Thursday, May 24, 2012

taco truck throwdown

Last night we finally headed over to La Brea for a taco truck throwdown that we've been talking about for years. On countless nights, we've driven past Tacos Leo (La Brea and Venice) and El Chato (La Brea and Olympic) and seen dozens of people lining up for a late night meal.

We grabbed our friends Ashley and Aaron and headed over to do a sampling of the asada (steak), carnitas (shredded pork), and al pastor (both trucks cook it on a spit with pineapple).


We started off with Tacos Leo. Impressive. The al pastor comes with a thin slice of pineapple on top, but it's not overly sweet. The meats are all incredibly tender and the tortillas are oh-so-fresh. Like - hi, we were just made 30 seconds ago. That sort of fresh.

The tacos look fairly small (about 2 bites worth), but are generously packed with meat and sit at the amazing price of $1 a piece. They come undressed, but you're welcome to partake in a serve-yourself salsa bar of onions, cilantro, pico de gallo, spicy salsa, salsa verde, and an avocado cream sort of salsa.

The group was split on Tacos Leo. The girls loved the al pastor, but the boys sided with the carnitas.


Next, we headed over to El Chato. I was sad to see no carnitas on the menu, so we ordered up a full plate of asada and al pastor. Similar to Tacos Leo, the tacos were fairly small but filled with meat, $1 a piece, and came with fresh-to-death tortillas.

Unique for taco trucks, these tacos come fully dressed with a tiny bit of cilantro and onions and a generous helping of special sauce.

At first glance, the sauce sort of reminded me of the looks of the Kogi BBQ truck - a bit thick, bits of seeds, reddish/brownish coloring. This sauce is incredible - a twinge of spice, warmth, and savory tomatoes and peppers. I was proudly licking my fingers.

The sauce compliments the ever-so-tender meat and made for one of the best tacos I've ever had.

Hands down, the winner of the night was the El Chato al pastor taco. It's worth the drive.

1 comment:

  1. Wow. those look good! I'm intrigued by the pineapple, sounds good though.

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