Los Originales Tacos Arabes De Puebla? Sonoratown?
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Those four spots are all solid. Just don’t order chicken tacos at each one and tell us how bad they are.
In all seriousness though, get to Barbacoa Estilo Taxco Gro very early if you know barbacoa and want certain cuts. I might add Tacos Los Güichos on Slauson (for al pastor) and Tire Shop Taqueria (for asada and chorizo) to your late night rounds.
Birria pa la Cruda is delicious but doesn’t really have a firm schedule so depending on yours, their popups might not fit in. You could go to one of a few popular “red” taco spots or try Tacos Al Vapor La Morena, which makes tacos al vapor (great ones!) and really good tacos dorados de birria. Pepe’s Tacos Estilo Leon Gto makes wonderful tacos de guisado. The Cemitas Tepeaca #2 truck in East LA makes my favorite tacos árabes.
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Welcome, @burritoking ! Glad to see that you recognize that while you are burrito royalty, LA is the land of tacos.
Definitely, definitely, most definitely Holbox.
Villa Moreliana at Grand Central Market: For carnitas and chicharron. Get there when they open for full selection of parts.
Tire Shop Taqueria: Best carne asada al carbon in the city
Mariscos Jalisco: Not a personal favorite, but almost universally loved.
Al & Beas: For a chile relleno burrito
Cielito Lindo: For taquitos. A Los Angeles institution since 1934
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in addition to what’s been mentioned, if villa moreliana appeals to you, carnitas el momo specializes in a mix of chicarron, pork belly & pork shoulder that is affectionately referred to as the ‘aporkalypse’ AND their salsas are top notch. you’ll have to check out their instagram feed to determine when and where they’re serving. for non conventional, north african based revolutionario near USC might be to your liking.
and even though they’re technically burritos, burritos la palma’s offerings are lumpia sized and their fillings are also top notch.
if you want to try a number of places fairly close together that offer a fair level of quality as well as diversity, you might try york blvd in highland park.
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what is the relative scoring of Pepe’s guisados vs. Guisados?
what is the relative scoring of Cemitas Tepeaca #2 vs. Los Originales Tacos Arabes De Puebla?
How much better is the asada at Tire Shop compared to e.g. the asada at El Ruso or Chikali? The one time I went to Tire Shop, I didn’t find the asada to be order-of-magnitude better and somehow I found the tortillas to be detracting, but maybe I wasn’t in a right taco state of mind? the line is also a major time investment…
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Two more recs:
Hit up Chef Jonathan Perez’s ongoing Macheen pop-up at Milpa Grill (Boyle Heights): Definite try the taco with pollo y mole blanco…
Also, the char siu al pastor taco is pretty great at Mexicali Taco & Co. (San Gabriel)…
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Tire Shop and El Ruso are fairly different, as far as these things go. Both great, but Tire Shop is Tijuana style, on corn tortillas with guacamole. El Ruso is Sonoran, and the draw is the handmade flour tortillas. If you go on the weekends, the Ahuja, which is short rib, is quite good.
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In terms of line they have a day time spot that is at a different location near downtown or if you’re going to the tire shop spot go early.
Daytime locAtion (not as good as night time)
Located just outside the parking lot of the Smart & Final (1216 Compton Ave)
Also I know tortas isn’t on the list but, Super tortas df is my fav of the city and just down the street from tire shop. And visit don eve next door they do only cabeza and labio and they are amazing.
Leo’s is still my fave for al pastor but after getting multiple trucks I feel the quality has taken a little bit of a hit. The OG original truck on la brea and Venice was amazing back in the day.
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I’ve only had cemitas at Cemitas Tepeaca #2 and tacos at Los Originales De Puebla so take this with a grain of salt but I would say:
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Los Originales De Puebla for tacos (the tacos arabe tortilla was homemade the one time I tried it and I don’t believe that’s the case with Cemitas Tepeaca#2)
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Cemitas Tepeaca on Ford St. at the 710 exit for cemitas. It’s debatable who makes the best cemita in LA (and I haven’t tried them anywhere else) but I’ve found even within some recommended spots the consistency can vary widely. This location has been pretty consistent after more than a few orders and the parking and wait are much better than other places including Cemitas Tepeaca#2. If you’re willing you can try calling in your order at (323)-413-3390
On the other hand, if you try the tacos at Cinco Puntos (HIGHLY recommended) you can also walk over to Cemitas Tepeaca #2 which might make it more worth it. If you go this route you could place your order at the truck and then stand in line at Cinco Puntos, which moves pretty fast.
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Carnitas El Veneno - 8250 S Main St, Los Angeles - Sat/Sun only for carnitas. The chicharron is amazing. My favorite carnitas in the city right now.
Chichen Itza/Holbox - 3655 S Grand Ave, Los Angeles - chicharron tacos at Chichen Itzá with a side of potato salad, then scallop taco at Holbox.
Amor Y Tacos - 13333 South St, Cerritos - short rib taquitos and mole tots
Bizarra Capital - 12706 Philadelphia St, Whittier - flank steak chimichangas (basically flautas) and while not tacos but there, the pulpo in mojo verde
Asadero Chikali - 410 S Atlantic Blvd, Los Angeles - carne asada vampiro “Chikali style” and bistec con papa and chorizo con papa tacos (flour tortilla category)
Tire Shop Taqueria - 4077 S Avalon Blvd, Los Angeles - carne asada and chorizo tacos and a mulita w/ carne asada and chorizo. One of the great attributes to Tire Shop is how flavorful and fragrant their masa is. Go later in the evening past 6PM so the get their gears going.
Tacos La Guera - Indian Hill Blvd and San Bernardino Ave, Pomona and 1602 N Soto St, Los Angeles - al pastor tacos only (usually set up after 5PM)
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Are there two tacos la guera?
Are you trying to build an actually feasible itinerary or just looking for the best in each category? Because if it’s the former, you could do a pretty killer day in South Central that hits a lot of highlights with Tire Shop, Holbox/Chichen Itza, LA Birria, Los Guichos, etc.
Or in Boyle Heights with La Unica, Jalisco, La Palma, Arabes de Puebla, El Viejon, Cinco Puntos.
But if it’s the latter, well, that’s a different question.
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good question - I guess I’m actually interested in two separate lists:
- list of best in each category
- list of the itinerary each of you might individually put together (which presumably balances both a mixture of ‘best in category’ with personal favorites and logistical considerations
very helpful comment - makes me realize that I implicitly always judge first on tortilla
is there a consensus on whether Tire Shop is also consistently better than the other TJ-style competitors?
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At its initial inception, Tacos 1986 (Koreatown), with owner Joy at the trompo, served sublime TJ-style tacos. But these days, I’m not as certain.
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I believe so. I’ve been to both and they are identical in taste and flavor. They use the same salsa and tortillas. They have the same green shirts as well and same drinks.
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Utility tacos better than their competitors in whatever area they setup in but not drive worthy anymore IMO.
I mean just look at the areas they setup shop - is anyone going to find a better taco at noon in Burbank or Pasadena? Probably not.
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I love Tire Shop because of the distinct aroma that grilling over mesquite charcoal imparts in the beef. And because of how busy they are, they do a better job of getting the beef to guests right-off-the-grill than other places. I haven’t had better carne asada anywhere in SoCal, TJ-style or otherwise.
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They have more locations listed on their IG page bio and in their saved story highlights . For the Pomona location, I thought I saw them on Garey recently, and they did post about being on Garey/Grand back in April. I’ll try to check out that area soon and update here. @hungryhungryhippos
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