The Unvegan

Recent Posts

10 Years of Unvegan
A Quick Bite at Burrito Express
Serendipity at Northern Waters Smokehaus
Twerks and Burritos at Casa Amigos

‘Mexican’

1/22/2009 Los Angeles

Taco Bell: Bacon Cheddar Gordita Crunch

The Gordita Crunch...of DOOM!
The Gordita Crunch…of DOOM!

In reading this article today, I knew something had to be done quickly to defend the good name of Taco Bell.

If you haven’t noticed yet, I am uncomfortably (and unhealthily) in love with the Cheesy Gordita Crunch, without lettuce. It represents all that is good in this world and I often find it difficult to push myself to eat anything else.

Recently, a friend alerted me to the newest Taco Bell creation, the Bacon Cheddar Gordita Crunch. The name alone is enough to make the weak queezy, but I simply could not believe that my world could be graced with genius! If bacon can improve donuts, why not the gordita?

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1/2/2009 El Segundo

Whole Foods Market

This is as meaty as Whole Foods gets.
This is as meaty as Whole Foods gets.

Despite all of my kicking and screaming and my best attempts to avoid it, I found myself stuck at Whole Foods Market in El Segundo with some colleagues for lunch.

If I ate fiber, the very concept of Whole Foods would go against every fiber of my being. It takes seemingly untouchable products like potato chips and makes them healthy (tasteless). This Whole Foods in particular jumped to a whole new level of anti-unvegan, offering all sorts of food cooked-to-order. I got chills as I walked by what I believe was an entire olive bar, but I was afraid to make eye contact for fear of burning my retinas. I shuddered as I walked past the multiple salad bars and finally made it to what seemed like a safe haven, the Mexican section. The Ranchero Burrito, with carne asada, looked like a decent unvegan choice, so I ordered mine with cheese, salsa, rice and beans, being careful to avoid the Pico de Gallo and potentially dangerous greens.

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12/29/2008 Culver City

Cinco de Mayo

 

Now that's what I call a taco.
Now that’s what I call a taco.

Tucked into the corner of Sepulveda and Washington in Culver City lies one of LA’s best-kept secrets: Cinco de Mayo. Although overshadowed by the incomprehensibly more popular Tito’s Tacos, which it happens to sit right next to, Cinco de Mayo has much more to offer.

The menu spans the walls of the restaurant and offers just about every Mexican dish one could imagine. On top of that, they also offer hamburgers and other random American things like fries.

On a typical visit to Cinco de Mayo, I will order the Mexican Nachos, which contains some of the greatest ingredients known to unvegans (carne asada, cheese, guacamole, salsa and enchilada sauce). On this particular eve I wasn’t feeling too hungry, so I ordered a hard-shell chicken taco, without lettuce. The perfectly-fried culinary concoction came quickly, served with a nice helping of chips. I bit in and my unvegan senses yelped in glee.

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12/24/2008 Culver City

Chipotle

Corn is nothing more than an indigestible grain.
Corn is nothing more than an indigestible grain.

In the past few years, Chipotle has burst onto the Mexican fast food scene. The layout of the restaurant and apparent freshness has quickly made even the most healthy forget that it was created once owned by McDonald’s.

Luckily, the unvegan in me has not forgotten this and I embrace the unhealthiness of Chipotle with the voracity of a reckless child with the metabolism of a horse.

Last time I had Chipotle, I went to one in Culver City and ordered their signature meal, the burrito. One of the beauties of Chipotle is their assembly line style of burrito-making. They have certainly come a long way since Henry Ford.

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12/17/2008 Mobile

Kogi BBQ

This is what Mexico and Korea should look like. Don't worry, that green stuff is cilantro.
This is what Mexico and Korea should look like. Don’t worry, that green stuff is cilantro.

Over the weekend, a friend of mine enlightened me to the existence of Kogi BBQ, a Korean taco truck. The very concept of this blew my mind, in a good way. The truck’s whereabouts can be tracked via Twitter. Now I’m not entirely sure what Twitter is (perhaps a polite way to say twister without offending people with lisps?), but we found out that the truck would be outside of a bar called The Brig on Abbot Kinney that night.

We set off, and although most of my friends were looking forward to the bar, I really only cared about the taco truck.

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12/9/2008 Manhattan Beach

Baja Sharkeez

It looks and smells like Taco Tuesday.*
It looks and smells like Taco Tuesday.*

Today the taco of choice was Sharkeez in Manhattan Beach. Sharkeez is better-known as a late-night college-style bar, but on Tuesdays they serve up a variety of tacos, from Mahi to carnitas to lobster. Being my first time, I ordered a “Maui” style mesquite chicken and a tri-tip steak. The cashier told me they would come with Pico de Gallo** on the side, and inside would just be the meat, cheese and sauce. This sounded great to me, so I sat down to wait for my food. Sharkeez has a good all-you-can eat chips and salsa bar, which is nice to munch on when you’re wating for more food, so I grabbed a trayful.

As I waited for my tacos, I noticed that some of my friends were getting their tacos and they all had a frightening green substance in them. Lettuce!

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12/3/2008 Los Angeles

Taco Bell

Behold! The Cheesy Gordita Crunch...and partner.
Behold! The Cheesy Gordita Crunch…and partner.

People look at Taco Bell in many different ways. Some worry about the meat quality. Some are willing to wait 30 minutes for it on their lunch break. Some think it is true Mexican food. Some refuse to eat it. Whatever can be said about Taco Bell, there is no denying that it is a late-night refuge for the hungry and/or intoxicated.

I am lucky enough to have a Taco Bell in LA that is open until 4 am. Every time I go, I leave with a story, so with these thoughts in mind, I set off for Taco Bell around 2 am.

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11/20/2008 Los Angeles

Gloria’s Cafe

Note the pico has been scraped off.
Note the pico has been scraped off.

Tonight I ate dinner at Gloria’s Cafe in the Palms neighborhood of Los Angeles. Gloria’s specializes in Mexican and Salvadoran food and was recommended by a friend of mine. When I walked in, I saw someone had a bowl of soup with entire crab legs hanging out of it. I knew this was my kind of place. I was told that this was the Sopa de 7 Mares. Aside from that, they have quite an impressive menu with your typical Mexican fare of tacos quesadillas and such, enhanced with Salvadoran Pupusas. Speaking of which, have you ever noticed that a Latin American restaurant can never be just simply Peruvian or Salvadoran, etc…? There always has to be Mexican involved in some way. It’s similar with Asian restaurants. You can never seem to find a Cambodian or Vietnamese restaurant unless it also has Thai, Chinese or Japanese food.

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