Salazar: First Impressions of the Eastside's Stellar Summer Spot

Belly up to the covered bar if it ever rains...as if!

Many of us have been imagining a restaurant like Salazar practically forever. A place where kids are welcome, that takes advantages of L.A.'s temperate climate, where you can sip a good margarita while eating some equally good Mexican food. A place kind of like Birba in Palm Springs. We didn't imagine it would spring up in the shell of a former car repair shop hard by the freeway where Atwater peters out and Frogtown industrially begins, but that's L.A. for you, always full of surprises.

Plenty of heat lamps just in case. Love the old school chairs.

And Salazar, conceived by Billy Silverman and Mexicali Tacos' founder Esdras Ochoa, turned out practically identical to that vision many of us had...so many, in fact, that's it's been packed since day one, and the bike-parking area in front has become a de facto playground for waiting families.

So many people already biking to dinner

Who knows what it will be like when the heaters have to come out -- the restaurant is almost completely outdoors, except for a small bar area, but for now, the long, shaded tables are one of the best places in the city to enjoy a summer evening.

Checking out the tortilla-making station

The spot-on Sonoran-style wood-grilled meats and much-more-than-margaritas cocktail menu from Aaron Melendrez makes it the rare spot that's more than just a pleasant patio. The menu promises "full menu coming soon," so it will be interesting to see what gets added to the simple list of tacos, grilled meats and fishes, and a few sides. I would recommend heating the plates so the tacos stay warmer when cooled by evening breezes, and adding chips for the guacamole. The tostada-style crisps are nice, but people do like their chips.

This crazy cocktail has mescal, brown-butter washed corn whiskey, ancho chile, huitlacoche and Mexican fernet

Lots of pretty elixirs behind the bar

Esquites - charred corn with crema 

Terrific housemade tortillas complement the grilled meats

One Yelp commenter said that Salazar can't really be part of Frogtown because the prices are too high for the locals. It's certainly true that dinner here will set two people back $60 or more. But that's the price you pay these days to build out an entire restaurant, pay the large staff, get a liquor license  and generally offer full service. Of course the tacos are more than at Tacos Leos truck -- if it's too expensive, you can get the same style of tacos at Mexicali, but without the patio and cocktails.
But if you can afford it, Salazar was definitely worth the wait. And don't miss the ridiculously retro website.

Salazar 
2490 Fletcher Blvd.
Los Angeles

A Mexico City Food Trip: Tacos, Tlayucos, Mezcal and Eating Tips

Shark (cazon) tacos at La Morenita in Mercado Medellin

There's so much to see and taste in Mexico City that a few days is barely enough to scratch the surface. One thing I realized on my first visit there last week is that you can do sightseeing, walking and museums or you can track down the restaurant and taco stand treasures you may have researched beforehand, but it's pretty hard to do both.

So our eating was not planned particularly strategically, but fortunately, it seems hard to go wrong in DF (Distrito Federal, what the locals call their city, while the slang word for a local is Chilango). As I explained in my earlier post, Why You Totally Have the Wrong Impression About Mexico City, for our first visit we mostly stayed around the Condesa and Roma neighborhoods, which are safe, walkable and full of great tastes. Also, if you're wondering how safe it is, please read the earlier post. Here are a few highlights.

The markets and their food stalls: Mercado Medellin, Mercado Roma, Tianguis CondesaThese three were the perfect intro to Mexico City's broad selection of indoor and outdoor markets. Mercado Medellin is an indoor market that despite being in the trendy Roma neighborhood is not too gentrified -- think Grand Central Market before the new places arrived. It's a manageable size, with clean and welcoming stalls, many of which cater to the surrounding Cuban and Central and South American community. A long corridor on the side is lined with full-service restaurants serving extensive, very well-priced breakfasts and lunches. In the center of the market we tried a terrific fruit juice stand, Las Delicias, where my breakfast was a huge bowl of yogurt topped with granola and several kinds of freshly-cut fruit. The mixed juice drinks there are named for their health benefits like energy or digestion.
Breakfast #2 was right next door at the well-known seafood stand La Morenita, where we tried just-fried shrimp empanadas with mayo and crunchy shark (cazon) tacos.

Mercado Roma, clockwise: View of the bar and vertical garden from the restrooms; El Moro churros; inside the ritzy restroom; chocolates in flavors like mezcal or tamarind with grasshoppers at Que Bo

Just a few blocks away, Mercado Roma is the exact opposite: Think Grand Central Market with only the new merchants. It's brand-new, caters to whatever the Spanish word for yuppie foodie hipsters is, and despite being more expensive than regular markets and the kind of place you might spot a man-bun, it's still packed with delicious edibles like the best churros I've ever had at El Moro, fried up to order with a choice of sweetened condensed milk, chocolate sauce or cajeta (caramel) sauce. The Bendita paleta stand where we had a creamy mango chamoy popsicle is also worth a stop. It's open from about 11 am to 7 pm, except the restaurant and beer garden, which are open later, and is probably one of the few places in Mexico City to get banh mi, pastrami sandwiches, and a large selection of craft beers. Some of the stands, like Azul Antojo, are offshoots of well-known restaurants in Mexico City. The only one that seemed kind of ridiculous was the cold-pressed juice stall, selling bottled juice at nearly Silver Lake-level prices in a city where every street corner has a perfect fresh juice stand.
Fun fact: The trendier places in Mexico City go all-out with their bathroom design. Fun sinks are key, apparently.

Tianguis Condesa, clockwise: Making tlayucos and gorditas; pre-cut vegetable mixes; pink bananas; candied pumpkins

Even if you've toured the indoor markets (on my next trip, I'll make sure to make it to Mercado San Juan, apparently the favorite of chefs and gourmet home cooks), it's fun to check out one of the weekly farmer's markets. Fortunately we were there on a Tuesday for the Tianguis Condesa near Chapultepec park. First we toured the fruit and vegetable stands, admiring the pre-cut veggies waiting to be made into soup and the shiny fruits that looked like they had been scrubbed down, and trying samples of unusual fruits, such as several different types of sapotes, including mamey.

Tip #1: Samples are freely handed out everywhere you go in Mexico City, a very handy way to try a few extra flavors. Take advantage!

Market stands specialize in foods including flautas, tamales, carnitas, seafood, barbacoa and guisados. We tried the tlayucos, oval disks made from blue cornmeal, and gorditas, round disks pre-filled with cheese. After choosing which you prefer, you customize the base with toppings that include potatoes, huitlacoche, mushrooms, spinach and more. Though the tlayucos were more unusual, we found the gorditas had more flavor, probably due to the hidden bits of crunchy pork in the middle. Three gorditas and two cups of jamaica (hibiscus punch) cost about $5.

Contramar contrasts: minnow taco, coconut flan

The restaurants: Contramar, Broka, Xnic

Everyone from one of Mexico's biggest movie producers to an L.A. bookstore manager recommended we try hotspots like Pujol and MeroToro. They didn't fit in our schedule, though we did hit Contramar, the exceedingly civilized lunch-only seafood spot from the owner of MeroToro. It was one of the few places where the waiter spoke good English, so why did I still insist on ordering a minnow (or anchovy?) taco? I'm still not sure. I found it to be an interesting contrast between tiny crispy fishies, smooth avocado and fiery curtido, Matt was not a fan. Our other dishes were perfectly cooked and startingly fresh, but the highlight was the caramelized coconut flan tart for dessert. If you go to Contramar, you might want to step it up a notch since many of the businessmen are wearing suits. Also, make sure you get a Spanish-language menu if you want to see all the day's specials (La Guerrerense-style tostadas, anyone?).

ceviche-style nopales (cactus) at Broka

I found Broka when browsing Chilango.com, and it turned out to be a lovely hidden restaurant in an old house in the Roma neighborhood.  Soft jazz playing, tender, meaty grilled octopus and the momentary pleasant surprise when you enter the courtyard through the kitchen are just a few things that make Broka an excellent place to recuperate from the day's sightseeing. Their blackberry mescal cocktail doesn't hurt either. This would be a great place to catch up with friends on a quiet weeknight.

Tip #2: Broka was one of the few places nearby open on a Monday night, as many restaurants are closed both Sunday evenings and Monday all day. Make sure to call ahead or check a reliable source. Also, many of the interesting restaurants are lunch only, which lasts from about 1 pm to 5 pm. Try to plan a big, late lunch and a light dinner, though it's not always easy when sightseeing.

Xnic, on Tabasco at Insurgentes, specializes in cochinita pibil

We came upon Xnic after a tiring day climbing the pyramids of Teotihuacan, just as we were about to run out of steam. Just off the Avenida de los Insurgentes in Condesa, it's a tiny, brightly-painted storefront that specializes in the Yucatan marinated pork dish cochinita pibil. Starving, tired and thirsty from scaling ancient rocks in the warm sun, I devoured a set lunch ($5) of cucumber-lemon agua drink, tortilla soup, a cochinita taco and a panucho (rolled tortilla with cochinita filling). It looks like a great spot for a hearty breakfast, as well.

Tip #3: Even in the most upscale neighborhoods, there are still plenty of lunch stands and smaller restaurants to choose from. If you're trying to keep it cheap, even ritzy Polanco has street food, falafel windows and bakery samples.

candied fruits and vegetables are among specialties at Celaya

A Centro Historico Sweet Shop and Bar: Celaya and La Opera

After checking out the Diego Rivera  murals at the Palacio Nacional in the Zocalo square and a curious exhibit of horror statues called "Miedo" nearby, we walked down 5 de Mayo, a street which has some of the city's oldest shops and restaurants. Celaya, at number 39, is a more-than-100 year old candy shop with a beautiful art nouveau glass storefront and gold mirrored interior. Their tamarind candy was some of the best I've ever had and the cajeta fudge also looked wonderful.

If you need to rest your feet, stop in at no. 10 and have a cocktail or beer at La Opera bar, a baroque spot dating from 1876 covered in dark carved wood and flocked wallpaper. According to the website, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Octavio Paz were among the patrons who enjoyed drinking there.

Taqueros at Los Parados

Tacos, Tortas and Chilaquiles:

We fell down on the job when it came to trying all the famous taco places, I'm sorry to admit. The first night in the apartment we didn't want to go far so we had tortas and tacos al pastor at Tortas al Fuego. Extremely cheap and two steps from our door, it had very solid food, but it's not well known like Tacos El Guero or El Tizoncito. But at least we did make it to Los Parados, which means "the standing-up people," a popular stand open until midnight every night with a huge menu of grilled meats and even nopales or poblano tacos for vegetarians. Even better than the bistec and chuleta (beef and pork chop) tacos were tocino or bacon, fried to a light crackle on the griddle and eaten standing up at the counter, dripping with an array of condiments, in full view of a pretty amazing-looking hamburger laden with chiles and cheese.

Mercado Roma isn't open for breakfast, but we lucked out when a guard directed us next door to La Boheme. I might not normally seek out a French cafe in Mexico, but our breakfast of tangy green chilaquiles and eggs en cocotte with bacon and fig-topped baguettes was the perfect ending to four days of walking, eating and drinking.

Scenes from Los Insurgentes Pulqueria: guyaba and apple pulque; jugs of pulque behind the bar; a cheese, chorizo and Russian salad sampler; outside the pulqueria

The mezcal and pulque bars: La Clandestina, La Lavanderia, Bosforo, Pulqueria Los Insurgentes

After spending a few days in Cabo San Lucas, we were ready to move beyond tequila. Mexico City has a number of cool little mezcal bars that generally feature interesting music, a youngish crowd, and lengthy mezcal lists that can be tricky to figure out if you're not familiar with each type. Some bars serve only straight mezcal, beer and a few snacks; others do cocktails.

The barman at La Clandestina explained the drill: Each shot of mezcal comes with a few slices of orange sprinkled with chile powder. You order a beer or a  jamaica agua to chase it. We asked him to bring us a flight of three, from light and floral to very smoky and higher alcohol. Though it's made from the maguey plant, which is a cousin to the blue agave tequila is made from, mezcal in general has a milder and purer flavor. We tried one called pechuga (breast), which I could have sworn the bartender explained had something to do with chicken. I looked it up later and sure enough, the mezcal is distilled with a chicken breast, fruits and herbs, giving it a hint of savoriness and umami.

La Clandestina in Condesa is cozy, dark and of course has no sign. It has a few small tables and a long and well-annotated mezcal list, and the staff is very helpful with suggestions. If you prefer a mixed mezcal cocktail like the spicy one we tried garnished with several whole grasshoppers or fresh fruit ponche & mezcal, right next door is La Lavanderia, which has more tables and a menu of Oaxacan snacks.

Bosforo is on a side street just off Avenida Independencia in the Centro neighborhood, and like La Clandestina is signless and intimate. There are no tables -- most people sit at the long bar while others climb a staircase in the rear to recline on pillows in the carpeted loft. Bosforo's eclectic music mix of Turkish disco and indie chill-out tunes gives the place kind of an opium bar vibe, depending on how much mezcal you consume. English is spoken, and it seems to be popular with ex-pats.

Tip #4: One great thing about Mexican bars is that even the smallest ones seem to be able to rustle up a plate of cooked food with no more than a hotplate at their disposal. If you've had a big lunch, you can easily have a hearty snack at the bar, skip dinner and do late-night tacos instead.

Pulqueria Los Insurgentes, right on Insurgentes, the big street that separates Condesa from Roma, specializes in pulque, another drink made from the maguey plant. Slighty fizzy, the milky, fermented drink is about as alcoholic as a beer and is an acquired taste for most, but you need to try it at least once. Los Insurgentes's pulques, displayed in large jugs behind the bar, are made with fresh fruit flavors that do a heroic job of covering up the drink's inherent backwash quality. After you finish your pulque you can order beer and a snack plate packed with green chorizo, cheese and more while relaxing to New Order and the Cure and admiring the historic mansion it's housed in. With some bigger tables and and a second floor, this place could accommodate a larger group if necessary. Later at night, there's a dj and dancing. Cash only.

A Few More Tips for eating in Mexico City
If you want to get to taste the maximum number of things and could use a little guidance, there are several food tours of Mexico City. We were there during the week so we weren't able to try Club Tengo Hambre's street food tour on Saturdays, but it can also be arranged for other days. CTH was co-founded by L.A.'s own StreetGourmetLA Bill Esparza, starting with trips to Tijuana and Ensenada, and has branched out to Mexico City.

Yelp usually has only a few reviews per restaurant in Mexico City, but it's helpful for addresses and hours. Trip Advisor gives a general idea of places more likely to appeal to tourists. Don't take the reviews as gospel on either site, of course.

If you can read even a bit of Spanish, I recommend Chilango, basically the equivalent of the L.A. Weekly. The restaurant listings are pretty easy to figure out and much more descriptive and up-to-the-minute than guidebooks. Their yearly city guide, which was thoughtfully provided at our AirBnB, is very helpful for getting the lay of the land.

Of  course there are many food blogs covering the city, some in English -- one I came across several times is Culinary Backstreets. Let me know if there are other blogs, restaurants, tacos, etc. you recommend. Next time we'll be seeking out some great mole, tacos guisados, traditional restaurants and much more.

And finally, here's a pretty good list of Mexican menu words. Buen provecho!

Why You Totally Have the Wrong Impression About Mexico City

Upstairs at El Pendulo bookstore

Despite my love of Mexican food and several great trips to Tijuana and Ensenada, I have to admit I hadn't really been dying to visit Mexico City. I assumed it was impossibly congested with crazy traffic like Bangkok, horribly smoggy like Beijing, and far more dangerous, dirty and chaotic than other big cities.

But since I needed to spend a few days in Baja covering the Los Cabos film festival (seriously, I was working!), I decided it was time to finally spend a few days in DF, as the locals say (like our DC, it stands for Distrito Federale).

I was incredibly surprised to find out how wrong my impressions were, so I wanted to share my experiences with readers who might not be sure about traveling to Mexico City. I planned the trip on my own, and didn't get any comped meals or rooms.

Disclaimer: I'm just an American tourist and food blogger, not an expert. If my impressions are wrong or naive, feel free to let me know, politely. 

Misconception 1: Crime 
Certainly the biggest concern is whether it's dangerous to travel there. Obviously after four days, I'm no expert in Mexican crime, cartels or anything else like that. But I'd say that for an American tourist (or any other kind, really), the crime is no different than most other major cities. I know there are kidnappings of high-powered figures, and, mostly outside of Mexico City, horrific murders. But like gang activity in L.A., it's extremely unlikely to affect tourists. Like in Oaxaca and the Yucatan, there is no U.S. Government advisory in effect advising of problems in Mexico City.

In fact, I felt safer than in places like Barcelona and Rome, where pickpockets and bag slashers abound. The usual precautions remain: Keep an extra credit card and your passport in a safe or locked bag at your hotel or Airbnb in case you lose your purse or wallet. Try not to call attention by loudly yammering in English on the metro or streets, or constantly displaying an expensive camera. But those common sense suggestions go for just about anywhere.

There's a large police presence everywhere in Mexico City, and in the evening police cars often circle the streets with their lights and sirens on, seemingly just to show people they're around. I think this is a good thing, right? Anyway it seems better than NOT seeing police keeping an eye on things. But it can be pretty cacaphonous between dusk and midnight, when things quiet down.

El Pendulo bookstore in Polanco is a great place to browse, rest your feet and have a cup of tea or full meal.

Misconception 2: It's chaotic, and the traffic is terrible. 
There aren't as many "walk" crosswalk signs as in the U.S., but it's still not particularly difficult to cross major streets. Just watch the signals for when the opposing traffic has a red light, and follow a local if possible. Like in L.A., rush hours can be trafficky, so that's a good time to take the Metro instead. You might have to stand for a few stops at busy times, but it's not horrendously crowded like Tokyo.
I was afraid the city might be hard to figure out, but even without a phone it was no problem (Like ancient vagabonds, we used the Streetwise Mexico City map we bought at the beautiful El Pendulo bookstore in Polanco.) It helps to read a guidebook first -- we picked Mexico City: An Opinionated guide for the Curious Traveler because it's compact and recently published. With only four days to explore, we stayed mostly in Condesa, where our Airbnb was, Roma, Centro and Polanco, so naturally our experience was skewed more towards those more upscale and very walkable neighborhoods. Just watch out for uneven sidewalks.

The leafy view from our apartment could have been in Paris. 

Misconception 3: It's incredibly smoggy.
My throat tickled a bit from time to time, and due to the altitude, the three flights up to our apartment sometimes left me winded. I'm not sure whether it was Mexico City's efforts to get polluting cars off the road or we just lucked out with weather (around 80 degrees and cloudy or breezy), but the smog seemed no worse than, say, Pasadena or Riverside. Honestly, you won't even notice once you're strolling the tree-lined streets of Condesa.

Misconception 4: It's dirty, trashy, public bathrooms are scary, etc.
Totally wrong in our experience -- maybe outlying areas are rougher around the edges. Public toilets at the Mercado Medellin, in the Metro, museums and everywhere else were uniformly immaculate, and it seemed as if workers were constantly washing everything down with bleach. Be sure to carry several 5 peso pieces for public bathrooms and Metro tickets, though.

A yogurt packed with granola and freshly-cut fruits at La Morenita fruit stand in Mercado de Medellin

At food stands in the Mercado Medellin and Condesa tianguis open market, plates were covered in plastic, fruits were cut to order and produce for sale looked like it had been washed and then polished. We didn't eat at the actual sidewalk stands only because we were usually en route to a different restaurant, but they looked perfectly fine.

Obviously there's significant poverty in Mexico, and the beggars on the sidewalk in more touristy areas are certainly tragic. But we actually never saw a homeless person -- I'm sure there must be a homeless population on the outskirts, but I think the city tries hard to make central areas pleasant to visit.

A few more tips on navigating the city:

Transportation: Yes, the city is huge, but many of the neighborhoods tourists will visit aren't incredibly far apart. We took the metro everywhere because it was so cheap (5 pesos = 30 cents) and often moves much faster than the traffic. It was easy to navigate and works exactly like the Paris metro. Since we were having phone issues, we weren't able to use Uber as much as we might have if we had a working phone with an international data plan, though we made do with the wi-fi at bars and restaurants.
Uber is so cheap in Mexico City that you might as well use it a lot to be able to pack in more activities, but the metro is even cheaper and sometimes goes faster. If you want a cab, have the restaurant call one for you or go to a taxi stand. We were told not to hail them, but with Uber there's no need. I tried to tip the Uber driver, but he refused. There are also EcoBici rental bikes everywhere, which could be fun for tooling around one of the parks. I wouldn't want to take one on the main streets, but there are plenty of bike paths and quiet areas to try them out, like the Avenida Amsterdam oval street that used to be a horse-racing track.

Water: Like everywhere in Mexico, it's not recommended to guzzle water straight from the tap. We used small amounts for tooth brushing with no ill effects, and the Airbnb provided a large jug of water. In most restaurants, there's a law that purified water must be available for free. Just ask for agua de garafon or point to the large water dispenser sitting on the bar and you'll save a few dollars a day on bottled water. We drank fruit aguas everywhere with no problem, though I have no idea if they use purified water to make them.

Customize your trip: One reason I wasn't in such a hurry to get to Mexico City is I just wasn't sure how many Frida Kahlo paintings and Mayan artifacts I was in the mood to see. But you can build a trip around any interest. My partner wanted to see the James Bond exhibit and the Zocalo and the Grand Hotel where they filmed "Spectre," so our trip was heavily 007-flavored. You can easily do a food trip, architecture trip or photography trip even if pre-Columbian art isn't your thing. But the wonderfully subversive Diego Rivera murals at the Palacio National (free admission!) are well worth a visit no matter what.

The Pyramid of the Moon is a LONG walk from the entrance to Teotihuacan park

Visiting the pyramids at Teotihuacan: If you have a full day available, you can get out of the city and visit the 2000-year old pyramids at Teotihuacan. Is it possible to take public transportation to Tethuouican, about 30 miles from Mexico City, and be back in time for a meal, a shower and drinks appointment at 7 that evening? Theoretically, yes, but you'll be very tired, even without climbing the 246 ft. tall Pyramid of the Sun. Expensive organized tours apparently stop at lots of shops and don't get there any faster, and I don't think you really need a guide to the pyramids. Taking the public bus from Autobuses del Norte station is quite simple and comfortable: here's good instructions on how to do it.
Leave as early in the morning as possible, preferably on a weekday -- before 9 is ideal -- and take a hat, sunscreen and at least one bottle of water per person or buy some at the entrance, as no water or snacks are available inside the park. Consider taking a picnic or having a big breakfast and taking some snacks. There are restaurants outside the park but once you walk to the pyramids you might not want to keep walking around, since the park is a mile or two long with numerous stone staircases.

Eating: That's a whole other blog post! Check back soon for some of our favorite tastes and what's on our list for next time.

Mexico City is one of the world's great cities, and if a trip to Barcelona or Madrid isn't in the cards, you can have a similar experience in DF with just as much great food and art for a fraction of the price. We can't wait to get back and experience more neighborhoods and even some Frida Kahlo. So what are you waiting for? Let me know in the comments if you have more tips.

Here's a post from last year from a travel blogger who had many similar impressions: Why I was So Dead Wrong About Mexico City.

La Tostaderia: Fish Tacos and Ceviche Stand Out at Grand Central Market

Grand Central Market's recent addition of ceviche and fish taco stand La Tostaderia joins Wexler's Deli as the latest reason you don't have to spend an hour in line at Eggslut to have a delicious meal at the rapidly-changing food hall. Owner Fernando Villagomez has long run carnitas stand Las Morelianas in the market, and he's now partnering with chef Sandra Felix for a counter that's an ode to fresh, modern Mexican seafood preparations.

fish tacos at la Tostaderia

Both fish and shrimp tacos were excellent, with green salsa verde providing a tart, zingy contrast to freshly-fried nuggets of corvina fish topped with crunchy bits of pork chicharones.

campechana verde ceviche

While the tacos were our favorite at a recent tasting, ceviches were also a cut above most Mexican restaurants in L.A., especially the smooth and tangy Campechana verde with shrimp, squid, scallops and corn nuts and the scallop aguachile. Most dishes are $8-10, but that seems worth it for the fat tacos and solid portions of ceviche. When Golden Road Brewing opens later this year in the market, their beers should make the perfect pairing with La Tostaderia's appealing seafood dishes.

6 Reasons to Eat and Drink in San Diego Right Now

The patio at Carnitas Snack Shack on San Diego's University Ave.

"What food is San Diego known for?" asked Matt as we arrived at our AirBnB accomodation in the Hillcrest neighborhood of San Diego. "Besides beer, that is," he qualified. I was kind of stumped. There's all kinds of amazing taco and seafood artistry going on just south  of San Diego in Tijuana and Ensenada, but we were just in San Diego for a chill weekend and didn't want to bother with the border formalities just to have lunch in Tijuana.
"Um, fish tacos?" I ventured, not really knowing if there actually were any renowned fish taco places in the city. After perusing Chowhound and various blogs, I and came up with short list of places to try, though the general opinion seemed to be that Mexican food isn't as impressive there as one might expect. Don't let the haters dissuade you: In addition to being probably one of the best beer towns anywhere, San Diego has lots of fun places to eat as well as a flourishing cocktail scene. Here are a few:

smoked turkey, left; carnitas taco, right at Carnitas Snack Shack

1) Carnitas Snack Shack. There's nothing quite like it in L.A., which is one excellent reason to check out the little building that really does look like a small snack bar from the front (with a long line down the sidewalk at peak hours). The other, of course, is the food: monstrous, meaty carnitas tacos made from sustainably-raised pork, an insane smoked turkey/blue cheese/apple sandwich made with local poultry, Niman Ranch burgers and more. In back, there's a spacious patio with vegetables and herbs growing and a separate beer bar that's open at night. It's the perfect spot for a sunny lunch in a city that's been proven to have the country's most pleasant weather. It's not taco truck-cheap, but then, why would it be for this quality of ingredients? Also, if you can actually consume two of those tacos, you'll likely not eat again for around 24 hours.

Cocktails on tap at Polite Provisions

2) Soda and Swine/Polite Provisions: When dinner time rolled around, we looked at the fun menu at the small and lively Soda and Swine, which specializes in beef, pork, chicken, chorizo or vegetarian meatballs and pie, but we were still too stuffed for meatballs. Instead we grabbed a spot next door at Polite Provisions, an old-timey pharmacy-themed cocktail spot that's about as hipster as San Diego gets. That means that the mixologists wear bowler hats but the friendly drinkers are still in t-shirts and flip flops, happily tucking into meatballs delivered from Soda & Swine along with communal punchbowls and cocktails on tap. Don't miss the Misty Mountain Buck, with homemade ginger beer, rye and lime juice.
3) 24-hour taco shops: By midnight or so, we were finally hungry again, and found out that San Diego has a wealth of drive-through 24-hour taco shops. We stopped for fish tacos at Los Panchos, which is probably not the most amazing Mexican food ever, but it's cheap and probably way better than what you can get at midnight in most of the country.

Mariscos El Pescador truck, Chula Vista

4) Mariscos El Pescador: The real Mexican seafood action was to take place the next day. After wandering around Coronado Island, we headed south on the 5 for a few miles to Chula Vista. I'm not sure if dining in a Toys 'r Us parking lot is high on every tourist's list, but when I hear fresh octopus tacos, I'm there, even if a curb is the only seating at Mariscos El Pescador. Actually we snared two of the few plastic chairs, the better to enjoy some terrific spicy shrimp and buttery octopus tacos and a citrus-y fresh scallop tostada. The menu is above, just so you can see the wide variety of super-fresh seafood available at this popular truck just a few minutes from the Mexican border.

After all that buttery, garlicky, spicy seafood, we needed to cool it down with some Mexican-style ice cream. Others may have Spidey sense; I have paleta-sense, and I knew that so close to the border, there would be sure to be a neveria featuring Mexican-style ice cream treats.

Mangoneada -- mango sorbet topped with fresh mango and chamoy sauce at Neveria Tocumbo

5) Neveria Tocumbo: A quick Yelp search led to Chula Vista's Neveria Tocumbo, which hit the spot with mango-topped mangoneada sorbet sundaes and ice cream in flavors including queso and mamey; other concoctions included numerous varieties of paletas and Tostilocos.

Modern Times tasting flight of Fortunate Islands, Black House, Lomaland and Blazing World

Of course, no trip to San Diego would be complete without visiting at least one brewery. Since we had already tried quite a few local beers at Toronado, Local Habit and the hunting lodge-themed cocktail lounge Sycamore Den, we only made it to one actual brewery on this trip

happy beer drinkers at Modern Times Brewery in San Diego

6) Modern Times: One of San Diego's newest breweries is a cool and cavernous space in the warehouse district near the Sports Arena. One huge wall is covered in pages from vintage comicbooks, while another features a mural made from thousands of colored Post-it notes. We had a tasting flight of all four beers being poured, and loved both the Black House coffee stout and the Fortunate Islands hoppy wheat.
Next time, we'll have those meatballs for sure with a house made almond soda at Soda & Swine, try homestyle Mexican at Super Cocina and finally get to Alesmith Brewing, among others. What are your San Diego favorites?

Tacolandia: A taco crawl across L.A. and Tijuana, but all in one place

Coni Seafood's grilled marlin tacos

You might want to walk or bike to Tacolandia,  next Sunday's taco extravaganza in the Hollywood Palladium parking lot, because there are going to be lots and lots of tacos to digest. But these aren't just any street tacos: Some of the elevated tacos will include hard-to-find-outside-of-Baja marlin tacos from Coni' Seafood and Peruvian tacu tacu tacos from Mo-Chica's Ricardo Zarate as well as gourmet versions from Bistro LQ, Paiche, Rocios Moles and much more.

Beef barbacoa taco from Tamales Elena truck

We drove around last Saturday for a preview with Tacolandia's "taco curator" Bill Esparza. Thanks to a Mustache Rides chauffeured van, we were able to taste tacos in Downtown, Watts, Inglewood and South Central, from tacos with artisanal cocktails at Mo-Chica to tacos with pitbulls and lonely train tracks in the hood.

Coni' Seafood interior

Next time I'm anywhere near Inglewood, I'm definitely heading back to Coni' for some beers on the patio with amazing ceviches and aguachiles that taste straight out of Baja, scooped up with their addictive freshly-fried chips.
And speaking of Baja, Tacolandia is a great chance to taste tacos from some of Tijuana's and Ensenada's foodie destinations like Erizu, Mariscos El Mazateno, Tacos Kokopelli and La Guerrerense.
Here's the details on L.A.'s first taco festival, Tacolandia, sponsored by the L.A. Weekly:
When: Sunday, June 23, noon-5 pm
Where: Hollywood Palladium parking lot, 6215 Sunset Blvd.
Tickets: Tickets are $20 general admission, $40 with hosted bar, available here.
What: Over 30 Tacos and a bar. Restaurants include:
Bistro LQ
Bizarra Capital
Cacao Mexicatessen
Cafecito Organico
Chichen Itza
Coni' Seafood
Erizo

Mo-chica's Tacu tacu pork and potato taco

Flor del Rio Restaurant
George's At The Cove
Gish Bac Restaurante Oaxaqueno
Guerilla Tacos
La Guerrerense
La Monarca Bakery
La Tiendita Mexicana
Leo's Taco Truck
Loteria Grill
Mariscos Jaliscos
Mariscos El Mazateno
Mexicali Taco Co.
Mexikosher
Mo-chica
Paiche
Picca
Rocios Mole De Los Dioses
SoHo Taco
SOL Mexican Cocina
Spirit House Bar
Taco Maria
Tacos Kokopelli
Tacos Punta Cabras
Tamales Elena

Tinga: Flavors that sing ... but do the prices zing?

Flat-iron steak tacos at Tinga

Tinga has been open on La Brea near 2nd for nearly a year, but many people still haven't noticed the tiny storefront with two tables outside near the larger Cafe Midi. Inspired by the approach of Santa Barbara's La Super Rica, husband and wife team Chris and Jerry Baker didn't replicate the menu, but brought handmade tortillas and the same careful approach to spicing found at the venerable stand. Instead of a scruffy patio, Tinga is tucked into a narrow space with a long communal wood table, blackboard menu wall and industrial feel.

chicken tacos with salsa verde, Tinga

I wanted to be able to say that Tinga's $8.50 taco plate was too expensive or that their compostable plates and utensils were too precious. But after recently eating at an old-school Mexican restaurant with even higher prices, rancid chips and watery salsa, I'd gladly give up on the chance to get a $10 jamaica margarita in exhange for real taste in my food. Actually Loteria's tacos are the same price, and Tinga's tacos are even bigger and meatier. In fact, I almost wish the Pechuga lemon-brined chicken breast tacos or the flat-iron steak tacos were chopped into smaller pieces instead of served in large slices. The taco toppings are dynamite, like addictive salsa verde on the chicken tacos or dog-snout salsa and pickled onions on the steak tacos. For easier eating, try the slow-cooked cochinita pibil pork tacos, which truly are spicy-spicy as the menu advises. The menu has expanded since the August 2010 opening, adding tortas and burritos to tacos and quesadillas. Don't look for elaborate dishes -- this is simple street food, but made with the highest attention to flavor and quality. In addition to the crispy, fresh chips that come with the tacos, don't miss the Elote especial -- a tangy-sweet-spicy combo of roasted corn, lime and poblano chile. There's plenty of other choices for vegetarians, like potato tacos and a mushroom quesadilla that intrigues even a devoted pibil-hound. Aguas like jamaica and watermelon lemonade are strong and not overly-sweetened, while dulce de leche-laden alfajore cookie is just the thing for dessert.
Sure, street tacos are great. But when even Baja Fresh charges $6 for two tacos, it's only logical to pay a dollar or two more for something you'll still be thinking about several days later.
Tinga Buena
142 S. La Brea
323-954-9566
(now open every day till 9 pm, Sundays to 7 pm)

 

Guisados: A suave and saucy rejoinder to the grilled meat taco

Tacos are described on the blackboard menu at Guisados in Boyle Heights

A caramelized-around-the-edges al pastor taco from a pineapple-topped spit on the street, or a deeply beefy carne asada taco from Tacos El Poblano in Tijuana -- they're pretty much the platonic ideal of of street food, and the one single item that converted me from baconatarian to full-on carnivore back in 2001 or so. But guisados are another thing entirely -- they're slowly-cooked stews and braises, each with its own distinct character depending on the combination of spices, meats and vegetables. And guisados make just as wonderful a taco as grilled meats do, with a lot flavor possibilities.

mole and chorizo tacos, right, calabacita and chicken tinga, left

The owners of Cook's Tortas, who revolutionized the Mexican sandwich with their East L.A. shop, are at it again with Guisados, a deceptively simple taqueria on bustling Cesar Chavez Ave. in Boyle Heights.
With a tiled white counter and a blackboard describing the tacos, the set-up is similar to a Tijuana-style taqueria which concentrates on doing one thing extremely well.
The menu is succinct -- 10 or so taco fillings, tamales made with the fillings, freshly made aguas. If you're not sure which taco to try, get the taquito sampler -- they're not the rolled, fried kind but a sampler plate of mini-tacos of all the flavors.

chicken soup, left; jamaica/limon agua, right

Tacos range from calabacitas -- a slightly salty mixture of squash, corn and peppers topped with cheese -- to sweet, spicy chicken tinga with avocado, smoky chicken mole topped with pumpkin and sesame seeds -- to just fiery-enough bistec with salsa roja. After you order, the counter-man brings over an "amuse bouche" -- or a diverterse buca? -- of terrific sopa de pollo with chunks of queso slowly dissolving into a tangy broth. The tacos are about $2.50 each -- two are plenty for lunch -- and arrive plated on thick handmade corn tortillas. These aren't really curbside tacos, they're very saucy, so it's a good thing there's plenty of seating for a napkin and fork-intensive lunch.
To drink, there are aguas of lime, jamaica or horchata -- I recommend a Mexican Arnold Palmer with half lime, half jamaica.
Between Cook's Tortas, the family's new ceviche restaurant opening soon on Atlantic (440 S. Atlantic) and Guisados, Ricardo Diaz and his partners are launching a delicious new Mexican food dynasty on the Eastside.
Guisados
2100 Cesar Chavez Ave.
(323) 264-7201

Tijuana touring: Street food with tacos of the earth and sea

Tijuana has really changed since I took this trip with my family as a child and even since the last time I was there a few years ago. This weekend I returned to TJ, Ensenada and the Valle del Guadalupe wine country with a bunch of food bloggers, chefs and assorted writers for a semi-insane two day food crawl to see how this part of northern Baja has become a true foodie destination, from modest fresh seafood stands to luxurious restaurants featuring Alta Cocina and Baja-Med cuisine.
Our tireless leader was Bill Esparza of StreetGourmetLA, who has spent years finding and eating the most authentic and delicious foods all over Mexico. We were hosted by the Tijuana Convention and Visitor's Bureau, but this was no cookie-cutter fam tour. Bill and Xavier, the Glutser, made several trips to find the best spots for our whirlwind food marathon.
One thing that hasn't changed is the historic La Villa del Tabaco cigar shop. This shop is one of the few reasons to visit the touristy and expensive main street, Avenida Revolucion (insert donkey show joke here). Walking into the shop, I developed a serious case of deja vu, since I'm almost positive I had been there with my cigar-loving dad many decades before. Some of the chefs (from Ciudad, Border Grill and La Casita) bought Cuban cigars, while the rest of us sampled Cuban rum and espresso.The first Tijuana food stop was Tacos El Poblano, a simple stand known for its carne asada tacos served with a generous dollop of guacamole, which are made from three different cuts of beef. The juicy beef was worth the anticipation on the the long bus ride from L.A.
The next day, our first lunch stop was a simple seafood restaurant, Tacos de Mariscos el Mazateno, above. Even better than the spicy camaron enhilado tacos was the taco filling of smoked marlin, with the large tuna-like fish chopped up with various spices. We didn't try the manta ray tacos, but the whole menu looks excellent here.Are you a lamb lover? Personally I prefer seafood and pork, but lamb completists should try the traditional breakfast of lamb barbacoa from Hidalgo at Barbacoa Ermita, a makeshift restaurant open only on weekends. Huge chunks of lamb are cooked up in a permanent pit, served with lamb consomme, tortillas and an assortment of salsas. I'm sure Eddie Lin from Deep End Dining had more than one bite of the pansita, a sort of Mexican haggis including stomach, kidney and something a little too livery for my taste, even with plenty of salsa.

The last exceptional Tijuana street food stop isn't really street food, although the restaurant itself looks pretty basic. Tacos Salceados, known to the locals as Tacos La Ermita, humbly describes itself as having "the best tacos in the universe," and who am I to argue? Salceados is the baby of former sous-chef and saucier Javier Campos Guttierez, who has created the taco-queso, made from a delicate cheese crisp wrapped around meat then wrapped in a tortilla. Arriving at midnight after an endless day of eating, we all polished off our tasting plates of tacos and wished we had room for more. His richly baroque tacos include trout, mushrooms in cream, New York steak, and even a dessert taco topped with strawberry coulis and mysteriously stuffed with beef, bacon or shrimp. There's an array of equally elaborate salsas, including almond, for topping.It was so late that I left my camera on the bus, so this photo of a questotaco dulce is from Salceado's website. Prices in Baja are not third-world, dirt cheap prices, but they are a good deal less than in the U.S. Tacos at Salceados, for example, start at $1 and go up to around $3 for the better cuts of meat or combos, and they are of the highest quality.Racing greyhounds hang out at the beer festival.

What else is there to do in Tijuana? Besides the ubiquitous discount pharmacies, greyhound racing and occasional bullfights, there are festivals nearly every weekend, from opera to erotica to food and wine. We stopped by the fifth International Craft Beer Festival, held on the grounds of the casino, and it was a fun and relaxed event with not an insipid Corona in sight. Instead we sampled beers from microbreweries from Cabo's Baja Brewing to Mexicali's Cucapa.

A Clamato stand at the beer festival.
In Mexico, Clamato isn't just a fishy tomato juice: it's a catch-all term for seafood cocktails with a Clamato base, with all kinds of additions from peanuts to coconut milk.
This senorita would like to offer you a cerveza.

Next I'll cover Tijuana's haute cuisine, Ensenada and the wine country, but for now, here's a sampler from other blogs.
FoodGPS selects 6 great dishes from the trip.
Noah from Squid Ink managed to escape from the group and is probably the only person who ate an entirely different taco from the rest of us.