel.  You see on the window where it says that it closes at 8?  They mean they walk out the door at 8.  Pretty interesting.  Back to the non-friendly service in the Boise area.  At least the food matched the service today...don't be discouraged, its worth getting to the end of this blog.

You know these types of places, they try to sell you on the fresh and natural.  Some are good, some are worth it, not this one.  Seriously the people working here are some of the rudest people I've met.  They had the salsa bar packed up while people were still ordering.  It was pretty bad.  The cool thing about this place, is the two posters.  They have a poster with different Chile's.

I really like this one.  The hot meter and the listing of peppers is awesome.  They also have a tomato one.  I love it!

I did sit there are read both of these things.  Sadly that is by far the best part of my visit.  The salsa bar looked really cool.  I will say that the salsa were fantastic in flavor, claimed to be hot, but had no heat to them.  Nice and smoky and they did taste like they were made in house.

Lets get to it, there just isn't that much to say about this place.
RATINGS:
ASADA: 3, it wasn't bad.  The burrito itself was really small and did not pack the flavor, but the meat itself was decent.
SALSA: 4, yeah, not so hot.  If there was some heat, it could be a five.  Very nicely balanced flavors, smoky, yeah, good.
CHICKEN TORTILLA SOUP: 1, it was really bad.  Really, really bad.  Not enough flavor, not really any flavor.  It was cheesy and a mess.

See, doesn't even look good.  Didn't taste that good, could you tell.  This meal just accentuated my desire to be back in Los Angeles, CA.  I'm in need for the delicious tacos of LA.  I miss the family too and of course Dolly, but I am still pretty hungry.

This blog gets a great gratuitous photo.  It was taken at the Meridian Village fountain.  We went over there to take a few photos really just to entertain ourselves. Thank you for reading, please keep following, send me suggestions and eat more tacos!  Enjoy the photo of Fo, Josh and me.

Stay Excellent!