Catch My Taco Crawl With Phil Rosenthal and Larry Wilmore on Episode 6 of I'll Have What Phil's Having

               

In cased you missed the Los Angeles episode of I'll Have What Phil's Having on PBS, here is the entire episode. In addition to top name chefs and brilliant comedians like Paul Reiser and Martin Short, I appeared on the show leading Phil and Larry Wilmore on a taco crawl in Boyle Heights and the Arts District, eating amazing tacos at Carnitas El Momo, Mariscos Jalisco and Guerrilla Tacos (another top L.A. chef). Enjoy!

Los Angeles Magazine's Big Taco Issue is Online and the L.A. Tacopedia Grows to 47 Tacos

We now have 47 reasons to love the taco scene here in Los Angeles with updated L.A. Tacopedia, a run down of the L.A. taco styles you can easily find around the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area. If you missed the July taco issue you can discover the 25 best tacos in L.A. on the Los Angeles magazine website, along with other articles from our epic taco issue. The 25 best tacos aren't in any real order, as they are all so different, but just know that these are currently the best 25 tacos you can have in L.A. Let me know what you think, and provecho!

LA Weekly's Tacolandia 2015 Video Recap

                        

Close to 5000 people attended and 80 vendors served amazing tacos at the 2015 LA Weekly Tacolandia event, curated by myself, at the greatest taco show on the planet. It's hard to believe we're just 2 years out from our inaugural event, which featured just 25 vendors and 1500 people, rather intimate in comparison.


If you haven't been yet, Tacolandia 2016 is right around the corner, but do enjoy this video recap of the wonderful vendors and taco aficionados that make this such a special day in L.A.

See you in 2016.

Bill

Work for Tacos? Volunteer to Eat Tacos with Boobs 4 Food at LA Weekly's Sold Out Tacolandia, 6/6/15

Will Work for Tacos?

By now you've heard the news, that LA Weekly's Tacolandia 2015 is sold out, and did so 7 weeks ahead of the much anticipated event. Well, taco lovers, there's still a chance to enjoy tacos from 80 different vendors, from L.A., the O.C., San Diego and from 3 different states in Mexico as a volunteer with my dear friends at Boobs 4 Food. As a volunteer, you get full access to a place where all your taco dreams come true--yes, you can proudly share with your friends with certainty that "Will Work for Tacos" is actually a thing.


Go to the Boobs 4 Food Facebook page to sign up as a volunteer for Tacolandia 2015 on June 6th at Olvera St., but hurry because participation is on a first serve basis.

Boobs 4 Food founders, Katherine, Liberty and Jessica Chen.


About Boobs 4 Food (courtesy of their website)

Founded in July of 2009, Boobs4Food is a volunteer supported organization committed to bridging passion for food & the passion to feed the hungry. We organize monthly volunteer events, open to the public, at local hunger awareness organizations, agencies and hunger related special events (currently in San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles and in NYC).

Recognizing that food is a necessity that unites us all, Boobs4Food strives to unite the food-loving community with those for whom the next meal is an uncertainty.

Since 2009, together with our volunteers, we have contributed over thousands of volunteer hours to hunger agencies & organizations including San Francisco Food Bank, Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, Glide Memorial, The Midnight Mission, Share Our Strength, Taste of The Nation, Second Harvest Food Bank, Project Open Hand, FoodForward, Project Angel Food, Food Runners, Hawaii Food Bank, Food Bank for NYC, Taste of the Nation NYC.

Boobs 4 Food volunteers happy to give back to their community

OG Boob, Christina Abellera, and another volunteer preparing meals at a Boobs 4 Food event

There's no job too big or too small for the women and men of Boobs 4 Food.


If you're not able to volunteer for Tacolandia 2015, Boobs 4 Food serves the communities of Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco year round, just go to boobs4food.com for more information about upcoming opportunities to make a difference, or visit their Facebook page.

Tacos Quetzalcoatl, a New Contender for the Top Taquero in Los Angeles--my Latest in Los Angeles Magazine

Chalmita, Estado de Mexico-style tacos

Tacos Quetzacoatl, East L.A.



I finally got around to trying Tacos Quetzacoatl in East L.A., and it was more than worth the wait. Tacos Quetzalcoatl is the best taco spot in L.A. for vegetarian, after Guerrilla Tacos, but it's entire Chalmita-style menu makes this one of the top 5 taco vendors in Los Angeles, for excellent barbacoa, cecina, adobo, chicharron prensado, pancita, and of course wild greens, like red amaranth and huauzontles. Check it out on Los Angeles Magazine's Digest blog.

LA Weekly's Tacolandia 2014 on 6/28 at Placita Olvera Goes Back to the Future of Tacos in L.A.

On 6/28, at Placita Olvera, the second annual LA Weekly's Tacolandia will take place to celebrate L.A.'s greatest obsession--the taco--on an unintended journey back to the street where the taco first aroused our curiosities, and where Los Angeles history began. It was hard losing last year's venue, the Palladium--I mean, Tacolandia was such a hit last year--sold out two weeks in advance--went off without a hitch, and it was just a short walk home to my place in Hollywood. But it wasn't meant to be--so when Placita Olvera was presented one late night, I eagerly got to the fun job of curating this event--that means eating lots of delicious tacos, but it wasn't until I approached Cielito Lindo (sweet little heaven) to participate that I realized the fortune of doing this event at Olvera St.


Since 1934, Cielito Lindo has been spreading the gospel of the taco to Angeleno's with their world famous beef taquitos drowning in avocado sauce--it all started here, on this street with these crunchy tacos created by Zacatecana, Aurora Guerrero. Her family spread these tacos all over the city and if you read Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America, by one of our judges, Gustavo Arellano, you can learn more about how Cielito Lindo brought us here to this current national taco craze that will not let up--ever. I wonder what she'd think of this Tacolandia, which has now grown to 44 super star vendors.

Flight or Flight: Street Food Under Fire in my Latest for Los Angeles Magazine

The LAPD's Grinch who stole street food--Officer Torta Terrorista


"You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war"--Albert Einstein

A show of force by the LAPD to take from the poor


Everyone's singing the praises of councilmen Curren D. Price, Jr's and Jose Huizar's motion to legalize street food--photos are being taken, and speeches end in cheers and applause--meanwhile, the LAPD cases the Mercado Olympic and other street food havens around town issuing tickets to working families. 


Read Fight or Flight in my latest for the Los Angeles Magazine Digest!

 

The Golden Ticket: Tacolandia

Blood sausage taco at the Mercado Olympic on homemade blue corn tortillas


In just a few hours, select loncheras, mom and pops, taquerias, and chefs will take part in the first annual  LA Weekly's Tacolandia curated by myself. The event sold out surprisingly fast and we've been inundated with requests from all over the U.S. from people trying to get tickets. One woman from the East Coast had booked a flight to L.A. only to attend Tacolandia for her birthday, and was freaking out that there were no more tickets.


Luckily, she had an in through a sponsor--she is in the restaurant business--and today she'll be enjoying the many flavors of one of the United State's favorite foods--the taco.


It seems Tacolandia has become an overnight sensation--simply because people have been wanting a proper celebration of the taco for some time--who knew?


With a small crew, limited marketing--many blogs and stories about Tacolandia were written just because people were excited about this event--we created a taco frenzy. Television spots had to be cancelled because the event had sold out, but many have told us that people are buzzing about Tacolandia everywhere.


If you happened to get a ticket, I look forward to seeing you today--there will be so many special dishes made for this event--you're in for a real treat.

See you at Tacolandia! Thanks for your support for this event, and have fun today.

-Bill    

The First Annnual Tacolandia drops on 6/23 at the Hollywood Palladium. Come Join the LA Weekly and I for the Ultimate L.A. Taco Party

Well, let me say it has been a couple years of dedicated work behind the scenes to see this finally happen--I'm having my first big event on Sunday, June 23rd at the Hollywood Palladium called Tacolandia--with a little(not so little) help with my friends at the L.A. Weekly. A portion of the proceeds will go to Homeboy Industries, an organization that's been doing good in the hood, making L.A. tastier and safer.

It will feature over 30 vendors that have been hand picked by me, with the goal of putting together a unique event to celebrate one of the city's most beloved foods--the taco. You've been to events with fleets of "gourmet trucks"--I love them too--and you've been to fancy chef fests in which you paid a $100+ ticket where you've also had some great tacos, but on this day we will celebrate mom and pops, my personal relationship with Baja California, stands, traditional loncheros(catering trucks), and taquerias at what will be the tastiest and most approachable food event ever produced in L.A. Street food should be inexpensive in price and luxurious in flavor my friends.

Tacolandia is Los Angeles--we live in an urban sprawl covered in outlaw street stands and tables, old school taco trucks, taquerias, modern taco concepts; shiny,shrink wrapped gourmet trucks serving global tacos; chef driven taco carts, and hipster taco trailers. From the barrios of Boyle Heights to Huntington Park; from the after hours hits in Highland Park to Silver Lake; from the strings of dim white globes that are festooned above sizzling meats along the avenues and  boulevards of East L.A. to South Central; and from the West Side to the Oaxacan coffee scented block of Mateo St.--L.A. is a land of tacos.

There will be no two vendors alike--there will be friends from Baja (Chef Javier Plascencia, La Guerrerense, Tacos Kokopelli, and Mariscos El Mazateno will be there), and it's just a hop-skip-and-a-jump from the Hollywood/Vine metro station.

Tickets go on sale April 18 at 10am, and check the website for updates on confirmed vendors.        

Thanks for your support, and I hope to see old friends and make new ones at the first annual Tacolandia.

Tacolandia
Sunday, June 23rd
Hollywood Palladium
12pm-5pm       
$20 admission, for tacos only
$40 admission, for tacos, beer, and tequila!!
Follow Tacolandia's event page on Facebook
Follow LAWeeklyStreet on Twitter

Street Gourmet LA About Town: My Latest Street Food Tales in the Digest

Links, links, and more links!! Plus, stay tuned for a big announcement this week--I can't wait to share the news.

Los Angeles Magazine Digest  

Los Angeles is becoming a tortas ahogadas kind of town in Vitamina T: Tortas Ahogadas Guadalajara--these are the best traditional tortas being done in the United States.

Indian street food cleans up its act in On Street Food Cleanliness.

100% Authentic Zacatecas style birria de chivo at the best practitioners in L.A. serve a mean, young goat in Vitamina T: Birrieria Flor del Rio's Goat Birria Tacos.

How Peruvian is Paiche--the new restaurant by Chef Ricardo Zarate? Read all about it and find out why!

You haven't lived in L.A. until you've tried Guatemalan rice tamales in Vitamina T: Tamales de Arroz in MacArthur Park.

The first South American pope--a porteno--is truly a man of the people--it's Malbec, empanadas, and chinchulines for everyone in How to Eat Like the Pope.

Chefs Joshua Gil and Daniel Snukal are serving up the best tacos and tostadas on the west side in Vitamina T: Tacos Puntas Cabras Bay Scallop Taco.

Why pay high prices on Melrose and La Brea for spicy meat when you can get your tinga on at the Mercado Olympic in Vitamina T: Mexico City Style Tostadas at the Mercado Olympic.

The World Street Food Congress is happening in a couple of months and Chef Bryant Ng of L.A.'s Spice Table is representing L.A. for the event being held in Singapore.  

Chef Ray Garcia's tongue taco staycation is the best in the west, where brunch turns into a yuppie taquiza with a view, right next to the Pacific Ocean.

Well, that's a lot to digest, but make sure and let me know if you go, and let me know what you think.

Provecho!

Catch Me this Saturday, 3/23 in My First Gig as TV Host of Travel Channel's Street Eats: USA

Street Eats: USA airs this Saturday at 3PM, with the Los Angeles segment hosted by yours truly

This all started with a Skype audition to be the L.A. host of a new Travel Channel show called Street Eats: USA, in which I went up against local talent--well over a year ago. After weeks of auditions, Minneapolis based, Tremendous Entertainment (they produce Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern) decided to go with me.

Just over a year ago, I taped for two days in Los Angeles, from East L.A. to South L.A. to the SGV to Hollywood to La Brea, covering street food from all over the spectrum of L.A.'s amazing international cultures, in which I also curated much of the program--additional choices were added by Tremendous, and there were some segments shot with just narration. I have no idea how the show has been edited, but judging by the clip above--I will guide viewers through the L.A. street food scene, and then the show will move on to another city.

I had a great time working on this, and am thrilled to have graduated to host--even if only for a segment of one show. The rest of Street Eats: USA will feature other parts of the country, all shot with local hosts.

Up until now I've been a good Robin, to a range of Batmen--Zimmern is Batman, Dark Knight Edition--but, now I can truly say--"I'm Batman." Please tune in, and tell me what you think.
 
Thanks to the wonderful crew at Tremendous Entertainment for everything!

Street Eats: USA
Saturday, March 23  
3PM
Travel Channel

Street Gourmet LA About Town: Chef Marcela Valladolid, Booze, Soda, Tacos, Beer in Mexico and More from LA Mag and the OC Weekly

It's been a busy couple of months, and let's just cut to the chase! Here are some recent articles you may have missed.

Los Angeles Magazine Digest

Los Angeles is full of Latin American sodas with unusual flavors--take a sweet tour of the best in town on Poppin' Bottles.

The Baltimore Ravens have prevailed in Super Bowl XLVII, but the snacking goes on. Here's a carne asada nachos recipe from the boys at Mexicali Taco Co. for your next party, or for your next Blockbuster night.

Don Lencho's in South L.A. has whole grilled fish that's worth a detour.

Legit brisket taco action in Walnut Park by La Guera makes the cut. This is one of the best late night hits in the city.

La Diva del maguey, Chef Marcela Valladolid introduces her own family label: tequila Hacienda de la Flor.

A legendary and unknown spirit  from Mexico, bacanora, lands at Bar Ama in Los Angeles--it's worth the trip alone.    

Border Grills's avocado taco is a delicious north of the border invention by Chefs Mary Sue Millikin, and Sue Feniger.

OC Weekly-Tijuana Si 

Cervezeria Wendlandt serves up Baja craft beer and Baja cuisine that's inspired, right in the heart of Ensenada's tourist zone.

and, I have an evening of burritos and wine at the Tijuana institution: Bol Corona.

A Taco Tour of Los Angeles-Come Take a Ride With Madeleine Brand, Val Zavala and Myself on So Cal Connected

This program was originally broadcast on Jan. 9, 2013

In case you missed it, catch me on KCET's SoCal Connected, guiding Madeleine Brand and Val Zavala on a taco tour of Los Angeles  were we talk tacos de camaron, tacos de fritanga, and tacos de marlin.

The Art of Guerrilla Taco War in L.A. Magazine's Digest

Chef Wes Avila, Guerrilla Tacos

For this week's installment of Vitamina T, I go deep into the urban jungle of DTLA to search for the comandante--Chef Wes Avila's Guerrilla Tacos--to get of a taste of high pocho cuisine. This is the most promising taco concept in Los Angeles by a non-traditional taquero to date. Viva la revolucion del taco!

Taco Tuesday: Tamales Elena in Watts is a Beef Head of the Game

I guess it never occurred to me that I should order tacos from Tamales Elena, but now that I think about it I'm feeling a little dumb. I wrote about Tamales Elena some years ago while running around in Watts and the surrounding neighborhoods and thought their tamales were nice. They make typical corn husk tamales for $1 a pop that are geared towards locals--when not ordering tamales folks are grabbing carne asada burritos. That's kind of how it goes for this talented Guerreran family. Did I mention that this is the best family of Mexican cooks in town? They are--unless someone can show me better. I will get into that on a later date, on how a birthday party pozole and mole spread was one of the best traditional Mexican meals I've ever had. 

Their real tamales are large, flat, rectangular packages of southern Mexican comfort, but they'd never fly on Wilmington and 110th St., where their truck is parked. There was practically a riot when they decided to ask regulars to pay the full $12 for a dozen tamales--so, skinny, corn husk tamales it shall remain. There's no market here for the real cooking this family can do. 

On a recent visit, Elena's daughter Teresa informed me that they were out of tamales, but I wasn't about to have a carne asada burrito--no mames! I went with the tacos and I'm still kicking myself for not having known about the best lip, tongue, and cheek tacos in LA.

     

Tacos y Mulitas Estilo Tijuana: Tijuana Style Carne Asada Arrives at the Mercado Olympic

At the beginning of the year I revealed the presence of a truly fascinating street food scene located in Downtown LA's produce district. The Mercado Olympic has continued to grow and change ever since as new vendors have joined the party.

This market is so busy I doubt I'll know all that's going on there anytime soon, but each time I try something different--this weekend I even picked a homemade queso fresco.

The stand that caught my eye on a previous visit: Taco y Mulitas estilo Tijuana, or Tijuana style, came too late in the curbside buffet for me to give it a try. I've previously written that real carne asada doesn't exist in LA, and that Mexicali Taco and Co. was the closest thing we had. The boys at Mexicali Taco and Co. roast their meat with gas, which is much better than the grammatically incorrect carne asada tacos around town cooked on flat tops. The verb asar means to roast, and you can't roast on a flat top.

Yes, I know, you've seen itinerant vendors around town cooking on mesquite. There are two basic components necessary here, first, the meat must be roasted on mesquite in order to be considered carne asada. The flavor that emerges from this process is crucial. Second, carne asada is the craft of northern taqueros, specifically: Sonora, Sinaloa, Chihuahua, Coahuila, and Baja California. Sonora is by far the greatest tradition, but I'd put Baja California in the top 3. In other words, unless the taqueros are from these states, they are weekend warriors from states that don't know how to prepare carne asada.



Our newcomer to the Mercado starts off with corn tortillas made to order--corn tortillas are the preferred choice of tijuanenses; in Mexicali as in Sonora, flour tortillas are the standard.



The meat is cooked on mesquite by a grill man who knows his business. The meat is of decent quality, but the seasoning and chopping are spot on. This is carne asada.



A young taquero has fresh onion and cilantro, the signature salsa roja (a tomato-based red salsa) of the Tijuana stands, and Tijuana style guacamole which is essentially pure avocado with some salt. He even wraps the taco into a conical shape like back home.



Of course I wish this was available in the evening, as is the tradition for carne asada--nighttime is when we crave burnt flesh. In Mexico, the grilled meat tacos come out after 6PM, but for now I will just have to live with this minor faux pas in order to enjoy what is now my favorite carne asada taco in LA.

Tacos y Mulitas Estilo Tijuana
Mercado Olympic
Olympic/Central
Sat-Sun, mornings until around 5pm

Mercado Olympic-L.A's Next Street Food Star

I've always shopped in the Produce District at the various Mexican produce markets, pinata and sweets shops, and Latino cooking supplies wholesalers along Olympic Bl. to the west of Central Ave. You can find quality chiles--a broad selection, too--Mexican spices, special cooking devices and utensils, and all the oddball candies and savory snacks.

When I first started going to the legendary Breed St. vendors on the weekends sometime back in 2007, I thought there might be another place like that, and the Mercado Olympic certainly had potential--a huge Latino customer base of shoppers hungry after dragging their families to and from the Fashion District before calling it a weekend. But the vendors and restaurants here were either bad, routine, or both: pupusas, hot dogs, tacos, and street corn.

That all changed a couple of years ago. It got much better--way better--and in the last 6 months it has erupted. It seems as though every week something new and substantial is joining the ranks of the mostly Mexico City, Puebla, and Michoacan style vendors.

These vendors are only around on the weekends, from the early morning 'til around 5PM. The hot items here are quesadillas, where a fresh made-to-order tortilla is formed from raw masa and cooked on a flat top. The tortillas are stuffed with a variety of stews, called guisados in Spanish. Most of these stands are people from Michoacan and Puebla, which means they have different stews and braises, and their tortillas and masa shapes are a bit different. The huaraches(masa boats shaped like sandals)are thinner and crispier at the Michoacan style stalls, and they have pots of delicious stews like chicharrones in salsa verde, steak ranchero, and ribs in chile pasilla, or a soupy tinga(spicy chicken).

The Pueblan stands have the stuff we're more familiar with: squash blossoms, huitlacoche, mushrooms, and the thicker style of tinga, but they also have tlacoyos(stuffed masa shaped like an oval). Tlacoyos are rare in Los Angeles, and the're usually filled with requeson(like ricotta), beans or another simple flavor, that is mixed in with the masa then toasted on the comal.

There are several solid carnitas vendors from Michoacan preparing this famed Mexican dish in a mode you would find on the streets and in the market stalls of Michoacan . Whole pork shanks, fresh made chicharrones, kidneys, liver, hog maw, pork skin, snout, ears, ribs, and shoulder are all available to go or for some quick tacos at the curb. Hidalgan lamb barbacoa, Mexico City style deep fried fish fillets, cemitas poblanas, tacos de canasta(basket tacos), toasted garbanzos with Valentino salsa, and there are a few Pueblan barbacoa trucks that park nearby as well. Shopping? Take home some chapulines(grasshoppers), quesillo(Oaxacan cheese), sweets from Puebla, or homemade chorizo.

What does this all mean? If you've ever walked the streets of Mexico City, you'll feel as though a stretch of Arcos de Belen has fallen on the City of Angels. LA now has a serious street food zone with a density and bill of fare only the likes of what you'd find in D.F., or in the State of Mexico. Very similar types of vendors set up here--except for the heavy presence of the michoacanos--but never-the-less it's a place to snack like a chilango(people from Mexico City)

Don Julio pinata. I want to beat hell out of that one just on principle.

Until now I've agonized over sharing this pristine spot, only sharing it with good friends, and encouraged them just to enjoy--no tweets or pictures. This is where I go to eat Mexican food these days--more of a vision of Mexico than the former Breed St. extravaganza--and like a few other Latino spheres around L.A. it's pura raza. The last thing I wanted to see was 50 blogs, Yelps, and Chowhound posts with marathon rundowns, and having the vendors ducking from intrusive shuttering of IPhones and cameras, or other disruptions. I'm hoping that those who truly want to savor this amazing food come for that reason, and that's why I now serve up this bounty and offer up a seat to a Mexican food lover's wonderland. Buen Provecho!


The South side of Olympic is a pathway covered by the familiar umbrellas of Mexican street food vendors, this is where most of the action resides. But don't neglect the other side of the street--there are some amazing eats there, too.


Yes, there are still elotes, or esquites to be had. But if it isn't Mexican field corn, I'm out.


Screw Jamba Juice; go for some Mexican fresh squeezed Viagra casera(homemade). Ask for an orange juice with quail eggs, and a splash of Jerez. Hehe, uh...shhhh. For 2 quail eggs, Jerez and juice it's $4--take a drink of the juice first so there's room for the other ingredients.


Need some Rompope, tortas de santa clara(Pueblan sweets originating from a convent), a box of the famous camotes from Puebla's calle de los dulces(sweets street), candied fruits and vegetables, caramel, quesillo, or palanquetas(nut bars). There's a young, street smart entreprenuer that bring them in fresh from Puebla, as well as other food products--the quesillo is amazing. These days, much of the quesillo used in Oaxaca is made in Puebla.


And their chapulines are thick, juicy and only purchased seasonally. They make excellent bar snacks or a filling for small tacos with guacamole, or for sopes.


Tacos de canasta are not commonplace in Los Angeles, but there are a couple of stands here now on the weekends. Neither of them are as good as even the average stands in Mexico City, but for homemade versions, they aren't bad. This is a real serious taquero discipline, and is a lot harder to make these than it seems. The tacos are filled with basic fillings--mostly sauce--and carefully stacked in a basket or box like the one above, and covered with a towel after cooking. The tacos are steamed on the way to the stand and slump into soft, oily, wet snacks as the tortilla absorbs all those hearty flavors.

Potatoes, beans, and chicharrones are the only ones available, these sellers avoid the more challenging mole verde and adobo fillings you'd find as standard in D.F. This is just the difference between pros, and the way families make them at home.

Domestic picklings of vegetables and chiles are a required side for tacos de canasta.


They're small so get a set, and just pour the salsa on top, otherwise they might fall apart when you open them.


One of my favorite stops is to see Eddie. I call the muscle bound chilango Eddie because he always has an Iron Maiden shirt on, and dark shades. He's a real gentleman, but could easily take Danny Trejo's gig if there's ever an opening.

He does Mexico City style fried fish--thin, crispy strips of fish with a nice seasoning, topped with the D.F. classic: salsa valentina. Here's Jeannie Mai showing us how fashionable street food is now that these guys have showed up. Eddie has superb frying technique, and there might not be anything better on a Sunday afternoon than a basket of these things with a bit of hot sauce.
He promises soon to include seafood empanadas--he'd been waiting on a recipe but it turned out to be unfit for his stand. I had hit a sore spot when I brought them up since he had previously told me he'd have them. "I called home and told them this isn't right" "I need a correct recipe." "Give me another month and hopefully I'll have something", he shrugged.

He might even have some refreshing tepache(fermented pineapple rind juice) on hand. Just don't show up with a Poison t-shirt--Heavy Metal rules here.

I'm going to spare you any chia jokes here, but there's an agua fresca of chia seeds that's flush with the infamous gelling buds. This is the signature drink over at one of the carnitas vendors.


At first there were just a couple carnitas stands, both making some fine textured and porky, lard-fried pig.


But the cazos have come out and the carnitas game has gotten interesting even as of today, when I saw a couple of new vendors that I'd never seen before, and it was only a month since I've was last here.


A more offal intensive spot was offering dark,smooth pieces of kidney, liver and wrinkled buche(hog's maw); another tray held snouts, and skin; and a silent, grimacing man was working a cauldron of chicharrones. Crackling,popping, hot chicharrones to go are also a trend here at the Mercado Olympic.


Across the street a more peppy fellow from Sahuayo brought a real familiar tone to the afternoon. "Hey, where are you countrymen from?" he asked. "Here, have a piece of this chamorro(pork shank), come on you have to have some tortilla with it....and salsa."

"I also have chorizo michoacano, have a taste" Chuy and I took 2-inch long pieces of raw chorizo to taste. We could have made a meal with the samples. Man, such a well-seasoned chorizo, and so natural--we each picked up a pound.
The key to the carnitas is arriving early for best results, and get it to go, some of these vendors are out by 6AM stirring pork in large metal pots of hot lard.


Lamb barbacoa roasted in a pit, Hidalgo style, is available and is very good.


But the spicy pancita(offal stuffed stomach) is even better, packed with dried chile tang. This stand is on the southwest side of the E. Olympic as it fractures, losing itself into E. 9th St.


Heading back towards Central Ave. into the jam of peddlers, food stands and markets you'll see a portly street stand boss manuevering around a table of soup pots full of tasty stews. His family also serves up quesadillas brimming with colorful brews full of pork ribs, cactus, and dark, stained sauces that form appetizing shades of oils and chile on the surface.
The cactus salad and pot beans are on the house--this is Mexico.



On a more quiet and sane corner-- the northeast rim of Olympic and Kohler--you'll delight in the novel tlacoyos and traditional quesadillas of Pueblan origin. Try a tlacoyo of epazote-laced requeson(Mexican ricotta)that yields a creamy, mild, salty cheese pungently seasoned by Mexican herb.
The quesadillas of squash blossom, huitlacoche and cesina(salted beef) are outstanding, but the moronga(blood sausage) is gourmet street food, a memorable dish that sets this stand apart. It's well-herbed, supple, and tastes of purgatory: neither foul, nor purified of its bloody soul.


In Toluca, Mexico, chorizo is their pride, their craft. "Oaxacans and Pueblans have mole; Jalisco its birria; Hidalgo its barbacoa--we have chorizo", says the spectacled Toluqueno with a perpetual smile. All day long he makes the best chicharrones on the strip; large sheets of trimmed pork skin, or fatty gnarled chunks with meat attached.

This chorizo is a gift to us weary of the industrial brands at the Super; the rotting, discolored imports also of industrial origin, and the mediocre store made sausages at places like Vallarta. It's one of the only places I shop for chorizos--along with the stand on the other side of the street from Sahuayo--made from 100% meat, and includes almonds in the mixture. The longaniza is spiced differently and is made in a continuous tube of sausage, not tied into links. Tolucan chorizo is perfect for grilling and making tacos, the longaniza, too. They're all made with natural casings, and get their reddish color from dried chiles instead of the paprika found in Spanish chorizos.

I asked about their famous chorizo verde, a Tolucan creation that has earned Mexico's charcutiers international recognition. This is an original Mexican sausage of Toluca, and a symbol of Mexican gastronomy. Its color comes from the bleeding of green chiles, and vegetables. He made it for me a couple of times, and occasionally has it available. I'm picking up a pound next week matter-of-fact. Tacos de chorizo verde? Forget about it.


Toasted gabanzos are as Mexican as tacos, and ceviche. You see it more in Michoacan and Jalisco, but here it is in the heart of Downtown LA. As many things street food, it's given some hot sauce, and a little lime. All that's missing here is a pulqueria!


Oh! It comes from magueyes grown in Victorville, mind you, and is pasteurized, and isn't the same as you'll find in D.F.--closer in flavor and texture to the type offered on the highways of tequila country, in Jalisco, but give it a try. Or drink of the aguamiel, the sweet nectar of the maguey plant.
This is the place to pick up a molcajete to make your own table-side guacamole without going to Rosa Mexicano, or to give some cascabel chiles a try. Its a one stop shop for large bags of duritos(puffed wheat snacks), molinillos(mole stirrers), and to get set up with your own backyard al pastor rig--and you don't even need a Costco membership to buy a palette of toilet paper. Load up the car and stroll the stands along Olympic Bl.; pick up a queso fresco wheel, a cup of chapulines; and experience a food crawl, Mexico City style at the Mercado Olympic: a Mexican street food consulate in Downtown Los Angeles.

Saturday and Sundays
early morning to 5pm
Olympic Bl. just west of Central Ave.
Los Angeles, CA