I have to give a shout out to Tire Shop Taqueria.
The carne asada and cabeza tacos are great, but the vampiro is awesome. Like a single nacho that stole all of Barry Bond’s HGH stash and then worked out nonstop for about 3 months.
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Praise the lard.
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Tire Shop is easily one of the best. I do like Los Poblanos/Salon Shop a little more, more intense smoke and free beans.
Tacos Quetzalcoatl is kinda underrated, King Mad Max is one of the best taqueros in LA. They deserve to be up there with Tire Shop, Mariscos Jalisco, El Momo, Guerilla, Guisados, Leos, and Ricky’s.
I had anayas and didn’t like it. What to try there?
You would think so. But I think there’s a lot of pressure in LA to be low fat and vegetarian friendly. Places either advertise themselves as such or follow a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy when it comes to lard.
I love the chilaquiles, taquitos, and breakfast burritos.
With what meat? thanks
Haha was not expecting a Bonds reference but that is perfect. And so it that vampiro.
Depends. I like the chilaquiles veggie with just eggs and a side of refried beans, chorizo on the breakfast burritos, and beef or potato for the taquitos.
I’m sure it’s several key factors, but the quality of the lard can vary. The good stuff is rendered in a way that produces browning and a richer flavor. The commodity stuff is a solid white flavorless block of fat.
It takes a lot more work and costs more to render flavorful lard.
That seems to be an important factor in the finished beans.
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my understanding is that the type of fat rendered back/belly/leaf makes a difference, with leaf (kidney) lard producing the most desirable quality of lard if you are making pastry, etc. then it’s about how much you let things fry in the rendering process which contributes to the “meatiness” inherent in the taste. maybe meatier tasting lard is better for beans, etc.
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I love their tongue burrito!! thanks for the reminder to go back!
My favorite Rice+Beans is still at Tacos Baja. Especially with one of their Chile Guerros mashed in.
–Dommy!
The rice and beans at Tacos Baja are nothing like the ones at BS Taqueria.
These are the rice and beans of the twisted daydreams of Salvadore Dali.
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Best beans I ever had was from a MacArthur Park street vendor. Smooth black beans on a roll. I gotta find her again. One of the best things I eaten. It was $2 or $1.50 can’t remember
Hmm I might do MacArthur Park Street Food Bang Bang
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Some of the best Mexican food you will never have (Smorgasburg Distracted) is on Olympic/Toy District on the weekends. Don’t be a fool and pull out your iPhones. Speak some Spanish and be nice.
The best Mexican I’ll never have are in the neighborhoods of Boyle Heights, East LA, Lincoln Heights, El Sereno, Cypress Park, Highland Park, and South Central on sidewalks, backyards, front yards, word of mouth operations. It makes me sad I’ll most likely never have the food.
Other than breakfast plates and a handful of mole places I see no reason in LA to visit brick and mortar Mexican restaurants.
Can you explain to me what’s going on with the guacamole salsa thing at Los Poblanos. I went the other night and it was unbelievably watery, like here have some avocado water on your taco watery. Is that standard? I went to tire shop two nights after and found the identical salsa to be much less watery.
The vampiro at Los Poblanos though is simply transcendent.
Never had a watery guac at Los Poblanos, but it’s not exactly thick.
Good choice with the vampiro. Next time ask if they will mix in some chorizo with your asada.
Although it is only available on Sunday, the chorreadas at La Carretta are astounding in the vampiro game. Essentially vampiros slicked with pork lard before topped with cheese on the grill. I tried a vampiro at La Carretta to compare, and still good, but the funk of the lard really pushes them over the top. It’s hard to go back to regular vampiros.
I wish La Carretta had a spicier salsa but other than that their chorreadas are one of the best things in LA. So juicy and smokey, cheesey, funky… On perfectly crisped tortillas… Mmmm
Chorreadas
The Quesadillas are also awesome at La Carretta. Some might balk at the use of flour tortillas but they go with the more mild Mazatlan style asada remarkably well and are strangely good.
The meat may be a bit more aggressively spiced and smoker at Tire Shop but the more fragrant spicing and juiciness of the Mazatlan Asada at La Carretta wins me over, especially with the lard on the chorreadas. So incredible.
I will say that Tire Shop does better tacos IMO though. I had a taco at La Carretta and the tortillas are just ok without the crisp from the grill and lard. Plus the salsa and guac lend themselves to the tacos at Tire Shop and the tortillas are amazing in fresh soft form.
Still, I am stunned that La Carretta doesn’t get more love than it does.
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Nice report. Actually in my Taco thread, La Carreta is my favorite Carne Asada Taco out of all the places visited. 
Their Chorreadas are available Saturday or Sunday (at least they were when we last went a few months ago).