‘Mexican’

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Tacos Por Favor, Please

March 8th, 2012 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Por supuesto.

Santa Monica doesn’t exactly have a reputation for good food. And what reputation it does have usually tends to lean on the upscale. But reputation alone does not simply make a city, and Santa Monica actually has a surprising number of little gems hidden in its nooks and crannies. One of these, I had heard, was Tacos Por Favor.

Yet, aside from actually hearing of Tacos Por Favor, I hadn’t really been told what was good on their menu, so when I arrived and found a vast menu full of nearly every Mexican dish I had ever heard of, I was in trouble. Continue Reading»

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Taco Bell Goes Doritos Locos

March 8th, 2012 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

What dreams are made of!

How many times have you sat around late at night eating either Taco Bell, Doritos or both and thought how amazing it would be to combine the two? I know I have. So when Taco Bell first started testing their new Doritos Locos in Fresno and Bakersfield last year, I was almost tempted to pay one of those cities a visit. Thankfully, I did not make the mistake of setting foot in one of those cities, and the testing was obviously a success, because at midnight this morning Taco Bell rolled out their Doritos Locos Tacos for the nation. If you’re unfamiliar with the Doritos Locos, they are essentially your regular or supreme tacos, but with a giant Nacho Cheese Dorito as the shell. Usually I can wait to try Taco Bell’s new products, but for this I had to be there right at midnight. Continue Reading»

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Patriotismo at El Abajeno

February 14th, 2012 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

The old one-two punch.

You can’t throw a stone* in LA without hitting a Mexican place that someone happens to call their favorite. It could be a shack, a hole in the wall or even an old-fashioned sit down restaurant. The variety seems only limited by the amount of physical space in LA and those damn zoning laws. As I’ve eaten my way through the city, I’ve creativity galore and more Mexican foods than I knew existed growing up on Taco Bell in Michigan. Some have been delicious, while others have failed me. On my latest foray into someone’s favorite Mexican place, I ended up at El Abajeno in Culver City. Continue Reading»

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Chipotle x 8 at Ocho Mexican Grill

January 19th, 2012 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

The S stands for stubby.

Chipotle is kind of the gold standard of Mexican fast food (I mean, unless we’re talking Taco Bell).  You can find it pretty much anywhere, the prices are pretty good and there is no doubt that it’s fast.  But it is not alone…all over there are copycats and similar joints that may or may not have existed before the rise of Chipotle.  Ocho Mexican Grill in downtown LA is one of those copycats…sort of.  A combination of my buddy Joel and a 50% Scoutmob discount convinced me to visit this downtown twist on Mexican fast food fare and I entered with high expectations. Continue Reading»

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Impregnated by El Nopal

November 3rd, 2011 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Impregnate me!

For a few months now, I have driven by El Nopal in Palms nearly every single day.  And on just about every one of those days, I say to myself, “I want to eat there.”  But it is not simply because I love Mexican food, it is because of what is written just below the name of the restaurant on their sign: Home of the Pregnant Burrito.  I’m a pretty literal guy and assumed there was some sort of burrito fetus residing in the larger burrito.  This proved to not be the case, but it does give me an idea for an awesome burrito if I ever open up my own Mexican place (read: never).  Anyway, onto the burrito. Continue Reading»

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Compunding Words at MexiKosher

August 29th, 2011 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Fun with puns!

Who doesn’t love a good pun?  Or even better, who doesn’t love an awesome compound word.  Combining giant and enormous gave us ginormous.  Combining lion and tiger gave us liger.  And combining terrible and institution gave us Ohio State University (yes, I know that is technically three words, but I stand by it).  Now joining the ever-growing list of compound words is a restaurant named MexiKosher in (surprisingly) Pico-Robertson.  I love a good compound word as much as the next guy, but could this new Kosher Mexican restaurant make a happy unvegan?  I intended to find out. Continue Reading»

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A New Beginning at Taco Plus

August 25th, 2011 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

This is more of a burrito plus.

Moving to a new place is never easy.  Driving habits and living habits have to change, but more importantly, eating habits have to change.  This can be easy for some, but when you have a meat blog it can be tough to say goodbye to the Taco Bell that once resided across the street.  But it is also an opportunity to try new things, so as I woke up on my first real weekend in my new place, I realized it was time for a stroll around the area in search of food.  Quickly, I found Taco Plus. Continue Reading»

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Unexpected Fruitiness at TnB BBQ

August 17th, 2011 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

What the what sauce?

On a one-night bender, I found myself facing down three strange taco trucks on Main Street in Santa Monica.  None looked familiar and none looked particularly amazing.  But it was 2 am in Los Angeles, when food options are usually limited to subpar diners and…well…taco trucks.  The trucks here seemed to be some sort of missing link between gourmet and roach coaches and so after much circling we wound up at TnB BBQ. Continue Reading»

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Down in Mexico With Red O

August 5th, 2011 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Wait, is this China?

Rick Bayless is apparently a pretty big deal, and not just because he got his PhD at the University of Michigan.  No, he is actually a famous chef who specializes in Mexican food.  Now, when I headed off to dinner at Red O, I was entirely unaware of both the existence of man named Rick Bayless and the fact the Red O’s kitchen was run by him that he was Red O’s consulting chef.  Clearly this was not going to be an everyday ordinary Mexican meal.  The exterior had a design reminiscent of the Bird’s Nest in Beijing.  The interior wasn’t too shabby either, but this style came at a price.  One of our party was sporting khaki shorts and was nearly denied entry, despite everyone else in the restaurant wearing shorts.  This almost knocked the place down a notch to me, but I was willing to forgive if they could deliver some amazing food. Continue Reading»

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Make Way for Cafe Rio

June 28th, 2011 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

The pearly gates of Utah.

I have a coworker who has a problem.  The problem is she is a vegetarian.  Gross, right?  But not by choice.  You see she is lacking the enzyme that breaks down meat in her body, so the simple act of eating meat makes her violently ill.  It’s really the only acceptable form of vegetarianism, yet there is one place she will always eat meat, stomach be damned.  That place is Cafe Rio.  It’s a seemingly generic Mexican place that I have driven past many times in Manhattan Beach and brushed off.  But little did I realize that Cafe Rio is huge in Utah.  Like real huge.  And it’s about to get even huger.  There are currently 40-something locations, but they are planning an expansion on the scale of 100 restaurants.  So when one opens across the street from you, remember you read about Cafe Rio on The Unvegan first.  With my coworker in mind, we finally stopped at Cafe Rio to what all the meat fuss was about. Continue Reading»

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Going Global at Plan Check

Fries of the world.

A couple of weeks ago, The Backyard Bite invited me to The Burger Culture Clash, sponsored by Stussy (which apparently still exists) and Plan Check. Plan Check, by the way, is a sort of new (since February) restaurant in West LA with Chef Ernesto Uchimura of Umami Burger fame. As my love of burgers, especially those of the umami variety, I jumped at the opportunity.

Although I arrived alone, I was not the only lone eater. Just next to where I was seated, I met e*star LA and we decided to share a meal called loneliness, because it’s better than eating alone. We made quick friends over our respective blogs and Midwestern roots, then got to work at dissecting the special menu, which Plan Check will be featuring for the next month if anything tickles your fancy.

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So twisted.

What is this?»

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