Update 15:
After the Pizza Journey we just had, we were ready for a full year of Salads! But some of our friends insisted we grab some Fish Tacos, and wanting to give one of our old favorites another chance, we relented.
Ricky’s Fish Tacos (Revisit)
We hadn’t been back to Ricky’s ever since the horrendous experience we had with the fake Lobster Taco and pretty sub-par Fish Tacos as well. Owner Ricky Pina was not present today, having 2 assistants helping out and they seemed to be rather overwhelmed (really slow processing orders).
They didn’t have their “Lobster” Tacos today, but I don’t know if we could stomach the risk of getting ripped off again.
Fish Taco:
Update, Ricky’s has now changed to using Catfish in their Fish Tacos. It’s a step up from Swai, and Tilapia that used to use, but I could definitely taste the trademark muddiness in my Fish Taco (as did one of my best friends). The other 2 Fish Tacos in our group wasn’t noticeable.
This Fish Taco is definitely smaller than it used to be (same as last visit): If you take away the gigantic mound of Cabbage and Pico de Gallo and look at the size of the Catfish sliver, it’s very clear how much smaller it is compared to Ricky’s glory days. It’s smaller than Holbox and Guerrilla Tacos, and the bigger slap in the face is that Holbox uses a Wild Caught Rock Fish (we’ve also had variations with other Wild Caught Fish before), and Guerrilla uses Wild Cod Fish.
The actual batter is still crunchy, but saltier and just not as delightful as it used to be. There’s very little here for $3.50 (+tax & tip).
Shrimp Taco:
Their Shrimp Taco feels a bit underhanded: Removing the gigantic mound of Cabbage and Pico de Gallo reveals only 2 Smashed Small-Medium Shrimp, and they are smashed length-wise, to conveniently reach both ends of the Tortilla. So it’s made to look like there’s Shrimp “all the way through the Taco” (and there is), but it’s 2 flattened Small-Medium Shrimp. Our friends who love Ricky’s Shrimp Taco more than we do (and order them more often) remembers that it used to be at least 3 Shrimp back in the day.
The Fried Shrimp, in the same batter as the Fish, tastes better, but the portion after you remove the mound of Cabbage that’s hiding the actual protein is very precious. For $3.75 (+tax & tip) it’s also poor QPR.
It feels very much like Ricky’s is resting on his laurels from years earlier, delivering worse product, smaller portions and the quality degradation, sub-par ingredients make Ricky’s Fish Tacos one of the biggest and most tragic downhill alerts in years.
Ricky’s Fish Tacos
3061 Riverside Dr.
Los Angeles, CA 90027
https://twitter.com/rickysfishtacos?lang=en
Tacos 1986 (New Storefront)
Originally opened up as a street stand and forced to move multiple times, Tacos 1986 finally found a permanent brick-and-mortar location in Downtown L.A. We were hoping that Owner Victor Delgado with his partner on the trompo, slicing and dicing, “El Joy”, would be able to find their footing.
Our previous 3 visits to their various locations yielded mediocre / mixed results. This new storefront has the same menu as their stand:
A nice selection of Housemade Salsas:
But when we walked in, neither El Joy, nor Delgado were in. We were worried, but held out hope they taught their staff well.
Then we glanced at the Trompo, where they serve their Adobada Tacos from:
The fire was off. It wasn’t spinning, and it looked sullen and abandoned, with no real Taquero manning it (just 3 helpers shuffling around preparing various orders).
We ordered each of their Tacos, hoping that this would make up for the sub-par outing at Ricky’s.
Carne Asada Taco:
As I’m attempting to chew through tons of gristle and a complete Salt bomb, I found myself pondering why I got suckered into ordering Tacos 1986’s overhyped, terrible Carne Asada Tacos yet again? This would make @TheCookie and any Taco lover cry. Stringy, gristly, oversalted Carne Asada. Avoid.
Adobada Taco:
One of the strengths of 1986 was their Adobada Taco, essentially a regional variation of Al Pastor Tacos. If you look closely at the picture (above), you can see how dried out, stringy, and lifeless it was (and it was lukewarm). They ruined their Adobada.
Mushroom Taco:
Their other highlight at the late night stand was their Hongos, or Mushroom Tacos. It may sound strange, but it was such a huge umami flavor bomb, so savory and crave-worthy that that was a true highlight for 1986. On this day?
Cold (seriously, they have a full, real commercial kitchen and they can’t keep the Mushrooms warm?!), chewy, slightly dried out, a shell of their former glory.
Chicken Taco:
Decent. Salty, but less salty than the Carne Asada, dry Chicken chunks… in a Taco. That’s pretty much what it tasted like.
We were so stunned by how bad this visit was to Tacos 1986, this felt like a huge bait-and-switch in the vein of so many famous Ramen restaurants that have plagued Southern California over the years (@PorkyBelly @Ns1 @Sgee @A5KOBE @beefnoguy and others).
But we decided to give them another shot:
2nd Visit (to the New Storefront):
Walking in, we noticed El Joy was manning the Trompo, but Owner Delgado wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Still half of the OG 1986 group was better than none. We held out hope.
Adobada Taco:
This time, with El Joy (real name Jorge Alvarez) manning the Trompo, the Adobada tasted much better! It was actually hot, the Pork tasted moist, and the flavor was mostly there. But it wasn’t as great as when they were up-and-coming at the street locations nor Smorgasburg early on. Still it was pretty tasty thankfully.
Mushroom Taco:
The Mushroom Taco was better as well, but not as dramatically improved: You could see that with a full kitchen El Joy was only preparing the Adobada off of the Trompo, not cooking the Mushrooms or other options. But perhaps his presence alone was able to inspire the rest of his staff to work more diligently in preparing the food?
Tacos 1986’s new, permanent brick-and-mortar location has allowed the staff to set down roots, and work in a more stable environment. There’s actually covered (indoor) tables, a smoother operation for taking orders, but the actual product seems to have suffered with this expansion. Their Carne Asada Taco is still as oversalted and mediocre as before, the Chicken Taco is salty and forgettable.
Their Adobada Taco was downright awful during our 1st visit when Taquero El Joy wasn’t in the house, dry, cold and terrible. But our 2nd visit when he was present made for a much better Adobada. But it wasn’t as good as their preparations at their OG stand and Smorgasburg. Their Hongos / Mushroom Tacos suffered the same fate of being cold, chewy, dried out during our 1st visit (when none of the management group was there), and OK, more flavorful and moist during our 2nd visit, but also not as great as before.
At this point, sort of like how FTC’ers in the know will keep on driving if you pass by Leo’s when the Trompo (Spit) isn’t out, if you stop by Tacos 1986 and don’t see Taquero El Joy, you might want to consider other options. And at $3.25 per Taco, while they are bigger than Leo’s Tacos (maybe twice the size), we’d rather eat the $1.25 Al Pastor Tacos at Leo’s instead, until they can increase their consistency at this new location.
Tacos 1986
609 S. Spring St.
Los Angeles, CA 90014
And at:
Smorgasburg (Every Sunday):
777 S. Alameda St.
Los Angeles, CA 90021
Sonoratown (Revisit)
At this point, having 2 mediocre Taco experiences back-to-back, we tried to salvage the day, thinking about any decent Taco stand nearby. Sonoratown came to mind, so we decided to head over. As we walked up to Sonoratown, there was a massive line of people (maybe about 20+ people snaking out the door)(!). Confused - it had some business, but was never popular / busy like this - we thought maybe it was due to some tour bus or special event. We tried waiting in line for about 10 - 12 minutes but it never moved at all. So we left.
But this led us to research online a bit to see what might be going on - it turns out that Sonoratown was featured in a Netflix show, and the owners posted on IG, apologizing for the long wait times, apparently their business doubled because of it(!).
The following weekend, we returned:
This time, we showed up right before they opened, and there was already 20 people in line(!). The Netflix influence was real.
Aguas Frescas - Guava + Tamarindo:
Tropical, sweet, balanced by the inherent tang that Guava has. Wonderful.
Sonoratown has always talked about its Handmade Flour Tortillas, made with special Flour imported in from Sonora, Mexico. We began with:
Tripa Taco (Crispy Intestine):
The Intestine is unfortunately on the chewy side. It’s also a bit too salty.
Costilla Taco (Grilled Steak):
And their claim-to-fame, the Steak Taco that Netflix’s show proclaimed as authentic and one of the best in L.A. Taking a bite…
There’s some char, a little bit of smokiness, but the Beef itself has no flavor. The predominant taste you get is just a mouthful of well-done, slightly chewy, barely there char-smokiness, and mainly a one note saltiness.
The Handmade Flour Tortillas are also blistered and dryish, nowhere near as good as Loqui or Burritos La Palma. (@JeetKuneBao avoid the hype and save your time and money.)
Chorizo Taco (Sonoran-Style Pork Sausage):
Their Chorizo is better, as they utilize Pork Sausage from local artisan maker Chori-Man. It’s flavorful, lightly spicy and zesty.
Shredded Chicken Chivichanga (Small Burrito, Flour Tortilla, Guisado of Monterey Jack, Mild Cheddar, Blistered Tomato, Smoky Anaheim Chile):
A specialty of Sonora according to the server, these are like Small Burritos, and as with our previous visits, their Shredded Chicken Chivichanga is a standout: Flavorful, stew-like concoction of Shredded Chicken, Melted Monterey Jack and Cheddar, with Tomatoes and Chilies. It’s tasty.
Sonoratown is another of the recent wave of heavily hyped places, selling Sonora-style Tacos and other variations from the state. The staff are friendly, they seem earnest, and it’s great that they import in their flour from Sonora, or they claim they get a special cut of Beef for their Steak Tacos (a cut that’s not normally available in the U.S., but the way it’s cut in Sonora), but all of that doesn’t matter if they’re chopping up their “special Steak cut” into tiny bits and cooking them to beyond well-done. The taste is of pretty average tasting Steak Tacos, supplemented by Handmade Flour Tortillas that are on the dry side. There are multiple places executing much better Carne Asada / Steak Tacos, and places with better Flour Tortillas, but we wanted to try them again to verify, so off we went…
Sonoratown
208 E. 8th St.
Los Angeles, CA 90014
Tel: (213) 628-3710
Angel’s Tijuana Tacos
A newer Taco spot that has started getting some mention and hype, it seems this is one of those Taco street stands that @Ns1 mentioned about, seemingly popping up overnight with multiple locations around the Valley. Angel’s looks the part, with multiple tents, huge plumes of charcoal smoke pouring out and massive lines.
They use Instagram and seem to push themselves smartly to generate crowds and attention. It was pretty crazy, on a Friday early evening there were 40+ people in line(!).
Carne Asada Taco:
This was so disappointing because it looked the part: Charcoal open grill, plumes of smoke. But it was chewy, full of gristle, salty, awful! This wasn’t as bad as Tacos 1986, but it was right up there. Avoid.
Pollo Taco (Chicken):
The Chicken had some mesquite charcoal flavor, but was dryish. It was passable, but nothing worth going out of your way for.
Cabeza Taco (Beef Head):
The Cabeza Taco was a stunner: Moist, juicy, ultra tender, there was a real bovine funk (in a good way). This was a noteworthy Cabeza Taco!
Al Pastor Taco:
Angel’s Tijuana Tacos had a huge Trompo (Spit) set out, there was a Pina (Pineapple) on top, it looked great…
Sadly this Al Pastor Taco was semi tough, dryish Pork. It was slightly chewy and a chore to eat. The flavor was decent, but lacked the boldness and brightness of Leo’s Tacos.
Angel’s Tijuana Tacos is a brilliant marketing strategy by someone with business savvy: They sprung up quickly, have multiple locations across the Valley, run an Instagram account, and seemingly check off all of the “boxes” for selling “authentic street tacos” that would capture the imagination of those that seem more interested in tagging a place that they’ve been to, rather than actually seeing if the food is actually good. They have Handmade Tortillas, with a couple of workers furiously pressing them out at the front of the stand for all to see (check); mesquite charcoal grill with plumes of smoke visible from both sides of the street (check); a Trompo with a huge orange-hued block of Al Pastor and a Pina on top (check).
But unfortunately they have great marketing, but no soul. The Carne Asada is poorly cooked, and full of gristle, and a salt bomb. The Chicken is overcooked and dry. The Al Pastor is all visual with no real depth, chewy and mediocre in taste; a shell of what makes Leo’s Tacos and other standouts in the city so great. But their Cabeza Taco is a surprise, and something we wouldn’t mind eating again if we were in the area.
(Cash Only)
Angel’s Tijuana Tacos
4211 Eagle Rock Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90065
El Ruso
Eater LA had mentioned this place as a stop for Handmade Flour Tortillas, so we decided to stop by to see how it compared.
Birria de Res (Beef Birria) Taco + Consome:
The Beef Birria Taco is fine. We’re more Birria de Chivo (Goat Birria) fans, but at least this was better than the overhype machine of Teddy’s Red Tacos. Still this wasn’t anything worth driving out for, a bit chewy, light spiced flavors, slightly too salty Consome.
Carne Asada Taco:
El Ruso’s Carne Asada was mesquite grilled Steak, lightly smoky (barely), a bit tough, and the Flour Tortillas while pliable and better than Sonoratown’s, were still pretty underwhelming compared to Loqui and Burritos La Palma.
Chorizo Taco:
Their Chorizo tasted like a store bought Chorizo blend. Mildly spicy, salty, one-note. The Frijoles were toothsome at least.
Tacos El Ruso is a nice idea - we can always use more places that do Handmade Flour Tortillas - but the execution and flavors are passable at best.
(Cash Only)
El Ruso
3631 Union Pacific Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90023
Loqui (Revisit)
Despite being close by, we haven’t been back to Loqui since the early days, as it’s unfortunately embedded in the hamster enclave known as Platform in Culver City. But we wanted to see how their Handmade Flour Tortillas held up in comparison to the more recent places being talked about.
To cater to the local clientele, Loqui has changed up their menu since the early days, with “Plates” being offered (and being by far the most popular items on the menu from what we saw), which essentially were like “bowls” of Protein, Rice, Beans, Guac, Cheese, Onions & Cilantro (and seemingly everyone eschewing the Handmade Tortillas to go Low Carb).
Mushroom Taco:
You can tell how impressive a Tortilla might be when the first thing you notice about a Taco is its Tortilla. Loqui’s Handmade Flour Tortilla has a softness to it, but it’s not just a one dimensional thing, there’s some heft, some toasty qualities, yet it’s still easily pliable and imparts a pleasing mouthfeel with each bite.
The Mushroom filling is delicious! Flavorful, more balanced, less punchy than Tacos 1986, and certainly better than the current brick-and-mortar disappointment, the nicely textured Frijoles (Beans), melty Cheese, beautiful umami flavored Mushrooms along with the incredible Flour Tortillas really make this the standout Taco to get at Loqui.
Perhaps the biggest tragedy to befall Loqui (and a big reason we stopped going), was their abandonment of their original Carne Asada (Steak) Tacos. They were replaced by:
Beef Tacos:
Which is a stewed, Shredded Beef concoction, not grilled, and the result is… underwhelming. It’s a bit stringy, underseasoned, and the beautiful Flour Tortillas and their great Beans can’t save this Taco from mediocrity.
Loqui at this point is worth a stop to experience great Handmade Flour Tortillas with their one standout: Mushroom Tacos. Maybe they’ll open a new spot that allows them to grill Carne Asada Steak again, and at that point they’d rise back up to be a standout place for both Carne Asada and Mushrooms.
Loqui
8830 Washington Blvd #104
Culver City, CA 90232
Tel: (310) 220-7260
(NOTE: Sorry, I hit the Max Character Count. To be continued in next post…)