A quick(ish) summary of the past week where I hit up five different taco stands (plus got paletas).
Stop One: Mariscos Jalisco, East L.A. You already know. And if you don’t, well, here you go. It was awesome, as per expectation. 10/10
Stop Two: Tijuanazo, East L.A. Ideally, we would have done the crawl in the evening, when all the TJ-style stands would be open but this was in the middle of the day and I figured, on the off chance that my friend wanted to make a third taco stop, Tijuanazo is just up the block from Don Pollon. We went to Tijuanazo for the adobada which is vaguely similar to the al pastor at their (literal) sibling restaurant, Taqueria Frontera, but having been to both recently, I think Tijuanazo’s adobada has a slightly different marinade, their salsa is nowhere near as spicy, and it’s not drenched in cilantro crema either. And yet, both hit really similar notes to me despite all that; go figure. 7.5/10
Stop Three: Michoacana. My friend begged out of a third taco stop so no Don Pollon this time but she was game for dessert so we hit up the Michoacana on Fremont by the 10 freeway. Look: I’m happy to have somewhere to get paletas this close to home but I feel like every Michocana I’ve ever been in (I’ve been to at least three now?) all give off a similar vibe to Toys R Us when it was on its final legs: everything is colorful and wants to say “come have a good time here” but the actual vibe is kind of sad? Especially this location, they took over a space so big, they share it with a taqueria and even then, it always feels way too empty. In contrast, the two Mateo’s outposts in midcity and K-Town are smaller and feel livelier. None of this has to do with the food though and hey, paletas = good. I got the abuelita (Mexican chocolate) but the other day, I also had their ferrero (hazelnut) that had been half-dipped in chocolate and that was really good too.
Stop Four: Tacos El Xolo Estilo Tijuana. Same day, just for dinner and rolling solo. I’ve been trying to come here for a while and finally made it happen. El Xolo is a small, evening-only sidewalk stand off Loreana, just north of Whitter Blvd in Boyle Heights. There’s no street parking on Loreana there but there is a car wash parking lot that you can use and there’s also a mini mall on the corner at Whittier Blvd. where it’s probably fine to park after hours.
For a Saturday night, I thought they ran a pretty tight operation with just three people, serving the standard array of what I’ve come to associate with TJ-style stands: tacos, burritos, vampiros, quesatacos, etc. Also like every TJ-style stand I’ve tried so far, corn tortillas are always made by hand.
Especially with their skeleton staff, El Xolo offers just four meats: carne asada, cabeza, al pastor, and chorizo. My first round was one taco of each of the first three fillings. Depending on the size of you order, you might also get an extra, crispy, grilled tortilla as a topper. Each taco was $2.50; super reasonable.
The cabeza was the highlight. It’s my new favorite taco meat: great flavor, soft and juicy, and at least in my experience, cabeza seems to offer more consistent quality compared to other meats (asada can be dry and bland, al pastor easily suffers from a mediocre marinade, chorizo can be hit and miss, etc.). The cabeza here comes with a choice between a more mild chile verde salsa or a spicier roja. I went with the verde which I thought complemented everything nicely; the danger with salsas that are too spicy is that it can overwhelm the palate. 8/10
The carne asada was decent but just having gone to Tacos Don Cuco in nearby East L.A., where I found the asada to be excellent, this was a tier below. 7/10
The al pastor…I should really stop ordering al pastor from any stand that doesn’t make it their main speciality. It was ok here, really nothing memorable about it at all. 6.5/10
On a whim, I decided to get one more taco so I ordered a quesataco with cabeza again but this was a mistake on my part. I should have gone with my usual — a vampiro — since that’s basically a queasataco with a crispier tortilla. In this case, everything was just soft — the tortilla, the melted cheeze, the tortilla — and the overall experience felt too redundant. No more quesatacos for me since at least vampiros gives you the cheese but with some nice crunch too. 5.5/10 (but that’s on me, not them)
Overall, glad I finally got to try this place but since it’s not any more convenient than going to Don Cuco, it wouldn’t be my first choice for TJ-style tacos in the area (though Don Cuco doesn’t do cabezaa). On my way home, about half a mile down Whittier, I saw Tacos Anahis, a fairly large street stand that I might check out next time.
Stop Five: Baja Cali Fish Tacos. Decent for a “generic, chain store fish taco served on weak tortillas, “ at least on Taco Tuesdays when these are $2/each. (Side question: I should see if there are any fish taco spots that make their tortillas by hand; I’m not used to seeing that anywhere but surely, someone does). I don’t think these are spectacular but I can’t say it doesn’t hit the spot.
by soulsides
Dining and Cooking