Every weekend morning in Los Angeles, a slew of Michoacan carnitas stands open across the city. This morning, myself and a friend, K, headed out to try three of them, using LA Taco's "Best Carnitas Taco" list as our starting point. There were at least two backyard stands on there and both K and I were intrigued by checking those out and there happened to be a third location in between the two backyard ones.
At each stand, we ordered one taco each for ourselves, both mixtas-style in order to get a blend of carnitas cuts.
First stop: Casa Del Tarasco. It's a backyard stand off 56th, east of Avalon. Spoiler alert but this turned out to be our favorite of the three. For starters, I just liked the atmosphere: it's a cozy, covered, well-organized stand that feels homey. The employees there were super friendly and helpful to boot. Each table comes with its own containers for pico de gallo, pickled onions, and limes, plus two salsas: a spicy verde and a smoky roja.
Tarasco served our favorite taco of the three places, offering a generous serving of carnitas on handmade tortillas for $4/each. What's notable is that this place had the best cuero of the three and you get enough of it to ensure that there's a nice, gelatinous bit in every bite. I find it makes a notable difference in the texture and it helps keep things juicy too. My only nitpick is that the carnitas here was the least seasoned of the three and yet, it had the most satisfying flavors and textures despite that. I'd give it a solid 8.5/10. It's not quite at the same level, IMO, as Los Gabrieles or El Momo but the ambiance makes up some of that difference.
I should add: they not only sell the long pieces of chicharrones you see at other places but they have a separate section for boronas o chales: the salty, crunchy bits from the cazo bottom. Dangerously delicious and crispy. These were especially good to add small to our tacos for some crunch.
Next, we drove further south to Watts and went to the truck, Carnitas El Barrio, off Compton Ave., in front of the Alma Woods library. There's limited seating on the sidewalk.
They serve slightly smaller tacos on store-bought tortillas, $3/each. The carnitas mixtas was well-seasoned but I would have liked more cuero for texture. Overall flavor was fine but we found it rather one-dimensional. It just wasn't that memorable when compared to other carnitas stands in L.A. 7/10
Last, just a little further south, was Carnitas Los Zarko's, an even larger backyard stand with its own dirt parking lot. They're off E. 120th, near Mona, in Willowbrook. They have a big tent with seating for dozens.
Handmade tortillas, generous portions, $4 each. The mixtas had good balance and seasoning though, once again, I would have liked more cuero in the mix but I guess I should just make sure to request it in the future. This was solid but still on a lower tier than my favorites in the city. 8/10
Altogether, this was a fun excursion, would absolutely do it again with some new spots to try. Just remember that many street and backyard stands are only open on the weekend (Carnitas El Barrio, being a truck, is open most of the week however).
by soulsides
Dining and Cooking