Tito's Tacos



Oh Tito. How you inspire devotion among some, and dissension among other crispy taco fans everywhere. I should love you, right? All the elements are there... and yet... something is just not right at Tito's. But we do have a long and fond history as I have often lived within  2 miles of your 'since 1959' popular taco establishment.

Taco Memory #1. When I was a young lass, fresh out of UCLA and living in Venice by the Boardwalk, my ex-husband and I used to have weekly games of  'Oh Shit'. An amazing card game requiring 4 players, 1 deck of cards and about 4 hours to play it right.

I believe it was Marc C. who lived down South who would always use our Venice location as an excuse to hit up Tito's on the way to our house. He would show up with that little grease-stained cardboard box filled with neat little rows of crispy madness...

Usually he arrived with about 12 tacos... easily eating 5 himself, but alas, as my hubby and I were non red meat eaters at the time, we never partook. Even Marc used to joke that it was really called Tito's Kitty Tacos because who knew what the hell was in there.

Fast foward 14 years. I am now divorced and working for a Cuban family. The mom, darling Olga Barrios age 75, has a thing for Tito's. I think she tries to keep it a secret because Cubans don't like to admit they like Mexican food.

Whenever she came to visit from Florida, it was my job to go wait in line and score her some Tito's. It was cute how much she loved them. She died a few years ago, but I have no doubt she is chowing down on Tito's in heaven along with some plantains, white rice and black beans.

So how many times have I actually been to or eaten at Tito's? Maybe 5 times I want to say.... MAYBE 6. I really do hate waiting in line. That totally KILLS it for me, but whatever, grow up Taco Maven.

I do get nervous about the meat. It has a weird shreddy quality... definitely not ground... The cheese is cool but they give you WAY too much and it's very coarse and a little rubbery. Lettuce fine. Shell tastes like they bake once a day... actually not greasy enough if that makes any sense. The salsa is too ketchup-like.

Kind of thinking the bean/cheese burrito might be something to get there....

I have no real beef with Tito's. I just don't dig it enough to stand in line and sing its praises, but I always appreciate taco celebrity. Check out their website where they actually have a song about their tacos! WTF?????  http://www.titostacos.com/