Bill esparza tacolandia organizer and writer came out with a pretty extensive list of antojitos in LA.
Any one been to any of these places/would recommend them? They all look good lol.
The pamabazo at el Sazon de Mary looks ridiculously good.
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That’s great.
I read about Cielito Lindo in an Eve Babitz book and intend to try a taquito next time I’m in the neighborhood.
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I would say you are probably next to never going to go wrong with a Bill Esparza recommendation when he is writing about various Mexican regional foods.
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Damn that is a pretty extensive list! I agree all of it looks good and I will smash everything on that list.
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It kills me that there are so few vegetarian pambazos out there. It’s such a great dish and usually the only meat is a tiny bit of chorizo (which could easily be substituted or omitted) that gets mashed into the potatoes…
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Well… hate to break it to you, but Enchilada sauce that STICKS is often started with lard… And then thinned with broth.
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Yeah, I know. I tend to operate on a “don’t ask” policy, but I’ve been in enough kitchens to know the truth…
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Doesn’t pambazo bread itself traditionally contain lard?
Once again, I tend to assume that nearly everything that comes out of a traditional Mexican kitchen starts with lard… I’m just suggesting that a recipe that is 95% starches can easily be tweaked to be vegetarian and I’m surprised it hasn’t happened more often.
There are a couple of vegetarian pambazos out there… but they’re few and far between.
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@Moomin, if you’re ever in Escondido (San Diego) check out Phatties for delicious vegan Mexican food including pambazos.
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If you follow Bill on Instagram you should go to his stories. Having a little bit of an argument with the folks at Guisados. The owner of Guisados called out Bill about one of his lists and Bill is firing back. Not holding back any punches. A couple of posts before they disappear.
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I agree with bill guisados is not that good lol. And if he’s talking junk that’s fair game
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Thanks for the tip. I appreciate Esparza’s contributions over the years writing about Mexican and Mexican American cuisine.
But if you happen to be another Latino journalist writing the same niche, better watch your back. I know one that wouldn’t agree with these comments below:
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Only went to Guisados once and never went back. Not my cup of tea either.
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I had a couple of great tacos at Guisados DTLA, but that was maybe ten years ago. The tortillas were superior.
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not that it takes away from what Esparza does at all [which has been invaluable to me], but J Gold was writing about El Parian in 1990 and Guelaguetza in 1994…
maybe i just have a soft spot for guisados from memories of when they first opened, but i think their 1) chiles toreados, 2) chicharron, 3) cochinita w/spice>=7, 4) mole, 5) fish and also shrimp tacos are all pretty good (in order of my personal ranking), especially when considering they are pretty consistent across all locations and have pretty good hours everywhere. the sampler is probably not the way to go anymore, and the other guisados are more meh. and the chicharron i would say are pretty similar in quality to Asadero Chikali (although the flour tortillas from chikali give it the edge)
i was miffed at the most recent update to the list because i went from having covered over 30 to back under 30…
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Saw this, glad you posted. He’s been on a heater recently.
Kinda agree re: guisados. It’s fine but the tortillas are the problem. I get the sampler, smaller tortillas, so the filling to tortilla ratio isn’t crazy.
Don’t have a huge frame of reference to evaluate his claim but a guisados place like Tacos Hola El Guero in Mexico City is much closer to what he describes/references than Guisados.
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I think Guisados is fine. Quality and consistency have dipped, but as Esparza says they’ve done smart work expanding into less competitive markets - I appreciate the existence of reasonably good tacos in Burbank, for example. I have also had some mildly negative experiences with Armando De La Torre which would lead me to see how Esparza would feel extra slighted by his frankly innocuous comment.
I also respect Esparza’s hustle, he’s good at highlighting cool regional Mexican and Latin American cooking. That said, my lord does that man have a ridiculous ego about it.
He’s aggressively ignoring a lot of people, putting himself on this wild pedestal, and beyond that I just don’t think he’s a good writer. His prose is bland, and his articles tend to read like encyclopedia entries with an occasional cringey purple sentence - there’s room for it, and he provides a valuable service, but I think he would do well to slow his self aggrandizing roll.
(I look forward to his 18-story Instagram response thread about his long history of good sentences.)
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Yeah he’s def not an amazing writer, but he def finds the gems
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Did you see his commentary on Eva Longoria’s show and indigeneity and the Colombian exchange? It’s on his stories labeled True Taco.
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