June Lake Brewery/Ohanas Hawaiian Food, June Lake, CA

Entrance to the brewery is pretty cool.  I'll tell you, I was so excited to go here that I couldn't see straight.  Mammoth Brewery is so damn good, I though this place had a real shot.  Small, nice area, beautiful scenery.  They do well with the decor, they are smart to have a taco truck parked in their parking lot.  Brewery is convenient if you are heading to the ski area or fishing one of the June Lake Loop Lakes.  Clean, good water helps your beer taste better, take advantage of it if you have it available!  We made this official bar business as we were hoping to get some solid relationships going with both June and Mammoth Brewery.

As you are pulling up to the brewery, this is what you see.  Yes, that's a taco truck.  This little gem is serving up Hawaiian inspired food.  Yes, they are advertising tacos and they were not too shabby.  The owner had her whole family working.  She lived in Hawaii, SoCal and they just love it up the Eastern Sierras so they figure out how to make it happen.  This chick goes a long way to make sure that she is getting the right product.  She wasn't taking any short cuts and you can really taste it.

We spent the day fishing.  Alexander got some great support from Uncle Paul, Uncle Brando, Uncle Tim, Moose, and his Papou.  If anyone got a bite, Alexander was pole in hand.  He caught a good amount of fish in our three days and had the best time he's ever had.  He drove the boat and nicknamed himself The Captain, he earned it.  Above is Uncle Brando with the net and Alexander and his Papou reeling in a great catch together!

One of my favorite shots of the trip, Alexander and Uncle Brando reeling a big trout in.  Yes, I'm proud they are sporting Crazy Harry's hats, but they really bonded, had a great time and Alexander was so proud that he caught the fish that fed the family dinner, yes, they were really good.  This was Alexander's first "guy's trip" and he relished and really grew up with the experience.

Another pretty epic picture.  Alexander's so proud that Doctor Uncle Paul and him caught some fish together.  Paul is one of my brother's and Alexander and I are very close with him.  He's a man second to none and it is great that he took time off of work to spend time with us in the mountains.  Paul and I use to fish these mountains together when we were younger than Alexander which makes it really special for us to do with him.  I'll lay off of the sappy bullshit and stories of us fishing and teaching Alexander how to be a fisherman and get to the tacos!

So we were pretty excited to walk up and see this.  We just went there for some quick tasters and when we say this, umm yeah, I had to run and get tacos for us hungry men to share!  It was a nice snack getting off the lake and it tied us all over nicely before we got into our big dinner.  When I say big dinners, I mean big dinners.  We went all out cooking together and had some pretty epic meals!

Here is a closer look at this rare gem hidden in the hills of the Eastern Sierras.  Yes, they have a convenient bike rack, I think it gives them so pretty great street cred!  This is such a nice family.  They make the sauces from scratch and pair each sauce with each bit protein.  Another big plus, they aren't beef crazy, they have delicious pork and chicken!

This is what we paired with the tacos.  I have been to a ton of breweries, obviously own and run a craft beer and boutique wine bar, the scenery surrounding this brewery and the inside itself are so amazing.  They really nail the ambiance.  Place is clean, they keep it nice and pretty.  Flights that they do are solid and they have some great custom taster cup holders that are pretty sick.

Every so often, I don't do rankings, this blog is one of those.  I can tell you that I'd eat all of the tacos that we tried, yes, we tried them all!  My favorite is the spicy pork.  Why am I not doing rankings this time?  They don't have the same ones!  This chef does a great job of using what is fresh, using what is in season, she does a great job and the salsas, well I didn't write all of these treats down.  FYI, Kahlua Pork and the Chicken, also BOMB!  They go a little happy on the slaw, but it is good. It doesn't taste wilted or cheap, it is really solid.

 Look at these three handsome-ass men!  We did some tasting, some pairing, some good laughs and fun!  The tacos totally overshadowed the beer here.  There is some serious thought, care and experience put into these tacos.

We got lucky with the weather and the scenery!  We were happily surprised that the colors were changing while we were up there.  I have been all over the country during the change of the seasons, this was the most beautiful and we were so grateful that we got to take it all in!

Did I tell you to check out the scenery?  Alexander was so happy, as I keep stating that he was the Captain, but if you look past his sick driving skills, you can see the amazing colors in the background.

Thank you for indulging me on this one.  It is always about the story, about the adventure, not just what you get to eat, but who, when, where and how you get to eat it.  This trip was beyond amazing and we were just extra pumped to get to do some impromptu Tacoteering on this one trip.  Really big thank you for the reads, re-posts, re-tweets and for continuing to follow though I haven't written as much lately.  I haven't forgotten there are more blogs to come, I know you all care what/where I'm doing, especially in relation to tacos.

Today's goodbye/gratuitous photo is of my oldest son Alexander.  Alexander as many of you know has CP.  He does not allow himself to be bound to his wheelchair.  He does archery, Brazilian Jui Jitsu, wheelchair dance, acting and still makes it to school, therapy and everything else.  Much of that is of course because of his mother and his grand parents getting him everywhere.  The cool part is that it is not just him, but our family and friends don't allow him to either.  Brandon and Tim invited us up to go out on their boat to help make it a bit easier for him to fish.  It was awesome.  Alexander did a great job, caught a bunch of fish and Tim helped show him how to properly filet a trout.  Amazing to see his progress and our friends push him more and more.  Alexander and his fish:

Stay Excellent!

Tacos Corona, Lake Balboa, CA

This blog is a long time coming.  Tacos Corona has been on my radar for a while.  I've been here, just not in a while.  One of my best friends in the world, who has never been on this blog, PJ use to live right next door.  Well, his town home was next to the shopping center.  Tacos Corona is one of those places that has been in the Valley for a long time.  It is kind of a staple for many.

The inside of the restaurant is apparently blurry.  I did not realize it was this blurry until I just added this photo.  You can see Alexander wheeling himself up to the counter.  Salsa bar is on the right.  Place is pretty cozy.  It is sort of tight spaced, but that is part of the charm.  They really load people in there.  You can order at the counter, go sit at a table.  It really is a choose your own adventure.

Menu is great.  They do a lot of cool stuff, but don't overwhelm you by trying to do everything.  I am obviously a fan.  Pricing is alright.  I've watched them increase prices over the years, but their portions have always been solid, so it is a pretty mute discussion.

Alexander and I took a high top table in the front and settled in for some tacos.  I will say he loves his tacos.  I am always impressed watching him eat tacos.  He attacks tacos.  I did give him options to go anywhere, pizza, gyros, sandwiches, he insisted on doing the right thing.  This photo reminds me how long my arms are.  I mean, that is kind of crazy that this is just a selfie.

RATINGS:
ASADA: 3, solid asada.  It was textbook goodness that you will enjoy if you need that quick steak taco fix.  Alexander liked it so much he took that entire taco whole.
PASTOR: 4, I loved it.  So did Alexander.  It was a bit spicy, nice pepper flavor but it was not hot or overwhelming.  Alexander is a bit sensitive to the heat and this did not bother him at all, but it was really flavorful.  You could also really taste the port and it was yummy.
CARNITAS: 3, pretty standard stuff.  I though that it was really good.  We enjoyed that it was tender and good, but had some nice crispy ends on it.
LENGUA: 4, this was almost a fight.   We both loved this and it was probably our favorite of all that we ate.  It was really on point, flavorful, cooked perfectly and downright delicious.
CABEZA: 1, this was the most disappointing thing that we had.  I actually had it at a two and switched to a 1 when I started writing.  It was inedible.  Neither of us liked it at all and that was sad.  It was slimy, not cooked well and did not have that nice soft flavor that cabeza has.  We each took only one bite.
BIRRIA: 3, enjoyable, but not exciting.  Light spice to it, soft and good, maybe it was cooked on too high of heat because it didn't melt the way I think it should to be a 4, but it sure wasn't bad if this is your protein of choice.
POLLO: 3, pretty good stuff here.  Pretty basic though.  Alexander took this one on as it did not really impress me.
TRIPA: 2, simply not cooked long enough this time.  I've had it before and it has been a 3 almost a 4.  The flavor was good, but it was way too chewy and under cooked.  Alexander and I both strongly agreed on this one.
BUCHE: 3, this was good.  Alexander liked it more than I did.  I thought it was a little chewy, he said he thought it was great and had most of that taco.
SALSA BAR: 3, it was good, but there is nothing special about this one.  They have all the options that they should and their salsa are all good, except for one.  Their green avocado one is pretty excellent.

Beware of the ketchup salsa.  One of their salsas at the salsa bar tastes like ketchup.  It is the dark red one that kind of looks like textured ketchup.  It is not tasty.

As always, a big thank you for reading and sharing.  Sorry I've been so busy and haven't posted as many lately.  This adventure was great as I got some one on one time with my oldest son Alexander.  We don't get too much time just one on one.  He's by far the nicest of my three kids.  Like I always say, it's not where or which tacos you are eating, but who you are eating them with that makes the experience that much more awesome.  Many more taco adventures to come from around the globe thank you for reading!

Today's goodbye/gratuitous photo is of my oldest son Alexander at Jiu Jitsu.  If you follow me on Instagram you've seen this one.  It is of Alexander (my son with CP, who's in a wheelchair) flipping his instructor Pat King.  He's really doing well and has an amazing instructor.  We are very grateful that we found someone who is working with Alexander and teaching him so much.

Stay Excellent!