Showdown at the Taco Corral: LA vs. the Mission

Besides the Indian food served at Bombay Café, the Los Angeles culinary scene offers a few amazing treats that are, though I hate to admit it, better than comparable examples found in San Francisco.

In fact (as LA food blogger extraordinaire Sarah of Delicious Life pointed out) in an article in the August 2005 issue of GQ Mark Bittman surprisingly named LA (along with Bangkok, Madrid and Piedmont) one of the four greatest culinary cities in the world. Bittman specifically chose to spotlight LA's excellent selection of Korean, Japanese, Thai, Mexican and breakfast restaurants.

While I didn't see Bittman's article and can't vouch for any of his choices, I am always pleasantly surprised when I find gastronomic delights within the Sprawl of the LA that I grew up in.

For example, I had lunch at a highly regarded taqueria, ¡Lotería! Grill, in the LA Farmers Market. I was dying to discover if the tacos tasted as good as those at my favorite La Taqueria in the Mission district of San Francisco. For what it's worth, in the latest Zagat guides, Lotería (I'll dispense with the emphatic ¡! from here on out) receives a  25 for food, while La Taqueria garners a 24.

I was immediately smitten with the counter, because as you may know, I love restaurants with counters.

The first difference I noticed between the two taquerias is that the menu at Lotería offers more choice. While variety may be the "spice of life," it has no significance when it comes to taquerias. I also got a chuckle from the menu when I read that the restaurant will make tacos from lettuce cups if you are on a low-carb diet. Only in LA!

On closer inspection, I was impressed by the unusual choices of fillings, including nopalitos (fresh cactus), mushrooms with the Mexican herb epazote, and pollo en pipian rojo (chicken in a spicy pumpkin-seed and peanut sauce).

I initially ordered two tacos, a calabacitas made from zucchini and roasted corn topped with salsa verde, minced onion, cilantro and queso fresco and a tinga de pollo, which consisted of chicken stewed with chipotle peppers and house-made chorizo, topped with salsa roja. I requested guacamole on both.

Being used to the size of the tacos at La Taqueria, which are wrapped in two 6-inch corn tortillas, I was taken aback by the puny 4-inch size of Lotería's tortillas. But, apparently size isn't everything, as these mini tortillas were exceptional. They are freshly hand-made, arriving warm and tender without being reheated on a griddle as the tortillas are at La Taqueria.

Another difference that's readily apparent is that you have to eat these tacos the second that you are given them. With just one soft tortilla holding in the moist fillings, if you don't act fast, you're out of luck. I'm speaking from experience here. It took a lot of napkins to wipe all the overflowing juices off my arm and chin as I hurled the quickly disintegrating taco into my mouth.

I liked the two tiny tacos so much, I ordered a third, this one made from cochinita pibil, pork shoulder slowly roasted in a banana leaf, then shredded and topped with pickled red onions and habanero chile. By now I had learned that the fillings are so good that you don't need to order guacamole.

I considered a fourth, but decided it would be prudent to save lots of room for dinner later that night at AOC.

So, who won the showdown of the taquerias? Because I am fiercely loyal to my local La Taqueria, I'll call it a draw. But, believe me, no future visit to LA would be complete without a stop at Lotería to sample a few more of their offerings. I wonder which places Bittman included in his GQ article? What if there are even better taquerias in LA that I have yet to discover?

Food|and Drink|Restaurants|Reviews|Los Angeles|Mexican

Comments

[farmgirl]

Zucchini tacos? Only in California. God I miss taquerias. . . : )

[David]

Tacos? Only in America (and Mexico). God I miss Mexican food....: )

[jen]

I have to admit that my first response when I started reading this post was a slight cringe -- as a native Southern Californian, I would never consider a booth at the LA farmer's market for authentic Mexican food to be the real deal in a town full of Mexican holes-in-the-wall. But it sounds like you have a real find on your hands here, Brett - and in the middle of a very touristy area. Sounds great!

This review in Los Angeles magazine mentions that the owner is from Mexico City -- so it's ok if you can't choose b/w this and La Taqueria. They are very different styles of taqueria!

[sarah]

hello my dear! i'm from the delicious life :) delicious DAYS is someone else...then of course, there's delicious! delicious! which just makes it all so confusing, eh?

and now...you must tell me why you like bombay cafe? :)

[Brett]

Farmgirl, of the 3 tacos I tried, the zucchini was my third favorite, but it was still decent. (You'll be happy to know there were no lamb tacos, so little Pecorino Pepato is safe there).

David, no tacos, but you do get those hazelnut stuffed chocolate marshmallow canneles, amongst other things. Besides, you'll be back here soon enough.

Jen, thanks for the interesting article. I was skeptical, too. The style of tacos are totally different from La Taqueria's, though. That's why I couldn't really compare them.

Sarah, oops! So sorry, I don't know how I did that (although I do like to read Nicky's and Oliver's blog too!). At least I got the link right! I'll correct it right away.

As for Bombay Café, I think I explained why I like it in my post. While I preferred the food at the old location in the strip mall when Neela Paniz was there every night, they still know how to make a mean frankie. You can't find those on any other menu outside of Bombay. A few years back I ate at every restaurant on Pioneer Blvd. in Artesia and was unimpressed (except for some of the chaat places). The one place I want to visit is Woodlands for dosas (which Tanvi just wrote about).