.: MEXICAN

Showing posts with label MEXICAN. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

La Taquiza No. 2

On Memorial Day my neighbor, Carlos and I decided to grab lunch at La Taquiza No 2. No 1 is in South Gate by Downey. For a change No 2 is more popular than No 1 but that’s just because it’s near USC where students can grab good, cheap Mexican food. By the way, they're starting their delivery service soon. I figured I could grab good Mexican food and check out my church’s new DT service location.

La Taquiza is home of the Mulitas. Mulitas is basically like a sandwich but with corn tortillas instead of bread. I found out after I check into Foursquare (if it’s your first visit there, you get a free mulita…a good reason to check in first and not when you’re finishing your meal)…even though it says it on the building. I’m really bad with foreign words…I have a tendency to read only what I know, and tacos are what I know and that’s what we ordered. They have a pretty extensive menu.

You order at the counter, and they call out the items when they’re done.

As you wait, you can mosey over to the salsa/toppings bar and grab some marinated vegetables and salsas. No limes, only lemons.

The chips and guacamole were the first to come out. Their guacamole could use more salt but I was pleased that it had enough lemon juice. Chips are slightly greasy—nothing special.

Then the carne asada, al pastor and pollo tacos came out.

The carne asada was dry. It was probably the worst one out of all the tacos we ate.

The al pastor was good—flavorful and not dry. This was my 2nd favorite taco.

The pollo was our favorite. It was juicy and had a nice smoky flavor to it. The next time I’m coming here, I’m just going to get pollo , well maybe the al pastor too.

The chorizo was interesting. The texture was a bit crunchy. Carlos hated it. I wasn’t expecting to look like this…

The short ribs…well let’s just say the Koreans can do Mexican but Mexican’t do Koreans.

Our last taco, the Ensenada fish was ok. They battered heavily but the filet was soft and meaty.

Carlos and I were stuffed but how could we refuse free food? We went with pollo for the mulita. It was pretty tasty but it’s just like a quesadilla…

Yum!

The next time I’m here, I’m going to get an al pastor taco and a pollo mulita.

Address: 3009 S Figueroa St, LA, CA 90007
Phone#: (213) 741-9795

Minty's Silverlake Fish Taco Crawl

It didn’t take long for me to decide to go on the Minty’s Silverlake Fish Crawl last Sunday since I live nearby, and she only had five taco stands on her list…now if she had seven taco stands…To ensure that I could finish the crawl, I biked it. Most of the taco stands were not more than a mile a part.

The Best Fish Taco in Ensenada was our first stop. I go here when I’m indecisive since they only offer fish or shrimp taco. I am allergic to shrimp. The kitchen is right in front of you with two deep fryers.

Their drinks list is a short list as well. The horchata too sweet for me, and they use brown rice. I prefer their jimica –sweet but it’s not like drinking a sugar cane. Here’s a picture of their toppings bar.

There’s indoor seating but when it’s warm the patio is the place to be. If they just serve margarita it would be like you’re in Ensenada, Mexico.

I am told traditional fish tacos from Ensenada are deep-fried topped with cabbage and salsa on a corn tortilla. Their fish taco is ok. I can’t really complain since it’s only a buck. Shrimp tacos are two bucks.

Ricky’s Fish Tacos was our next spot. Ricky’s is located at Sunset Junction in the “cactus” garden. My first time at Ricky’s was a nightmare. I vouched not to go again…but then since it was on Minty’s list…WOW, what an improvement! Orders are processed much faster since they give you a number when you ordered now; it also helped that he had two helpers. They had two propanes this time so there was no mixing of the shrimp with the fish. The only thing that was missing was the lime. Oh you have to follow Ricky on Twitter to know his hours.

The drink stand is a new thing too. They offered two aqua frescas..

One was some kind of passion fruit…

The other was some kind of orange fresca…

I went with the Passion fruit and it beat the jimaca.

The fish taco tasted much better this time around. It’s amazing how your mood affects the taste of the food...their fish taco was the most expensive - $2.50 but so worth it!

Tacos Delta was our 3rd stop.

There’s an outdoor patio in the back.

There fish taco came with lettuce instead of cabbage. It cost $2.25.

It was too battered for me –like a Van de Kamp’s fish stick.

Our fourth stop was El 7 Mares.

Out of the five stops, this was the only one that has a parking lot.

Their fish taco was the lightest one out of the fried ones. I was surprised that it costs $2.29. I used to live across the street in '98, and I think it used to cost a buck? But then again, the studio cost $400 at the time and it now costs $900/month?

Las Glorias Del Buen Corner was the finale. Their fish tacos are grilled instead of fried like the others. The wait was the longest –yeah, longer than Ricky’s. Fish taco costs $2.25.

I had ordered a fish taco…but instead they gave me a shrimp taco. I took a bite on the verge of swallowing it until I saw the shrimp! Ah!!!!! I just started spitting everything out of my mouth and made a mad dash to outside where I would I rinse my mouth. I don’t know why I didn’t noticed the shrimp earlier…I took several pictures of it too…I guess the orange onxy through me off …

I felt terrible for the poor fella who sat in front of me and had to witness my meal coming out…hmm…yum. Needless to say I didn’t like their fish taco... What a way to end the fish crawl!

So here’s my vote of the best fish taco stands in order:

1) Ricky’s Fish Tacos
4006 Santa Monica Blvdl, LA, CA 90029
Stalk here

2)Best Fish Tacos in Ensenada
Hillhurst Ave, LA, CA 90027
(323) 466-5552

3) El 7 Mares
3131 W Sunset Blvd, LA, CA 90026
(323) 665-0865

4) Tacos Delta
3806 W Sunset Blvd, LA, CA 90026
(323) 664-2848

5) Las Glorias Del Buen Corner
620 Silver Lake Blvd, LA, CA 90026
(213) 484-9090

Maitreya

I made a fool out of myself earlier this week. I had tweeted to find out if Starry Kitchen was opened for dinner as I was meeting up with my friend for dinner this past Wednesday. Starry Kitchen started out their apartment in North Hollywood and my friend confirmed that they’ve moved to Downtown so I assumed that they were opened for dinner, but then I saw that they open ‘til 3pm on their FB page and you never know if websites are updated…so I tweeted. Sinosoul pointed out “they've never been open for dinner ;)”…I am sure there were a few snickers from him and from others…and I am now noticing that there is a phone number...sigh. So I searched and searched for another restaurant and decided on Maitreya.

Maitreya is located in the heart of K-town at the semi-new City Center mall. There’s free 2-hour validated parking if you come on a weekday. We walked to the restaurant since we live close by and also we were going for their happy hour. Translation? Happy hour = comfort food = heavy = walk off meal.

The restaurant’s décor is modern. I like the bar area. You can totally imagine what this place looks like on a weekend –a bunch of Korean men dressed all Euro and Korean women scantily dressed with their LV purses.

We went to the back where the dining area was or was it the front if you’re coming in from the mall..?

So Maitreya’s happy hour deal is half off on their tapa menu, selected pastas, well drinks, and house wines. My friend and I weren’t feeling the vodka so we went for their wines. They only have a house cabernet and a house chardonnay. If you go for the cabernet, let it air out in your glass for ten minutes before taking a sip.

We started with their French fries. It came with their homemade white sauce that was supposed to have Gorgonzola cheese but we think they forgot it since we couldn’t taste it and it was very watery… tasted like milk . It was so bland that I added salt, pepper and lemon juice to it.

The next dish was their popular Ahi Tuna Tacos. We really enjoyed this dish. I would have been happy if we just ate the ahi tuna tacos for dinner. It was light yet filling.

Our next dish was their margarita pizza. As you can see it’s not a traditional margarita pizza with ricotta cheese. The crust was interesting…thin, not greasy…reminded me of those cheap frozen pizzas that you buy at the supermarket for a dollar. The waiter said they make their own crust but then again he had thought their pastas were homemade.

For dessert, our waiter recommended their Classic Tiramisu. I was surprised since Maitreya restaurant is a Korean restaurant but he pointed out that most of the dishes are Italian. Hmm…he’s right but the chefs are Koreans. He was pretty confident so we ordered it. Like the margarita pizza, the tiramisu didn’t look like a “classic” tiramisu as it was heavy on the ricotta…

but once we got to the middle, it looked like a “Classic” tiramisu. It was actually not bad. Be careful on the first bite though because you might choke on the cocoa powder.

Our waiter was kind enough to let us try their homemade (for real) Focaccia bread. It was pretty good. I dare say it was better than their ahi tuna tacos.

Overall, we would go back for Happy Hour. It’s cheap and close. By the way, if you’re not allergic to crustacean like me, you should order their lobster spaghetti. Everyone in the restaurant was eating it.

Address: 3500 W 6th St, Suite 101, Los Angeles, CA 90020
Phone#: (213) 389-0200

Plancha: A Taco Joint

Returning to the office last week from a long….doctor’s visit, I checked out Plancha: A Taco Joint. I read that the owner used to work at Poquito Mas as an cashier. It’s in a strip mall and parking space is scarce, but in the evening it should be fine since most of the businesses close around 6. Set up is like Poquito Mas, Chipotle, etc –counter service, no table service. I went for their 3 for $5 street tacos and tried each meat: grilled steak, chicken and al pastor.

I’m not going to order the grilled steak again as it was very dry. The al pastor was not bad, but my favorite was the chicken.

The chicken was shredded and seasoned just right. I also ordered the fresh fish taco. This taco is perfect for those watching their carb intake. Instead of corn tortillas, the grilled tilapia is wrapped in butter lettuce served with guacamole and chipotle cream sauce.

However, it was disappointing…the taco lacked flavor. I think they should marinate the tilapia with lemon and black pepper. Their chips aren’t bad. I thought it was interesting that they used a lot of red onion in their salsa…