El Jacalito, Culver City, CA...Amber Birthday Lunch!

Yeah, this place is pretty interesting.  They left up the awning from Whole Foods, which has been gone for a damn long time.  Interesting place.  They do both Oaxacan and Mexican food.  Separated only by the page on the menu.  Very cool to have the options.  They try to appeal to anyone who is on their way down Washington to Santa Monica/Venice area.  The place doesn't really stand out.  You need to be looking for this place to find it.  If you are not really looking on the street, you will drive by it.  Signage is exactly what you see in the picture above.  Is it pricey?  Yes, the place is not afraid to charge you, be warned of that. It is "special occasion" Tacoteering.  Enough about this place for now, why were we there?  Who was I with, what was going on?

That is one of the many pictures of Amy.  Amy is one of the great folks that I work with.  I guess all that you can really see is her hand, but don't worry, there is going to be plenty of more pictures of her, whether or not she wants. The day before the actual anniversary of Amber's birth we went to surprise her.  Ramon orchestrated all of this.  He did quite an amazing job, but really, when does he not?  We have been buried.  All of us at work.  Have we been having fun?  Yeah, we have, but super, crazy busy.  We met at one of our locations, Built Custom Burgers and were working.  We told Amber that there was a place that I really wanted to go Tacoteering at and it was in Culver.  We definitely took the long way to get there.  We went all over the place.  Had we not used our phone to find the place, we probably would have gotten there in half the time.  We get there and take a seat inside.  Amber, Ramon and I.

Ahh Ramon, he is so cute.  Look at him excited to try his beverage.  I stuck with the same, water, no ice, no lemon, no straw.  Ramon ordered horcata, it comes with ice cream in it and Amber ordered a pumpkin beverage that we had never heard of.

 
Yes, those are the pictures of their drinks.  The inside of this place was simple, pretty cool.  Deli counter was still up and they used it to store their ice cream in.  They had a few flavors, I didn't really look.  We were there for a celebration which automatically means tacos.  This place is a very Mexican place.  Most folks sticking to Spanish.  The reason that I bring this up is because it was hilarious to be in there and then have the TV show Friends playing on the television.  A nice flat screen none the less.

As we were sitting there, we made sure that we were by the window.  We had been communicating with Amy.  She had picked up Danger.  Danger use to be the "office" dog at our home office for work.  When Carly our Graphic Designer took a position with another company, she took her dog Danger with her.  Everyone misses both of them, but Amber really misses Danger.  Danger was everyone's buddy.  Danger would greet everyone at the office, try to steal your food.  Amber went nuts when Amy walked around the corner with Danger.  It was awesome to see Amber get so excited.  She yelled, it was even better to see the confused patrons as Ramon, Amy and I were laughing while Amber is playing with Danger.

This is the excited embrace as they saw each other.  Yes, the look of joy on both of their faces was awesome.  I mean how cool is that?  Carly let someone pick up her dog and let the dog surprise someone else for their birthday?  I loved it.  Really cool to be there.  Again, kudos to Ramon, Amy and Carly.  Ramon and I asked if we could move our table outside to eat with Danger.  She was reluctant but allowed us to do it.  We took the table apart, took it outside and we got set up.  We then had to again take it apart and get it back inside.  So well worth it.  It was pretty cool.

So this is our set up, OOH, another Amy sighting!  Danger couldn't take his eyes off of Amber.  Back to some about the food. The chips they served are bad out of the bag corn tortilla chips.  The salsa they serve was unreal.  It was good.  I look forward to the ratings part.  Ramon ordered guacamole, another great call and the queso fundido, umm, not bad...

Nice presentation, but its about the flavor right?  Well that was not too shabby either.  The place is good.  Not top 10 good, but good.  We went through a lot of baskets of chips.  The salsa was just so addicting, the guacamole was off the charts.  The menu was huge, it took some time to get our food ordered.  Of course, we asked what kind of tacos.  They have Oaxacan and Mexican choices of meat.  The only part I found a bit off, is they normally serve it with lettuce.  Not a fan of that, but of course we just ordered no lettuce.  Ramon, Amber and I ordered tacos, Amy got their Mole.  Great call for all.  It was good to see everything on the table.

That was Amy's Mole, yes that is an Amy hair and purse siting in the photo.  The mole was pretty good.  Let just jump to it.

RATINGS:
CHIPS: 2, they could have received a 1, but they weren't stale and they did try to keep them warm, which is a nice touch.  I think I just love the use of a popcorn maker to keep chips warm.
QUESO FUNDIDO: 2, it wasn't horrible, but so many places do it better.  Cheese coagulated pretty quick, meat was really trapped on the bottom, it was also pretty greasy.
MOLE: 3, stuff was solid, but nothing unreal.  I was surprised that it was so highly recommended by the young lady that worked there.  She insisted that it was the best that they had.  It was not bad, but I was hoping for a solid 4, maybe a surprise 5.  Rice was bland, which didn't help.  Chicken was almost on the overcooked side, but not uncommon for mole.
CHORIZO: 3, nothing special here folks.  Good, nothing to be disappointed in, but nothing to call anyone and tell them about.
CECINA: 4, I thought they did a nice job here.  It was good.  A little more cooked then I normally prefer, but I would order it again.  It was pretty good stuff.  Salted well, but not over salty.  They season this on the grill by the flavor, not marinated, and do a good job.  I clearly liked it.
TASAJO: 3, this is one of my favorite things to order, but they overcooked it.  They tend to keep things over the flame a bit long here in general, but this one was really overdone.  I was a little bit sad.
ASADA: 4, this was interesting.  Might have been one of the better asadas I've had.  It was not chewy, one of the few things that was not at all overdone.  I was very happy with the flavor and the texture.
PASTOR: 4, good stuff.  You get some of that cooked pineapple!  Yum.  The meat was seasoned well, cooked nicely.  You get an explosion of flavors which is what I'm always looking for in Pastor.
GUACAMOLE: 5, never thought I'd see that.  It was a bit chunky, definitely made to order.  It had nice cut up cilantro, onions, garlic and a good dose of citrus.  Tasted like lemon and lime.  Really good stuff.  Worth and order if you ever go by.
SALSA: 5, this was the highlight of the food.  This stuff was addicting.  I had a dream about it last night. I want to bathe in this stuff.  It was spicy, sweet, savory, salty, tasty, smile making goodness!

Great sideways shot of tacos right?  Nice presentation, maybe a bit more cilantro and onions and use of a better quality tortilla?  Yeah, that would be a victory.  

Amber was into it right?  Great shot of how we are always on the taco attack.  It was all about her and her birthday.  Amber is great.  She takes amazing care of all of her friends and is one of the best I've gotten to work with. She is kind, giving, and very intelligent.  She does so much for all of us, we really wanted to surprise her and give her a quick break from the crazy long days that she's had.  Glad Danger made it out.

Yes, Danger made her happy.  It was great to get to see him again and great that he was able to join us for lunch.  Well, Happy Birthday Amber Morales.  You really are a great friend and I'm lucky to get to call you a co-worker.  Amy and Ramon were excellent.  Very cool, very nice job making this happen.  Carly, we miss you at work and thank you for being a stealthy part of this.  Danger, you rock.  

I hope everyone enjoys this story.  It is again a testament to how it doesn't always matter what you eat, but who you eat it with.  The food was great, which is a heck of a bonus.  The journey, the story, the company, that is what really makes it awesome.  Before I go I want to thank everyone for reading, tweeting, posting and following The Order of the Taco.  It continues to take off and the friends that are in this group and the people that are on this blog are amazing and help make my life better everyday.  Before I sign off, I'd like to show you one more gratuitous Amy Chu photo:

Stay Excellent All!

El Bronco Taqueria, Culver City, CA

I've passed by this place for years.  Yes, years.  It is on the corner of Hauser and Venice.  The little shopping center is kind of ghetto.  Perfect.  Part of it is closed, but not?  Yeah, don't be scared off, it is worth stopping by.  So I finally broke down today.  I bought a car.  No, Dolly is not retiring, but I do need a car sometimes, so I got an Impala.  It is a used 2013, has some miles on her, but I dig it.  I think that it fits me if I have to be in a car and it is not the Red Dragon Van that Melissa is normally driving.  This all day process led us to lunch in the area, obviously we were in Culver City.  I wore out that dealership and negotiated all day.  Alexander spent the whole day with Papou and I.  I did leave to go to work for a bit and came back.  I sent a bunch of work emails, had work calls coming through and everything.  It was great to help bargain.  I am very fortunate to have a great job and work for the great folks that I do.  I mean, I work a lot and I work hard, but I do love the people that I work for and with, especially my Shirley, Ramon.  Anyways, I digress, the car is a good fit, got a great deal.  Alexander and Eleni really like it, Juggernaut is a huge fan and just wants to play in it and probably break it.

So that is the new car.  It is charcoal on the outside and dark leather on the inside.  Yes, that is a Honda license plate rim.  We drove around Culver City in the Prius while we were waiting for them to wrap up paperwork and when we drove in front of El Bronco, I knew that was where we were meant to go.  Great call, again our Taco Destiny brought us to the right place.  Not what I expected in there, but it was perfect for the day.  We ordered a great spread for Alexander and I, Papou stuck with a Chili Verde burrito with cheese only like he normally gets from places that have them.  

This place did not disappoint.  By no means is the place amazing or somewhere that I will go out of to be a regular stop, but it is worth going to.  Very worth going to.  

RATINGS:

SALSA: 3, good, not great.  It was solid.  You get a basket of chips and a cup salsa when you order.  Good stuff.  Really nice that they give this stuff to you when you walk in.  I think it is a good touch, the salsa has some spice, but not too much, in my opinion, barely enough.

CHILI VERDE: 4, Papou liked his burrito, I did get a chili verde taco for me and one for Alexander and we both loved them.  Very good.  Nice rounded flavors, sauce was cooked down, I was very pleasantly surprised.  

PASTOR: 2, probably would have been a three, but this was way overcooked.  Made it too hard and just not very tasty.  It was probably the saddest part of this journey.

LENGUA: 4, Alexander and I both liked it.  Nicely cooked, very good stuff.  It was not best ever, but it was good.  I would order again next time if I go back in.

BARBACOA: 2, yucky.  It was just not very good.  Flavors were not melding together correctly.  The seasoning was off, so was the cooking.  It was all just off.

ASADA: 4, yes, it happens, a four on asada.  It was very good.  Flavors were good and it was not overcooked.  It was really nice, tender and flavorful.  Might have been the nicest thing that I ate. 

Best part of the trip was the people.  Not just the two that I brought with me, who are both amazing family members and two of my best friends, but the folks that work there.  They were so nice, so great to everyone who walked in there.  They were just downright good people and I'm really happy that I went there and got to meet them and eat there.  

Yes, that is my young Tacoteer in training again, Alexander.  The people were nice, the table set up was cool, salt, oregano, red pepper flakes, Tapatio.  Nothing else was needed.  Very cool.  Obviously, my favorite part of the trip was being with Alexander and his Papou.  Thanks to all for the re-tweets, re-posts and referrals to the Order, really appreciate it and we are looking forward to a phenomenal New Year!

Happy New Years all, Stay Excellent!

El Don Pepe-Jefferson Park...Los Angeles

Order of the Taco

I really took one for the team here.  This might have, and by might have I mean by far is the worst place that I've been to.  Lets start with how I got here.  I was leaving a restaurant heading towards Home Office.  I was driving down beautiful Jefferson towards Culver City.  This vibrant neighborhood has some very interesting residents.  I knew I was going to be writing a bunch of 5's or a bunch of 2's.  You can guess by the tone, or just wait until you read below.

I pulled over at Ed Don Pepe's.  This place is sort of into/attached to a coin laundry mat.  Really cool people hanging out around here.  Many folks were eager to speak to me.  I know, I was the token motorcycle rider.  When I walked up to the counter area, there was a young lady that was ordering food.  Well, she was trying.  There was a huge language gap here.  Anyhow, the girl's total was $2.51.  She was unhappy with this.  She said that she only had $2.  She asked me for the $.51.  I told here that I had a penny and would be happy to give it to her, but that I didn't have that much change.  She told me that it was "bullshit" that I did not have the $.51 for her.  I apologized.  She then pulled another dollar out, shook her head at me and said "I guess I gots to give her another full dollar cause you ain't got me $.51!"  I again told her I embarrassed myself and apologized.

I finally got to order and was a bit taken back by the selection.  Pastor, Asada, Pollo.  Yep that is it.  She told me they also had some eggs, when I asked if that was really all that they had.  Really?  In this neighborhood, you have only those three options.  She said that they don't have time to do anything else.  This should have been the sign that I needed to know to walk away right then.  I tacoed on and decided to stay.  I asked the lady to make me four tacos, one of each and a second of their "best" meat.  I received two "asada" tacos and one each of "pastor" and "pollo."  Here's the thing, I have put them all in quotations because I know they may have had the intention of making those meats, I just don't think that they succeeded.

I wish I could give an "A" for effort, but no dice...

RATINGS:

POLLO: 1, this dried piece of meat?  If I didn't see it put on the grill raw, I would not have believed that it was chicken.  There was no flavor or seasoning.
PASTOR: 1, WORST I've ever tasted.  It was burnt to a horrid crisp.  Never tasted any pineapple.  As a matter of fact, I love Ancho chilies, and they need to be a part of pastor, but it shouldn't be pork burned to a crisp after soaking with Ancho's.  Yeah, you might want to go back to the drawing board or just flat out not serving it!  HORRID!!!
ASADA: 1, I'll give her credit, this was the "best" thing that I ate there.  I'm being generous with the "1."  Salty, chewy, nasty.  Not gristle, chewy.  Yeah, I don't know how she made this so bad, but she did.
SALSA VERDE: 2, not disgusting, but close.  Tomatillos were old, peppers were not very flavorful, I'll have to honestly say that I could not really identify they flavor of the pepper.

I would encourage you to avoid this place.  I mean, just drive by really fast.  I don't mean to just knock a place, but it even took forever to get my "food."  So you know where not to go Jefferson and 7th Street.  Sorry I didn't have better news everyone.

Thanks for reading, please keep telling your friends, follow the blog and all of that other stuff that will make me feel better.  Stay Excellent!!!

Cinco de Mayo, Culver City, CA

Seriously, was I lost?  I got up this morning and drove Alexander, Yiayia and Papou to the airport as they are taking off to Colorado to visit my brother Peck.  Not many things to do at 6:45 when there isn't enough time to go home, but you really don't want to go to the office that early and no restaurants are open.  I started the day off with a beautiful walk through Venice Beach.  I enjoyed the waves crashing, the wind lightly blowing with the cool fog running through my beard.  I walked from Venice to the Santa Monica Pier then back to the Venice Pier and walked to the end of it.  The shops were closed, the arguments were the same.  Muscle Beach was empty and not even opened yet.  I got to enjoy watching some shop keepers begin to open up, street workers diligently clean up the garbage and felt like I saw 25 episodes of the show Cops go down in a matter of minutes as "locals" attacked runners and passer byes.  Lucky for me not a word was said, not a slur thrown my way.

I left Venice and drove towards the City of Culver.  I had some early meetings there and 8:45 with traffic would make this perfect.  Breakfast?  Yeah, I needed that.  I thought, where is open?  I've been asked to go off the grid and do a write up on Tito's.  I've been asked a number of times.  I figured today was the perfect day to do this.  I pulled up to Tito's just before 9 to see that it is closed and does not open it's doors until 10am.  What?  I mean come on, if you are going to be nothing more then a good Taco Bell, then keep the doors open dude!  Don't get me wrong, Tito's has its place, but I really can't wrap my brain around this place being much more then a local, glorified Taco Bell.  A fried tortilla is a chip dude.  I love a hardshell taco here and there, but well, I'm just ranting, I'll let it go for now...Next door is Cinco de Mayo's.  I've often wondered about that place.  It is smack next to Johnny's and Tito's.  I mean, prime location and the place is 24 hours.

Here's the taco story, they are pricey!  I mean three tacos for damn near $9?  I had to get a hardshell, they pride themselves on being better then Tito's.  Let me tell you before you even read the rating, it SUCKED!  They have a fairly extensive menu and the breakfast stuff looked pretty solid. Chilaquiles  was on the menu and I love that stuff.  I also make a damn mean chilaquiles, so I like it perfect.  Theirs looked good, but I was here for the tacos, duh!

RATINGS:
HARDSHELL BEEF: 1, this was horrid.  I did not finish it.  It was dry, the shell was crispy, I was just trying to find something nice to say.  Go to Tito's for the hardshell.
SALSA: 1, They give you chips and salsa, they suck.  Just return them, you don't need the canned tomato with habenero seasoning.  Not spicy, not good.  I really feel like I took one for the team here.
LENGUA: 2, yeah, just not very good.  I don't know why they don't take the time to make it right, but it was tough, cut into huge pieces, which made it take even longer to eat.
PASTOR: 3, It was good.  Solid, not amazing but good.  I would eat it again and would for sure eat it over a Tito's taco.  Highlight of the trip.

They did have a bar with different peppers, I do love the huge Serrano  peppers that were there.  They were fresh and delicious.  I hope that they use those in the chilaquiles.  This place has stiff competition between Tito's and Johnny's.  I don't think that they stack up day to day, but the place was alright.

Thanks for reading, hope everyone is doing excellent, tell your friends and get ready for a major download next week, THE CREW and I are hitting 6 places in East LA to Downtown!  Happy Tacoteering.

Cemitas Poblano, (Truck)

Still trying to figure out the best way to hunt down these moving magicians.  Anyhow, Cemitas Poblano was in Culver and I was headed to the office.  Taco Destiny?  Ummm, yeah!  Dolly and I pulled up, nice crowd for 11am on a Friday.  Smells were good, menu was pretty extensive for a truck.  I enjoyed seeing them work in there.   Truck was clean and appealed to the folks that are in the area and looking for an option.  End of the day, it was a "pretty truck."

I do all that I can to not hold this against them.  Truck holds great variety and was quick on the draw.  Not many pepper options, I mean with the name?  Then, their sandwich options?  Come on, if you name your truck after a famous sandwich and a famous pepper, deliver dude!

The rant is over, for now...Ratings are going to have a twist.  I'm rating each item except for one.  That last one is going on its own paragraph.  I'm warning you, because it is time for a rant.  It is time to talk about this.  There is an issue in Los Angeles, we are going to begin to address it.

Asada: 2, Seriously Culver City?  What is with the salt?   I need to taste the meat.  Salt is an enhancement, not the only thing you put on there.  Stop soaking pre and post cook on your meat, you are embarrassing yourself.
Lengua: 4, Nicely done.  Buttery, soft, palatable.  This is one of my favorite meats when done right.  Sadly there really were no more meat options, I enjoyed this so much, I would have like to see what else they could have done.
Salsa: 4, It was not that the salsas were that good, but they paired them with the right meats.  Thank you.  Cilantro, onions and the correct salsa for each meat is what goes on your taco.  I'm very glad to see someone do this right.

The last thing that I had was Pastor.  It receives a 1.  It sucked more then a drunk cheerleader at prom.  I was so disappointed.  I was going to go on my rant but have decided that a separate blog is necessary to address this crisis.

Thanks for reading, see you on the flip.  Stay Excellent readers!

Campos, Culver City, CA

Yesterday I'm working down by USC in the morning and have my weekly meeting at Home Office in Culver City.  There are so many ways to get from USC to Culver, but I usually stay on Jefferson and shoot all the way down.  I've been eyeing this place, and had decided that I was trying it and writing about it.  As I travel down Jefferson, Taco Destiny kicks in.  There was gun fire in a shopping center and police had blocked off the whole street.  I was diverted.  This journey led me down Adams and I decided to wind through the streets of Culver and then ended up on the Westside.  I shot back into Culver knowing that I had to get to a meeting.  I spotted Campos and knew this was why I had been diverted.

Campos has had multiple locations in the Santa Monica, Culver City and surrounding areas.  There use to be a great one on Pico and Barrington, it is now some other joint.  Anyways, I was on Venice across from the big Army Surplus store, parked Dolly and ordered some tacos.

They are running a special on "authentic tacos."  The way the chalk board was up and they presented it kind of irked me, but that is why I go in.  I do the dirty work, so you all know where to eat, or what to eat when you go in.  I know, it is my burden.  Anyways, tacos are $1.25.  I order four tacos and wait.  Well, I waited a heck of a long time, and there was one other person in line.  It was about 20 minutes for four tacos.  This had me a bit disappointed, but you know the drill, we're there for the taco, efficiency is an added luxury.

What I liked, the salsa bar was pretty rad.  I dug the set up and I dug the salsa.  They had some fantastic options.   Ratings below will tell you about the salsas, yes, I tried them all, don't act like you are surprised.  They have some pretty cool looking vegetarian options on the menu.  I liked it.  Shows some good effort to connect with the community.  This is in a good part of Culver and is right by Santa Monica, folks are going to look for a less meaty option.  I didn't try it, but noticed it on the way too extensive menu.

RATINGS:
Asada: 1, there was so much salt on this stuff, it made me gag.  I'm all about some sodium on a taco, this was out of control.  Tip, if you spill the salt all over chef, start over!  I've been there in restaurants, it sucks, you have food cost and all of that, but you really ruined the whole meal.  Lucky for me, this was the last taco I ate, again, Taco Destiny.
Pastor: 1, ouch.  I know, this is some bad stuff my friends.  Cumin is one of my favorite seasonings.  I put it on darn near everything that I make and in almost every kind of cuisine.  I think it is one of those seasonings that just makes plates great.  The person that made the pastor wore the meat out with Cumin.  It was horrible.  Second to last taco that I ate, it was really rough.  I hate bad pastor.  It was so sad, no citrus notes in the meat, not even a hint of pineapple.  You should be ashamed line cook.
Lengua: 3, Probably saved the trip.  Buttery, cooked, but not overdone.  Solid.  It didn't blow me away, but didn't make me want to leave either.  It was good Lengua, I'd say check it out if you are in the neighborhood and have a pining for some tongue.
Carnitas: 3, Some of the better carnitas I've come across in the recent journeys.  It didn't knock my socks off, but was consistent and solid.  Flaky, cooked nicely.  The seasoning on here was good.  Not overdone, but flavorful.  Hints on chili powder, cumin, salt and red pepper.  Like I said, good, not amazing.
Salsa Verde: 3, nicely done.  I enjoyed it.  They did a great job of seasoning, blending and they let the salsa sit to allow the flavors to meld.  Why is it not more then a three?  Well, it was just solid, didn't have the extra flair.  They had a mild and a spicy, both were similar, just added a lot of habenero powder to the spicy.
Salsa Rojo: 3, Like the Verde, it was well done, had a mild and a hot.  Both were good.
Orange Salsa: 5, what?  A five on a salsa and you didn't make it yourself Z?  I know, unheard of, but this stuff was damn good.  Spicy, flavorful, on fire spicy hot!  I loved it.  This stuff was a compliment to anything in the world.  There was bonnets and other peppers in here.  For sure this was the highlight of my day yesterday.

Moral of today's story, it is not where you eat, it is who you eat with.  I'll write about that another day, but for today's story, I have to say, that I realize my love and memories of Campos was not the food, but it was going to see my dad when he worked in Santa Monica and him and I grabbing burritos together.  It was taking Paulie there as a three year old and him and I scarfing Chile Verde Burritos together.  Thanks for your time everyone, tell your friends to check it out and follow this thing!  Happy Friday.