Comida, Denver Colorado

This summer I escaped the humid, hurricane weather of Baja and fled to the mountains of Utah and Colorado. Very beautiful places. 

I really have nothing exciting to say about the Tacos of Utah. I was in both Park City and Salt Lake City. I tried what was available. The most famous eatery in Salt Lake City is The Red Iguana. While there is a lot of authenticity and tourist excitement about that place - the moles are very good - the taco scene is just plain old FLAT.

My friend Justin recently almost got in a fight (very unlike him) with another musician who was claiming with great misguided authority that Salt Lake City beat the pants off Los Angeles for tacos. WHAT? EXCUSE ME????? Um....... NO. NON. NIET. NO WAY JOSE. 

Simple Egg Quesadilla. Tasty and made for spice WIMPS.

Denver is another happier story entirely. 6 years ago I had some very fine tacos and margaritas at a place in Denver: Pretty sure it was www.loladenver.com. I didn't have my blog back then. Also I think I drank too much. It was sooooooo good.

This time, my highly considerate friend... A friend who hates cilantro and can't handle any spice... ANY SPICE as in Tabasco fries her pants off.... Selflessly took me to a fantastic lunch at COMIDA.

I was so impressed by every aspect. The location: Hipster RINO. The neighbors: Located in the same modern warehouse as Acorn, Mondo Market and other fabulous specialty shops. The whole building is called THE SOURCE. The food: Innovative, fresh, authentic.

The food was very, very tasty. The service was fantastic starring the Friendly Manager and the polite, sympathetic, efficient Waiter. Honestly he was a saint with the cilantro/no spice issue because let's face it, if you can't eat cilantro and you don't like chile then don't eat Mexican food.

One of the tacos, featuring Pork Belly didn't mention in the description that it was going to be HELLA HOT. We all talked about it afterwards and figured out someone must have forgotten to wipe out the Jalapeno pan or maybe thought he was making the bacon/jalapeno taco or something. It was even hot for me but damn it was so good I just kept eating it until I had to call the Fire Department.

We had a nice selection of other tacos, some of them modified (no spice, no cilantro) but still they were great. The cocktails were fantastic. I was super nosey and enjoyed checking out everyone else's food. It was mostly a business lunch crowd, but people seemed to be having a really good time.

One tiny suggestion... they could use more comfortable chairs on their patio. It's all edgy and modern looking but really not comfortable, even for a small person such as myself.

Carnitas Mexi Mess - Deconstructed. YUM.

Mushroom Tostada. Rich and crunchy. Tastes like Meat!

The "Situation." My fav. Beer infused Sirloin.

STELLA'S! Carnitas. Vivien Leigh wishes.

Eating here and seeing all the cool, healthy, fit people enjoying the gourmet Mexican fare made me want to move to Denver.

Maybe I will.

:)

Rasta Taco Catering, Los Angeles

Having a party? Want some really good tacos cooked LIVE on your back porch? Call these guys. With Offices in Pasadena and Orange County Rasta Tacos is whipping up some very tasty mobile tacos indeed. 

All the meats I tried were fresh and tender and the tortillas nicely grilled and chewy but not tough or soggy and no breakage! My favorite was the Carnitas with Achiote and Pineapple. Yummmmeee.

Delicious Pastor-style Carnitas Tacos.

Roast Pork with Cotija Cheese and Marinated Onions

Chicken with Mango Salsa

I'm having one of those large even-numbered birthdays in June and what better way to feed my taco-lovin' friends then um... tacos! Fresh ones. Made to order. I was lucky enough to taste 4 variations of chef Lou Tista's taco repertoire, but seemingly these guys can do any kind of taco your heart desires.

They also come equipped with rice and beans, taquitos, and if you like, the fabulous Rasta Rita Margarita Truck! The Booze Truck is a separate entity that can be paired up with the tacos for maximum enjoyment. ;)

Rasta Taco founder, Mario Melendez was lamenting the lack of taco caterers in 2006. He quickly put a simple website together one afternoon and a few hours later, within 5 minutes of going live, he had his first gig. It was all "more tacos please" from there and he plans to open a brick and mortar spot down in Laguna Beach shortly.

Classic Asada

Rasta Founder Mario "Maji" Melendez

It was a very pleasant experience to see the wonderful taco in a specialty catering context. Rasta Taco is providing a great service to party throwers in the Los Angeles and surrounding areas and I wish them continued success.

To book the Rasta Taco or Rasta Rita at your next event, contact Huntington Catering Co at 866 96 RASTA. Justin Prieto is the Taco Exec and he will be happy to hook you up.

Wes Avila, Guerilla Tacos and the current state of the TACO!

I have had my eye on this LA native taco genius since 2012 when he opened at Handsome Coffee Roasters. I was living nearby and tried at least 20 times to find him and eat his tacos. Alas...

At the same time I was packing up my LA life to leave for a vida nueva in Mexico. I kept missing the window.

Every time I came back to visit it was the same. He was first on my list but on the day he was in Culver City I was at the other end of the city. On the day he was downtown I was on the tarmac returning to Baja.

I read. I watched. People began raving and never stopped raving about his creative taco acumen and they were right. Yesterday, FINALLY, I partook.

I had to sneak him in between Westside Dr.'s appointments. My best pal since high school days and fellow food maestro picked me up on a street corner in Beverly Hills at 12:05pm. I had to be back at that same corner by 2pm.

A mere 11 miles, LA traffic was typically hellish and conspired against us. Google Maps conspired against us too and took us to the wrong address. Finally by 1:00pm we were sprinting out of the car to order. "We'll take it all!" Oh no, they were out of 2/3 of the daily tacos. "We'll take whatever you got!"

The wait was manageable. Maybe 20 minutes. Lots of amazing window shopping to be done at both Blacktop Coffee and the cute Alchemy Works store right in front of the Guerilla Truck parked at 826 E. 3rd Street. There is also a fresh cold-pressed juice vendor.

Both Thurs and Fri at that location from 9-2 you can find him there. I had no idea he opened so early. Of course by 1pm he was out. Be informed! I WANT MORE GUERILLA TACOS.

So how were the tacos? Well.... I only had the Sweet Potato Feta taco, which this ARTICLE tells me he created as a breakfast taco. It was effin' great. I also had the Quesadilla which was a cheese-filled flour tortilla topped with some kind of air-dried beef, broccolini and Oaxacan cheese. I folded it like a taco or like a piece of NY Pizza (which it miraculously resembled) and inhaled that sucker.

We had the Scallop Ceviche Tostada which was fresh and tasty. Sauced with a nice Jalapeno emulsion, the scallops were like butter. The crispy tortilla tasted like the bagged Ceviche stand variety. Traditional but I would have preferred a crispy lettuce cup or some crazy shite like that.

I saw this whole Fried Mackerel going by. I obnoxiously asked to take a foto. Really I felt like a true tourist. The schwanky new method of taking my moolah ($30 for 4 items and 2 Pellegrinos) was an iPad device. The man in charge was firm but friendly. I do think I have been away too long.

When I started blogging about tacos in 2010 the scene was very different. The cheap taco was KING. I have always been a fan of the gourmet fusion upscale taco. I honestly believe that the taco is a superb format for any kind of food experimentation and judging by the popularity of this superlative gourmet taco truck, it looks like I'm right. Be sure to check in with Wes regularly as each day his menu is brilliantly varied. Today: Oxtail and Foie Gras tacos. Tomorrow?

On a side note, kudos to Bill Esparza. He has flown to new foodie journalism heights on the wings of his passion for Latin food and the absolute expertise of his knowledge of our city streets. I am loving his TACOPEDIA and his recent article for LA Magazine on the state of Latin Food in the U.S. of A.

Just for good measure and because they are THAT good, we stopped at Mariscos Jalisco #2 on E. 10th St, near Towne (a bit closer to Downtown) for a $2 crispy piece of shrimpy perfection on the way back. We arrived in Beverly Hills at 2:09. Andale Taco Express!

God Bless the Americas. And God bless the Taco.

PS I just saw surfing around after I posted this that Guerilla Tacos won the Taco Madness competition for 2015! Congratulations! Mariscos Jalisco came in 2nd. Do I have my finger on the pulse or WHAT? Ja Ja.

Las Mariscadas, A Great Fish Taco in Cabo San Lucas B.C.S.

Hello Taco Fans,

It's been quite a while since I've been inspired enough to do a blog post - busy living the small cafe owner life in Mexico - mostly eating my favorite local tacos over and over and not traveling as much as I would like.

BUT... a few weeks ago I had a couple of tacos that stopped me in my tracks so here I am on a rainy Sunday morning to tell you all about them.

One of my favorite Baja friends, the co-owner of Hierbabuena Hortiliza, a fabulous garden to plate restaurant in Pescadero, B.C.S., claims this as her most favorite casual seafood place in all of Cabo. (There's lots 'o seafood in Cabo.)

It happens to be right near one of my regular restaurant supply stops, Pro-San, so on a lucky Saturday we stopped for lunch.

Sushi Chef on Hand

Fresh Tuna Sashimi Tostada

I was immediately impressed by the service, the cute 'under the sea' decor and the variety on the menu. I ordered a few tacos, the house salsa and chips were great, they have WIFI just for fun and so you can post your food fotos right away.

The most surprising and wonderful item on the menu was the tortillas. They claim they are pure corn with less water than the usual tortilla and also pressed a tad harder so they are thinner. They make them in secret in a back room. They were so perfect and amazing... thin, a bit chewy, nutty but they did not sog-out OR break. How did they not break???? They were so damn thin... very yellow as well vs. the normal whitish corn tortillas that are common down here. They also had a nice toasted quality without all the grill marks.

I loved the Octopus taco and I had a grilled shrimp and a battered fish taco plus the Tostada marvel pictured above. I also ordered a side of rice, in honor of my old Taco Talk partner and it too was tasty. My friend had her go-to Shrimp Fajitas pictured below. DELICIOUS.

During our meal someone delivered these huge bags that I thought were the secret corn flour but instead they were giant bags filled with smaller wrapped pouches of pre-made corn tortillas. These they use for the chips. The chips are nice and thick and fresh, as they should be ALWAYS but often ARE NOT at other places.

The owner is always around and is a very elegant man. Kudos y saludos a Las Mariscadas, which translates to "Seafood Meals." I don't think you can make a wrong turn on this well-varied menu but of course I recommend the tacos!

Located on Cabo San Lucas which is a one-way street headed down toward the Marina - just around the corner from Pro-San about 3 blocks up from the Marina area. Hours are currently 1pm to 10pm.

Here is their Trip Advisor Page. Very few people use Yelp down here and most just have Facebook pages and not websites.

Viva el Taco!
Hasta Pronto.