El Taco Man, El Monte, CA

What a crazy last few weeks.  Our beloved Red Dragon (Toyota Sienna) was slayed in a car wreck.  After a wonderful vacation to Disneyworld, we knew we had to get a new one.  We ended up at Longo Toyota and now have a newer Toyota Sienna, we have yet to give it a nickname...

You know that if I am going out, I'm looking for great tacos.  This place came recommended and is crushing it on Yelp.  Had to try it.  Just a few miles from Longo Toyota, I mean, why not?  Melissa and I were worn out from running around with the kids and of course were not thrilled about incurring another car payment, but with Alexander and the other kids, we need a van to make things that much easier.  Anyways, unassuming building here.  Not too much craziness, simple, sweet, complete.

Simple menu, cash only, two things that magnify how legit this place is.  $1.25 a taco, I'm in.  We had to try most of what they had.  The guy working there was great.  Very nice, funny, really was engaging each customer that came to the window.  He was great with some young children that ordered after us as their mom stood back.  The nachos and burritos looked pretty attractive, but I had to stick with the tacos.

So they do some catering.  Figured we should give them a quick plug here.  Anyone who is pushing every facet of their business excites me.  I love the name too. Perfect.  Again, simple, to the point.  I asked what kind of events they do, how they do it, they will cook on site or bring it cooked in trays.  I appreciate the diversity in their options, keep them in mind if you are around the area and need some good tacos.

Nice back patio area to eat your meal in.  They do have seating right in front of the counter, but this was pretty nice.  Enclosed, nice large umbrellas.  Really  made for a nice lunch.   I appreciate that they took the time to utilize the space around them.  Again, they are keeping it simple.  Lets get to it, I know this is what you care about.

RATINGS:
PASTOR: 2, this was dry and lacked the flavor depth that pastor should have.  I don't think that it was marinated long enough and it was overcooked for sure.
ASADA: 3,  pretty textbook here.  Nothing to write home about, but nothing that was really disappointing.  It was not bad, but it wasn't anything special.  Pretty tender, seasoning was pretty normal.
LENGUA: 4, oh this is just what the doctor ordered.  A buttery, delicious goodness that was brought together by great cooking and tender meat.
CABEZA: 3, good stuff.  Not too shabby, but nothing special.  I would say go for it, especially over the pastor.
CARNITAS: 4, yeah, not a fan of really going over a 3 on carnitas, but some places just do it.  The texture on this was phenomenal.  The flavor was rich but not overpowering.  Very nicely done, don't miss out if you are in the area.
BUCHE: 3, solid.  Nothing over the top.  If it was cooked just a tiny bit more, it would have been a 4.  Just slightly chewy.
BARBACOA: 4, arguably the best thing that we ate here today my friends.  Hints of cinnamon and clove that really were nice.  This was a slow stewed meat.  You need to go by and check this out if you are around, it was close to being 5 worthy.
SALSA ROJO: 4, great red salsa with some serious heat.  Flavor was good and it was great to eat overall.  Went well with all the fattier meats.
SALSA VERDE: 4, this was so tasty.  Though it was really spicy it was rich in flavor and did not leave a lingering burn.  Melissa was even eating it, though she did say that it was very hot.

Not a bad looking spread.  We crushed that $11 worth of deliciousness.  Not too much cilantro, not too many onions, but a whole lot of delicious flavor.  I would say that you should go and check this place out.  Biggest complaint about this place is the plates.  Super flimsy.  If that is the complaint, I'd say go if I was you.  What blog would can go so long without a selfie?

That's my wife Melissa.  She is the one without the beard.  She was being extra nice since she just got the new van.  I was so glad that we found the one that we did and that we got tacos.  That is my new UofL hat.  Darn comfortable.  If you notice, though we went out ugly, still representing the boys in Blue here in LA!  GO DODGERS!

Thank you everyone for reading.  I really appreciate the re-tweets, re-posts and the folks that share with their friends and family members.  Please keep spreading the word.  Remember, I'm eating tacos all around you.  Today's goodbye photo is a photo of the new van, though we will miss the Red Dragon and all of the great memories that we had with her we look forward to the new memories that the kids will make with us in this vehicle.

STAY EXCELLENT!

Las Brisas, Hawthorne, CA

Supermarket tacos are usually pretty damn delicious, and this joint is no exception.  Work has been nuts, life crazy.  I needed a quick fix, a get away.  I had to reach out for a life line.  Alan Rush and his beard.  Alan is an amazing guy that I use to work with and I can't say enough how much I miss him.  He is a very bright man, great friend and one of the hardest workers that I know.  He had an opportunity come up and had to put his burger and fry cape in his closet and go help a different business.  I text Alan and he jumped to do some Tacoteering.  I think seeing his beard was for sure one of the things I've missed most.

Many delicious options, but truthfully, this was not our first stop.  We went to another joint, but it was closed for the day.  They had a flood and were in the midst of cleaning it up.  I felt for them, I've been there, it sucks.  Alan and I jumped in the Impala and headed to the first place that looked right, it happened to be here.

What a great set up these folks have.  The people working there are super nice too.  Sweet hard working ladies.  People there were nice.  They got swamped while we were there.  I mean a constant line of people for lunch as well as buying groceries.
RATINGS:
ASADA: 3, this is some good tender stuff with nice flavoring, but nothing special.  It is pretty standard, textbook type of stuff.
TRIPA:  don't know, I ordered it, but it never came, kind of made me weep on the inside.
CARNITAS: 3, again, good but pretty average.  It was sweet, shredded into bigger pieces, but not bad.  I would say go for a try if you are there.
PASTOR: 4, it gets a four because it is spicy and I really needed some spice in my life.  It was hot without being overwhelming and it was pretty delicious.
CABEZA: 4, yes, I have hit a couple of places with great cabeza lately.  This was really sweet and tender, good flavor but that nice buttery texture that you should get with cabeza.  Well done ladies, well done.

Yeah, nice looking spread.  The salsa was okay, but nothing worth really rating.  The limes were juicy which is a plus!  I do wish that they served with some kind of a pepper, of course preferably a Serrano or something like that, but this food did pretty well on its own.  Nice job with fresh ingredients and cook 100% to order.  Food took a little longer, but totally worth the wait.

I would say go to this place, but there are a number of places that look great all around.  I am going to get back to JC's and give them a whirl.  Just a warning, this is right by the Hawthorne Police Department.  I do want to again thank everyone for reading.  Please continue to spread the word.  Tell people about the tacos and the blog and what we are doing here to make your meals better!

I've said it before, I'll say it again.  It doesn't really matter where you are eating, but who you are eating with.  I was damn lucky again on that day.  Alan is an amazing dude.  A great friend.  A man that I wish I got to spend more than a year working with.  I am glad that he is happy and enjoying his new job, but sad to not get to see him on a daily basis.  I'll have to use that as a reason to eat more tacos with him!  Yes, he is the goodbye/gratuitous photo of the day.

Stay Excellent!!!

Valley Greek Festival

ALL I WANT IS MEAT FROM THE CONE!  For years we have heard this at the Festival.  This year, Chris and Bucky made the cone dream a reality for many Gyro enthusiasts in the San Fernando Valley.  We all dedicate one weekend a year to the festival, well kind of two as last year we were out at another church helping, but are all in for the Festival.  For us, it is another great excuse for us to work together, laugh together, fight over how to cut meat and enjoy the growth of a community that most of us grew up in and some of us fell into.  Festival is a great reminder of one of truths that echo through this blog.  It really doesn't matter what you are doing, it matters who you are doing it with.

 I know you look across that line, see Mary, Frankalicious, Peter the machine Karagianis and the beautiful Mark Schultz.  All are related in some way to the Order of the Taco.  The support and love for our late friend, wife and sister Krissy still hangs in the booth as a reminder of the love that we have for each other.  King's flags and jersey's line the booth as we prepare to watch two games in three days in the booth so that we don't miss rooting on our favorite sports team.

I was serious.  With the help of Tony Iokiam getting us power and Bucky/James IT genius and of course sling box, we did not miss a minute of hockey action.  We love our church's community, but we really don't like to miss games.  Any chance that as many of us are together as there were, we have to take advantage.  A great part was the loud cheers and chants from us and the great reception from the Festival patrons as we yelled GO KINGS GO!

Yes, I brought tortillas and made Gyro tacos for the grew before we got going.  We had onions, we had gyro meat, I brought the tortillas, cilantro, lime, hot sauce.  WIN!  We had a little pre-festival taco feast for those of us working the Gyro booth.  The tacos were delicious, the company was better.

Yes, there were many more tacos made, but this is all that was left by the time I got my camera.  We have hungry Tacoteers pining for some tacos.  The grilled onions with the cilantro and lime were pretty much to die for.  Yes, we are generous, yes we share, we even had a guy come by the booth looking for hot sauce.  I may have pulled some sauce out of my bag and shared...

You bet your pita bread that is my brother Paul cutting some more Gyro Meat!  Look at a skilled craftsman on his task.  FYI, it is darn hot in front of those machines.  There were many booths at the festival, but the one that had the hottest chicks.

Melissa, Nikki and Evie.  Three amazing woman working the Greek Market and doing the cooking demonstrations.  It was a favorite spot for me because they were the ones making and serving the Greek Coffee!  It helped keep me awake.

Like I've said over and over, the community is great.  The way everyone binds together for each other, our church and the faith is pretty fantastic.  It is a phenomenal nod to our Greek Culture and I'm lucky to be a small part of it.

This story was more about the people than the tacos.  I'm lucky to be a part of such a great community with great people, friends and Tacoteers.  I really had to think about this blog and the gratuitous good bye photo.  Today it is Mike.  It sums up what a great guy, excellent Nouno and amazing friend he is.  We've been working the festival together since we were little kids.

Lots of great people in the photo, but look at the winning smile from Mike.

Stay Excellent Everyone!

Double Dipping in Glendale, Gina's Tacos/Los Tres Hermanas

I just love tacos and Tacoteering.  My good friend Brandon and I have been trying to hook up for tacos for a while now.  I keep getting on planes flying around for work, Brandon has been working like crazy selling homes in Southern California.  Finally, we were able to get together and do what we do, eat some tacos.  We plotted out the plan of heading to one place in Glendale called El Toro.  Supposedly it is open from 9-3 on Sundays.  It was not open at all when we went.  The mixed reviews and feedback had us wanting to try the place out for ourselves.  It was either a scathing review or glowing review.  The best part of the reviews is the one's that are clearly put on their by the owner of the business.  He talks in them about what a nice guy he is.  I wanted to meet this guy and quietly snicker and laugh.

Taco destiny took us about 250 feet down the street to Gina's.  Gina's is an interesting little spot.  The guys working there were pretty nice.  Menu is simple but cool.  I was really intrigued that they have cerviche on the menu at all times.  I was craving a taco experience so bad that I did not try the cerviche, but a guy that was there got some and it looked pretty decent.  Maybe next time...

Looks pretty cool.  Pricing is not too bad.  Seriously, if your tacos start to eclipse that magical $1.50 mark, you are probably getting a taco with filler and of inferior quality.  This place was pretty quick.  They have a few tables sort of  in front of the joint and then a covered tent in the back which has a few tables.  There was a liquor store behind it which looked newly remodeled and nice.

RATINGS:
LENGUA: 3, this place is solid, but it is nothing special.  Tender, but not overly flavorful.
POLLO: 3, again it is pretty run of the mill, nothing exciting about it, but not bad.
PASTOR: 2, my heart is yearning for great pastor.  I'm dreaming about pastor every night lately, this fell far short.  It really seemed like older meat that they threw a bunch of spices on.
BUCHE: 3, usually it has to be really crispy for me to like it, but not the case here.  It was good, but not amazing.  I'd eat it again.
ASADA: 4, kind of surprised by this one.  Nice use of chili powder, well melded flavors, yeah, I liked this asada more then a lot.
CHICHARRON: 4, yeah, boom.  This stuff was different and good.  It was almost stewed in spicy red sauce like a guisado, it was really a nice surprise.  I would recommend you making a trip to try this, it is just unique, but unique in a great way.

Radish is always a nice touch right?  We ate our food and were pondering the drive back to the SFV, but then thought we were already in Glendale, lets hit up another place.  We asked around, we looked around, the use of smart phones were of course a part of the next decision.  Taco Destiny took us not far from where we were to Los Tres Hermanas.

I love the flag in the window.  Great reflection of me taking the picture too.  The sign may not be lit "open," but it was open!  The inside is a bit strange.  Open style kitchen, there is a "bar" area, no liquor but you can sit up on the counter to eat.  There was some dude chowing on some delicious looking taquitos while we were there.  They have Tapatio which is a plus.  Ultimately they just don't season their food very well.  They cook the food correctly, very nicely as a matter of fact, but they don't season it.  The texture is on point, the tenderness is there, the seasoning is just not happening.

The chick working there was kind of nice.  Not super personable, but fairly nice.  The restaurant is clean and well maintained, if you are into that kind of thing.  Brandon and I ordered and began having the discussion that is burning on all of our minds.  Dodger games on TV.  Seriously, can they come to a damn agreement so that we can all see all of the games.  I'm on the road a ton and it really pisses me off that most providers do not have access to the games.  We want to see the Dodgers and we can't make it to every game, heck, I'll be lucky to hit two games this year, but that doesn't mean I don't want to see all of them!
RATINGS:
LENGUA: 2, nothing to write home about.  Just not very good, it lacked the flavor that is so great with lengua.  The meat really soaks up the seasoning or marinade that you put on it and that is part of what makes this meat one of my favorites.
ASADA: 2, yeah, a 2.  It was just cooked meat.  No salt, no pepper, no flavor to it.  I also think that they slightly over cooked it.  Yucky.
PASTOR: 2, I hope everyone is keeping count.  We hit one more bad pastor, that is three in a row, that calls for a burn, a crisis alert, a bad review.  This stuff lacked, flavor, depth, anything.
CARNITAS: 3, I added a little salt and this turned into a surprise.  It was pretty good.  They really know how to cook it to give it the right texture, but it lacked in the flavor department.

The unexpected chips and salsa were cool.  Sadly the salsa kind of sucked.  The lemons were old and lacked a good amount of juice.  They were not rancid, but did not have that nice citrus pop that lemons should.  Everywhere I go I really do try to find the "best" part of the place aside from the wonderful company I usually have when I go Tacoteering.  For this place, it is the mural on the wall.  This thing is great.  It must be the three badass sisters.  Rifle in one hand, bullets across the chest.  I loved it.

How rad is that photo?  I seriously think it is fantastic.  If their food was a third as cool as that photo, I think this place could have been a favorite.  It was great catching up with Brandon.  We are both excited for hockey playoffs to start, baseball season is underway and we are rooting hard for the boys in blue!  I'm so lucky to have such a great friend like Brandon.

Moral of the story for today is I Love LA!  I travel quite often.  I go to some places that suck and some places that are pretty fantastic.  I've lived and spent time in a bunch of cities throughout this amazing country, and no where, no where else can you go up the street and hit one awesome taco place after another.  The bad tacos in LA are the best tacos in so many of these other cities.  We are so fortunate to have so many places with so many great tacos.  The Order of the Taco was born in LA and that is because we have it.  We have the tacos.  San Diego is the only other place I suggest you go if you really want to do some serious Taco Crawling.

Thanks for reading, thanks for being a part of this blog.  A huge thank you to my good friend Brandon for taking a couple of hours out of his day to catch up, vent about craziness of work and life, enjoy great stories of his upcoming wedding and all the amazing things going on in his life.  Really cool day.  Please do keep reading, re-tweeting, re-posting, telling your friends and getting the word out about The Order of the Taco.

Before I go, as always, you get a gratuitous good-bye photo.  Today's is just perfect.  It is Brandon on the pay phone.  A $0.25 pay phone none the less.  So rare to find these in working order these days.  I remember diving to use a pay phone when my beeper would go off, now with our cell phones, we don't have much use, but we sure were intrigued by seeing this bad boy, we had to get a picture with Brandon on it!  Enjoy!

It looks so natural, right?

Stay Excellent Everyone!!!

Random NYC

Everyone knows the Empire State Building right?  I had to take this picture because the moon was in a great spot.  A little crescent right by the spire.  I thought it was neat.  I mean, crescent moons look like tacos...

I've spent really significant time in New York running restaurants and eating tacos.  I got to spend some great time catching up with old friends and seeing some of the sights with our training team.  Many of them had not been to New York, so it is always great seeing the look on people's face when they see things for the first time.  Below is a picture of my buddy Ryan that I got to say hello to.  I miss Ryan, working with him and getting to hang with him regularly.

Here is the man himself.  He runs the Steak 'n Shake Signature in Times Square.  Go say hello if you are in the area.  Speaking of being in the area, if you are, there is a great little taco cart that stops right across the street.  Yeah, that is where I suggest you eat.

I ate here pretty regularly last year.  They even do a vegetarian burrito that is not too shabby.  The cecina (4) is good.  Carnitas (3) is alright, lengua sucks (1).  Bistek (3), pastor (2), tinga (3).  Place is decent overall.  Their burritos are much better then their tacos.  The tacos just don't stand up as well.  The do a good job on the burritos and walking through the cold of midtown, they work well.  I just had two tacos.  Why only 2?  Because I also hit another truck and I've eaten here multiple times.  It is across the street from where they film Letterman.  The folks that work there are really nice some days and really mean others.  Salsas here are a 4.  Spicy, good.  They are full of flavor and sit for at least a day.  It really allows the flavors to meld together.  If you don't follow Order of the Taco on Instagram, you missed this picture of me and all of the great trainers in front of FAO Schwartz:

Fo, Alisha, Josh, Bethany, Matt and then I'm the one in the back.  We had some fun.  We hit many great sites, we did a ton of walking.  Many crazy photos were taken.  We did end up working that night at the Times Square location but had a great time doing it.  Can't say enough about how proud I am of this training team and the great job that they are doing.

I started the morning in a meeting and then went to catch up with old friends.  The trainers were at the Freedom Tower.  While I was walking around I spotted another taco truck.  Yes, I stopped.

This place was interesting.  Guy was super cool.  Really funny guy.  I have to say that their pictures were great, truck looked clean.  The lengua here was a 1.  It was nasty.  I didn't even eat it.  The pastor was a 2.  I went for what I really wanted.  I did not try anything else and had never eaten at that truck before.  The salsas here were just ok.  It was a 3.  I did like the avocado sauce that they put on there.  I would totally try this place again, just go towards a different meat.

They were loaded right?  Generous portions, good meat, they just didn't cook it really well.

After the Tacoteering that I did, I went to meet up with the trainers by the Freedom Tower.  I took the subway and got off right by there.  I was walking around, writing my taco notes trying to find the trainers.  While I'm doing that, a cop stops me.  He starts asking what I was writing and what I was doing.  I was questioned for "suspicious behavior."  Talk about profiling!  When I told him I was writing notes about tacos he didn't think I was serious.  I showed him but he still gave me the business.  Pretty bogus.  So lets go back to the subway ride.  I got into a car and it was almost empty.  There was one homeless person.  I then realized that it was because it smelled.  Not bad, horrible.  That smell still lingers in my head.  It really was bad.  I was so glad to get to the next stop and go to another car.  I know it doesn't matter to you, but I just wanted to tell you.

The day was great.  It was great company.  I have another blog to write, so I'll get off of this little NYC rant.  With an irregular blog, should you get a gratuitous goodbye photo?  Sure, why not.  It is of me conquering the tacos of New York. Photo is compliments of photo ninja Fo.  Thanks for reading everyone, keep eating tacos!

Stay Excellent!

Los Tres Hermanos, Van Nuys (South of Saticoy)

Each story sure is different.  Alexander, Eleni and I went out the other day.  The Juggernaut was sick and I wanted to get the other two out of the house.  What else would I do with them?  Yes, we went Tacoteering.  We were driving down Van Nuys Blvd.  I don't really know why, but we were.  We pulled into a parking lot with some taco place.  As I was helping Alexander out of the van, I asked him if he was excited to eat at the place, he told me it looked fine.  We all know that means that he's not psyched.  I asked him if he wanted to go somewhere different.  We looked across the street and saw this place, Los Tres Hermanos.  He, as I'm sure you can tell he chose to go across the street.  We got back in the van and went across the street.

Place is interesting.  You order at the counter, they give you a number, they bring you your food.  Ladies working there were a bit rude, but whatever.  Inside of the restaurant is nice.  Really nice decor, not too over the top.  So the place is alright.  Nothing too amazing.  The best part of the day was the company that I had.  Two young Tacoteers that are ready to build on a great Tacoteering career.

Alexander and Eleni were on it.  Yes, all that food was for them, and they finished every morsel of it.  Look at the sheer excitement that they have about Tacoteering.  I too was excited.

RATINGS:
BEAN DIP: 3, what you expect.  Not too runny, not really thick.  It was solid.
JALAPENO SALSA: 1, this is my favorite if you don't know. It was separated and runny.  Here is what happened, they didn't cool the oil and jalapenos enough, so when milk was added, it caused it to separate.
SALSA VERDE: 3, decent, didn't blow me away, but I'd eat it if it was there.
SALSA ROJO: 1, disgusting.
SERRANOS:  5, they had serranos on the salsa bar and they were perfect.  Fried, but not overdone.  Spicy, texture was right on and they were delicious.  I was impressed.
BUCHE: 2, not crispy, not cooked enough.  It was chewy and lacked that great flavor that you can get from delicious buche.  Bummed...
POLLO:  2, no flavor, not cooked very well.  It was not raw, not really burnt, but not right, yes, I will pass on future endeavors.
ASADA: 3, not too bad.  I mean it didn't get me excited, but I liked it.  Keep up the solid asada work.
MACHACA: 3, again, nicely done.  I like what they were doing, it is what you'd expect, but won't blow your mind.
ADOBADA: 4, yes, the pastor was on point!  Nicely done.  It was good.  Rich flavors, you could taste some clove, cumin, chili powder.  Nicely marinated and cooked enough without being over done so it was still tender.
CHICKEN FINGER: 4, fried well, good breading and they came out hot with some good french fries.  Perfect for a Tacoteer that has a daughter that will only take a couple of bites of some of the more adventurous tacos.

Yes, you read that correctly, I rated the chicken fingers.  Eleni ate a couple of bites of tacos, but really stuck to the chicken fingers.  Alexander and I also tried the chicken fingers.  Eleni fed me for much of the meal, very excited to pick up the tacos for me.  It was nice being waited on like that.  I don't often have pretty girls that want to give me attention.  Alexander tried everything.  He had at least a half taco of each kind of taco that we tried.  We are working on him getting a solid palate for the rating system.  I know that he is quickly on his way.  This is a picture of our spread:

We find ourselves here at the end of the year.  Will there be another post before the night ends?  I don't know.  I have two more to write, one is from today.  Did some great Tacoteering earlier with Papou and Alexander in the Culver City area.  Here's the thing, thank you.  Thank you to everyone who has read this or any blog.  Thank you for re-tweeting, re-posting, emailing, telling friends.  It is great to see where The Order of the Taco has gotten.  We are working on merchandising and trying to really get the word out about what we are doing.

Thank you again to everyone, please continue to re-tweet, re-post and tell your friends to read all about us.  Happy New Year, Stay Excellent Everyone!

Taqueria Jalisco, Los Angeles, CA

The twists and turns of life continue as they do for everyone.  Work is so busy for everyone this time of year.  I am very included in that this year.  Many things going on.  Busy, busy, busy.  I needed to clear my head.  Just unwind for 20 minutes.  I did.  Today I did it at Taqueria Jalisco.  I was driving from Built to Home Office in Culver City.  I took a slight detour down Washington.  A little North East of La Brea there is a place, can you guess the name?  I'd never heard of this place, I was driving down the street and saw it, pulled over, parked and went in.  Neat joint.  Sort of.

I went in, the guy working there was rude.  Really rude.  He was young and i guess felt important with that register in front of him.  I tried to act like I was impressed.  The menu is solid.  Lots of stuff, but really not too much.  I think a good variety and very clean for the area.  The place looked nice.  They have all sorts of things, and lucky for me, more meats then they display on the menu.  I was very happy when I asked if they had lengua and the answer was yes!

So that is the whole menu.  No pricing on there, but the tacos are only $1.26 a pop, so I don't think that they are being stupid here. Pictures were typical, the food looked good, but no stylist was used in making these photos.  Pretty simple.  Oh yeah, if you didn't see the little cardboard sign, which is always my favorite, cash only.  Yeah, I know, the place is pretty cool.  I obviously liked it.  I mean, how could I not like it?  Small, quaint, cheap, tacos, smelled right.  I was happy that my Taco Destiny took me here.

You can see back there while they are working, which is great.  It is easy to see what is going on back there and they do it all right.  They are quick to make the food.  There was only two people back there working, and they were making it happen.  Meat was kept hot and they did a great job of getting food out quickly.  Pretty steady flow of folks the entire time that I was there.  It was nice to see a place busy like that.  I like seeing these smaller places packing in the people in.  Dine in and carry out both seemed to be thriving.  What did I really think?  It was just ok.  I mean the food was, well, ok.  The salsa bar was unimpressive.  Salsa was just alright.  Salsa were ok, not great.

See, not much to say.  So the onions come into the restaurant and are either pre cut or they use a stamp, not a knife.  I would venture to guess that it is not a knife and not pre cut, because the tomatoes for the pico are also an exact 1/4 of an inch.

RATINGS:
ASADA: 3, not bad, not great.  Seasoning was alright.  Not too much, but had some flavor.
CARNITAS: 2, it is me.  They fry it.  It is just fried pork.  That is all that I can say.  Not bad, but I like the flavor of the slow roast.
LENGUA: 2, mine was way overcooked.  I mean it was mushy and falling apart.  I don't know if it was supposed to be shredded, it really was bad.  Don't eat it.
BUCHE: 3, lightly salted, crispy.  I liked it.  They do a nice job of getting the flavor, texture was on point.  Didn't blow me away, but was not bad.
PASTOR: 3, bit of a cumin overload.  Good stuff, but not great.  I thought it was alright.  I wouldn't go out of my way for it, but this stuff isn't bad.
SALSA VERDE: 2, I love lime, but this was way overload.  Points for being made in house, but just not amazing.
SALSA ROJO: 2, lime overload again?  Yeah, that is what I'm saying.  Smoky, but not bad.  It wasn't horrible, but still not a 3.

Question that is on your mind, should you go there?  Not a horrible idea.  It really wasn't bad.  Stop by and check it out if you are in the area, but don't go out of your way.  It is a "3" of a place overall.  Not bad, but nothing great, have I said that enough ways?  I'm just starting to ramble a bit here, so I'm going to sign off.

Thank you so much for reading and checking the blog out.  Please do tell your friends, Stay Excellent!

What defines a person? Not about tacos...

I pose the question, what defines a person?

Please allow me to digress.  Not just in this post, but from the Order of the Taco for a moment.  On October 17, a founding member of the Order of the Taco lost his wife after a vicious fight with cancer.  She was not just the wife of one of our members, she was the sister of another and a loving best friend to all of us in the Order.  I write this just to get a story out about a great person who we all loved, learned from and will really miss, though I know she will never leave us.

I've known Krissy since 2001 when we worked together at Macaroni Grill.  Little did I know then that she would be such a big part of my life years later.  She started dating one of my best friends from childhood and still to this day, Christopher Randall.  I'll never forget when Chris called me to tell me he was standing there about to buy an engagement ring.  I literally had just chased a homeless guy out of the restaurant that I was running in Nashville.  We talked about it for a while.  We hung up and he called me telling me how it was done, the ring was in his pocket.  It was such an exciting feeling knowing that a great friend, a great guy had realized that the woman of his dreams was in front of him, and he wasn't letting her go.  Time sped up, he proposed and they were kind enough to allow me to stand on the altar as one of their groomsmen.  What a damn great day.  Chris was a beautiful groom and Krissy was an amazing bride.  If she couldn't get any better, she was a great sports fan and loves Dodger baseball!

Krissy had been battling cancer like a knight slaying a dragon since 2001.  She repeatedly one battles.  We all hated to see her go through this fight, but that is not what this story is about.

Krissy was pretty amazing.  She always did what she wanted when she wanted.  You knew if she was talking to you, she wanted to.  You knew if she was at your house, she wanted to be there.  I never found myself at a party or gathering without being in the corner snickering with her.  We'd crack jokes about everything and everyone.  She brought so much life to a party.  If you were new to the group, new to an event, she was the first person to say hello to you.  She never wanted anyone to feel left out unless she felt they deserved it.  How damn fair is that?  I love that about her.  What a lesson.  There wasn't any being fake with Krissy.  We'd often exchange text messages about nothing and everything.  Whether it was making fun of someone or just cracking a joke about meaningless stuff, it was always great.  We'd talk about tacos.  Man that was fun for me.  What a great taco palate this girl had.  She knew her stuff.  We'd share ideas of places, joke about bad ones and sneak tacos into an event or two if they were silly enough to invite me and not have any.

Her family is amazing.  Her brother Brandon and I became immediate friends.  I could search every corner of the earth and not find a better fit for a friend.  Brandon is all over my blogs.  He is another founding member of the Order of the Taco.  Down to earth great dude that loves his sister.  I can never thank her for introducing us to each other and integrating Brandon into the awesome network of friends that we all are.  He's done nothing but make the group better.  Tim, Cindy.  Those are two amazing,strong parents.  I was out of town when Krissy took her last breath and all I've heard was how Cindy was consoling the people around her.  What?  A mother?  Yeah, one amazing mother.  Cindy and Tim are two of the nicest, coolest damn people I've ever met.

I was crushed not being there or being closer.  I rushed to get from San Diego to LA to be able to see everyone.  Feelings of guilt overwhelm you when you know your close friends are hurting and you are not there to be the friend that you want to be.  I felt like I was making good time, Dolly and I were on the move until a little motorcycle wreck on the 405 slowed us.  I will always wonder if I didn't have a little extra someone watching me as I was hauling ass up the freeway.  It should have been bad.  Really bad.  I blew a tire, went down, kicked my bike back up and went down on the other side.  I have a few scratches, cuts and swelling, but really am not at all hurt.  Dolly is ok, she is going to spend a few days in Long Beach at the closest motorcycle shop I could find getting fixed back up.  Krissy, thanks for making sure that I got to your party safe.

Yeah, I said party.  That is part of what defines Krissy to all of us when we think about it.  Krissy truly lived it.  She didn't go to parties, she took them with her.  Hard to find her without a bottle of wine stashed into her purse.  She said she never wanted a funeral, just a party.  BJ's restaurant came through big for Krissy.  A little over a week before her passing Dimitri Iokiam, another great friend of ours, headed a charge for fighting cancer.  He helped organize a fundraiser where a percentage of the profits from two separate locations would be donated in Krissy's name to find a cure for this retched disease.  This has been on all of our calendar since we heard about it.  People came out in masses, and I mean masses.  Krissy knew about it before she passed.  She planned her own victory party.  It was a distraction for all of us from the pain we felt for losing her.  A toast to a great life from a great woman.  I was fortunate enough to get some quality time with Chris and our great friend Bucky.  Chris said it perfectly, "I have no regrets, we did everything that we wanted together and always had fun."  The fun continued in a different way.  As I looked around the restaurant, I know Krissy was there.  She stepped into every conversation and was a part of each table. She sipped white wine, toasted with champagne and was flattered by all of the kind words spoken about her.  That clever girl threw herself one heck of a party and we all really enjoyed it.  Everyone was buying each other food, drinks, talking sharing stories, amazing evening.

One page, paragraph, blog or letter does not encompass all that this person did for all of us.  There are so many stories, thoughts, feelings, people that I've left out of this little blog.  I see all the pictures everyone is posting on Facebook and that is just not me, this is, so thanks for reading.  I've got a whole set of friends I'd never have without Krissy.  I am so excited to see them when we are all around, really everywhere that I go.  Krissy, you will be missed.  Your love, compassion and zest for life is a lesson that we all need to remember.  Do what you want, with who you want, when you want.  Don't over think, enjoy those around you and enjoy doing it.  Thank you for bringing so many great people together in so many ways.  We are going to take care of Chris and Brandon and make sure that we do all we can to be there for them.  Thanks for being strong for all of us.  Now go punch something with your left arm!  I know that you always did and always will, so Stay Excellent.

Rolando's, San Diego, CA

Where do I start, what do I say?  Ramon and  chose this place after asking questions, looking online, reading reviews, looking at menus.  We are obviously all about some serious Tacoteering.  We left the hotel in Ramon's car and headed towards Las Cuatros Milpas.  We were pretty excited.  We took a wrong turn or 4 and ended up going in a circle or two to get to the place.  As we pulled up, we saw the shady "closed" sign, white door and gated up, boarded up windows.  Let me point out this is not quite the best neighborhood.

Taco Destiny.  Yeah, haven't really called it that in a while.  If you forgot what it means, look at the dictionary of terms used.  Don't worry, I'll be here and wait.  Go ahead, check it out.  It is a helpful post.  So Taco Destiny takes us back a few blocks to Rolando's.  Place looked OK, but what attracted us back was me being obnoxious all week.  Not my normal obnoxious, extra obnoxious.  I've been wearing everyone out talking about albondigas soup.  It is such a delicious dish and with the crazy long days that we've had, spending the last two weeks in a hotel, I am just craving it.  This place had it advertised on the building.  We turned the car around and went back.  Yeah, pretty much another circle.  However, my Taco Destiny brought us to this place.

Rolando's is like a large taqueria.  I don't know quite how else to describe it.  A tremendous amount of unused space though.  I mean, huge area that they just don't use.  The "salsa bar," was pretty unique.  Not bad, good, but interesting in itself.  It is also in the middle of the restaurant and right in front of you when you walk in.  Here is Ramon looking at the menu.

The food is good overall, not great, not bad.  We've hit a few places, El Gordo and El Guero in particular, that I know I ate more food, but didn't feel as full.  Ramon said the same.  The food was just heavy.  I mean, made you feel a bit heavy, not bad though, just really darn full.  Did we order too much?  I don't think that we really did.  I mean we have ordered much more when we've gone into places.  We really try to make sure that we order enough without ordering way too much food.

RATINGS:
ASADA: 2, just not impressive.  I mean it wasn't horrible, but do yourself a favor and don't try it.  Meat was a bit tough, not very flavorful.
PASTOR: 2, we've hit some pretty good pastor on this trip, tonight was not that night.  Was it inedible?  No, it is borderline crisis though.  No real flavor, no excitement.  The texture was fine.  Yeah, I said fine.  Like just barely ok.
CABEZA: 2, not too chewy, but not very good.  It was just blah.  I don't even want to talk about it, so maybe it is a borderline 1.
CARNITAS: 4, yeah, same restaurant as the meat above.  This was for sure the second best part of the trip, after Ramon's smile of course.  It was tender, light salt flavor, texture was right on, just great stuff.  I would go back just to eat a carnitas taco or 13.
GUACAMOLE: 2, why exactly are we using so much fake/processed avocado for guacamole in San Diego.  This is not the first place.  I mean, we are Californians.  We LOVE avocado.  We grow avocado.  We grow a ton of it.  Stop ruining the name guacamole with fake crap avocado.  Thanks.
ALBONDIGAS: 2, it is not your abuela's soup for sure.  It was not horrid, but kinda damn close.  The vegetable were cut way too big.  I mean, they weren't even all cut, just big veggies put in a bowl.  The meatballs were huge.  Much larger then a golf ball.  It took away from the soup.  The broth was flavorless.  No salt, no real flavor.
NACHOS: 2, we just ordered chips, she sent out their "nachos."  It was hot chips which were good, with fake guacamole, bad.  Yeah, it would have done well if they used real California avocados!  Farmers work their butts off, don't insult them or my taste buds with your fake crap.
SALSAS: 1, overall.
SMOKY CHIPOTLE: 1, that was nasty.  No heat, just nasty.  I don't know what they did to ruin the peppers, but it was horrid.
ROJO: 1,  I think it was tomato juice that was pureed with seeds.  I like me some tomato juice and seeds, but this was not good.
VERDE: 2, yeah, the big salsa winner.  It was ok, not rancid like the other two.

So, what are the positives and take away's from this venture.  The carnitas was excellent.  Not a 5, but delicious.  Taco Destiny, that was good.  I found a place that I can tell all of you not to go.  It is motivating me to make a great albondigas recipe.  Yeah, that is going to have to happen soon.  It will.  The food is served piping hot and pretty quick.  The portions are generous.  Tacos are affordable, but that is about it.  The rest is expensive.  The Los Angeles Dodgers won tonight, trying being in a bad mood after that great news.  You know what I'm saying.

Is all pastor, adobada?  Yes.  Is all adobada, pastor? No.  A few have asked me this recently.  Pastor started in the last century.  There were Lebanese slaves in central and Southern Mexico and they took local meats, put them on a spit and pastor, a gift from Ancient Mayan grounds was born.  Adobada is seasoned meat that is cooked.  Pastor is pastor.  Most places in SD call their pastor, adobada which is correct, just less specific.

Thank you to the Dodgers for a win tonight.  Thank you to any and all of you for taking the time to read this.   Please do continue to read and tell your friends.  Please do send me suggestions for a logo when you think of one.  Please do keep my good friend Krissy and her amazing husband, brother and parents in your prayers.  She is constantly on my mind as I go around to places right now and all good thoughts and prayers go through my head and would be appreciated as she is fighting hard for her life right now.  Sorry for all of the favor asking, I appreciate anyone taking the time to read these.  I enjoy doing it and find motivation in seeing the numbers rise.

That is a picture of Krissy and her husband at their wedding.  I was so honored to be there and be a part of an amazing day.
Stay Excellent!