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yeah
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we're here in Los Angeles for the best
of the best tacos Sid if I had to guess
I'd say there was I don't know about a
million taco places in Los Angeles so we
went through best of lists and Thrillist
eater LA infatuation yelp.com Wow
and also we reached out to bill Esparza
the Los Angeles taco expert village is a
James Beard award-winning writer who
literally wrote the book on LA's Mexican
food with his help we will to list down
to four of the best tacos in this city
tacos are important to Los Angeles cuz
Los Angeles is a Mexican city we're in a
Latino City tacos are one of those foods
that that stand out Sid we got the best
carne asada we got the best carnitas we
got the best shrimp taco and of course
the best fish taco so is it comparing
always different proteins and tacos kind
of like comparing apples to oranges
great point we want to make sure that we
well represented the variety and
cultural depth of tacos that LA has to
offer sounds delicious let's get started
our first stop is Sonora town in
downtown Los Angeles they make the most
amazing flour tortillas I'm really
excited to try them they drive to Mexico
at least twice a month to get special
flour to make them they also cook the
carne asada over a mesquite grill which
is actually pretty unique for Los
Angeles we serve tacos destino Sonora
which is to say from northern Mexico
rather than Central or South it's a
little different style we do put this a
Tina made by hand fresh every day with
flour that we bring from his hometown in
Mexico and Sunday's ryuko a tile and we
grill over a fire a mesquite wood fire
we use charcoal and that as the sort of
like signature flavors to all of our
food Sonora town is a game-changing
restaurant because they really
introduced northern style tacos carne
asada the verb Asad means to roast and
you don't roast meat on a flattop what
Sonora town did by investing and putting
a grill in a hood inside their
restaurant made it possible for them to
cook the way people do in the north
we've been here before my mom's actually
from Samoa so this is the only place
that private couples like back there and
they're amazing both of these are the
best the fiestas co-main you can taste
the difference from store-bought flour
tortillas we use short ribs instead of
just sort of like a cheaper cut because
so no the reps really hard with the
carne asada and we have to do it right
it's a very expensive choice to make but
it's worth it when you taste the flavor
when you cook over fire to you end up
with crispy fat instead of sort of like
gummy or chewy fat which is beautiful in
the top we're slicing the short rib up
and then putting the steaks onto the
grill and we're waiting to see a little
bit of bubbling in the fat and we're
cooking it all the way through because
it is a true carne asada
and then we're dicing it up very fine so
that every bite that you have has a
little bit of fat I'm a little bit of
meat a little too to it we're dressing
it with spicy chile de árbol salsa and
avocado puree and cabbage and then we
dress it with grilled green and several
yet that's on the side and ravenel twice
per month I travel five hours to Samoa
to cross the border and bring over as
many sacks of flour as I can Sonoran
meat is known to be a little softer and
it makes a more delicate area tortilla
you can smell that meat cooking down the
street walking up here I was like I
think I'm close the tacos are flying off
of that grill wine still out the door I
mean you can hear it yeah they got the
loudest chair responsible which there
was a smart move just us oh just in time
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this is the first time said that I've
been served tacos with a side of charred
scallion really yes really I mean that's
kind of one of my favorite parts about
getting tacos like good tacos that they
should come with a side of charred
scallion
that's like a big part of it for me no
onions no tomatoes no onions and
tomatoes at montreux I would never put a
tomato on my taco ever ever ever
but we need lime obviously many lots and
lots of lime we got the radish which I
also love no thanks
really oh not like radishes it's nice so
from Chicago it's like not a joke
these also don't have cheese under ones
cheese on a taco see what I'm dealing
with over here the carne asada and this
works here I don't want anything to get
in the way about alright see you babe
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sauron that meat is so flammable
you can taste the difference in those
tortillas I don't think I've ever had a
tortilla like that yeah if you don't
like flour tortillas it's because you
haven't had a good flour tortillas these
are absolutely amazing they're soft
they're a little doughy and almost like
pink light and it melts together with
the meat and the salsa has like that
much-needed acid from the richness of
the began that tortilla really really
good I can see why they've won the la
taco best taco in LA award at once now
let's head over to Boyle Heights to
check out mariscos Jalisco
mariscos it translates as spanish
seafood and our name actually is Jalisco
my state in Mexico where I'm from we do
nothing but seafood the most popular is
the taco de cámara a deep-fried shrimp
taco it was recently featured in David
Chang's ugly delicious and Chrissy
Teigen had them come to her house what I
can let you guys see it when we just
deep-fry the taco not the process of
making it before that that's what I can
show you guys top secret sorry he starts
with a pre stuffed taco ready for the
deep fryer what's in them look I asked
him five times but he wouldn't say all I
know is they're shrimp you can try
asking them yourself my guy was pretty
tight-lipped once they come out of the
fryer they get topped with avocado and
their house-made salsa salsa whatever
you know what I mean a side of lime and
they're ready to eat I tell everybody to
be careful when you try this stock
because they're very addictive I've been
coming here in 20 years I'm ready for
some tacos
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they're a bit heavy I mean impact
whatever is in here they packed it in
here so let's take a bite
good right were you better than that no
we expect we heard Sifu taco we just
came really yeah I had idea what that's
like I've never tasted a secret taco
like this sweet lord it oh and throw the
topping they fried what's inside the
taco that's my guess it's really good
it's almost like if you made like a fish
and chips taco whatever he's doing to
seafood and mixing it in there and
frying and how he is presenting it it's
unlike any other talk of that that's
certainly any other secret talk about
that I think this is the perfect thing
to give to somebody that says they don't
like seafood because if you eat this
you're gonna be a seafood person he was
telling us that people come to San Diego
they come to San Francisco they drive
several hours just to come right here
and I can say absolutely worth that I'm
dying for some carnitas and I know just
the spot carnitas Elmo you specialize in
anything pork whether it's ear pig feet
snout whatever you guys want pork we
could cook it however you want it we're
trying to become a staple has other
carnitas spots I've been here but we
feel we're just waived much above than
they are we just feel our taste is
better we feel we've just outgrown them
and just bit more advanced with our
technical cooking which is old-school 8
hours all the way through no rush and no
heat lamps carnitas are made by slow
cooking pork and oil or lard for several
hours until it's nice and tender it's
usually pork shoulder or but because
those are the fattiest cuts and make for
the most tender and juicy carnitas we
don't put our kind of ethos on there
heat lamps so it has never get straight
out it's always juicy we serve three
different types of cuts which is bucho
pork belly pork skin which is querido
and then for pork shoulder which is masa
Romulo has been doing carnitas for more
than half a century he's a master I can
go right to Boyle Heights get the same
colleague got Anita's that I'll have in
Mexico and really with his wonderful
regional touch of wine hot though where
they just take the cotton ethos and they
put pickled chilies on top maybe it's
just a little sad site and it's just
beautiful when that pickling juice
blends in with the fat and the sweetness
of the carnitas it's like it's perfect
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looking at this carnitas I don't think
I've ever seen a carnitas like this what
do you think they have so many different
varieties of carnitas that they have
here this is I think like a blend of
everything they say yeah I think I heard
shoulder the mix they got ear shoulder
public but skin all the good stuff thank
you it melts in your mouth
thank you for joining this Wow the onion
and the cilantro with this pork perfect
if anything else was on him I'd be
taking away too much of it yeah
this is incredible you can taste this
Chris penis in the texture that burnt
little crispy ends with the fat that's
in here just coming together it's like
mmm it's just delicious the fat melts in
your mouth and I added some of their
salsa which is really bright and acidic
that I love on my tacos and the tortilla
states together which is super important
we can putting this much me inside of
the tortilla there's a lot of fat in
these tacos because they dip the
tortillas and what I assume is some kind
of fat yeah it's excellent dip
everything in fat always for our final
stop we're getting an authentic taste of
Ensenada at Ricky's fish tacos
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I've been there more times than I can
count from London
I come here every time I'm in LA this
one best fish taco
it all started with the need of an
Ensenada fish taco with a authentic
recipe and I thought I could do it so I
asked for grandmas and mom's recipe and
put it together
I brought the recipe from Ensenada
authentic I started doing it with
Mexican oregano the flour our
ingredients imported from Mexico it's
very simple it's just a 5-ingredient
recipe for the batter and water to it we
use choose a lots of good all-american
mustard oregano salt baking powder and
and wheat flour we get the 22 pound box
of swai filet it's a type of catfish
that is very lean we just have to add a
bunch of garlic powder and salt and
brine it overnight strain it pack it and
have it ready for our to throw into the
batter and deep-fry it on large now
we've already had technically a fish
taco already for those yeah but these
are completely different
well the baristas Callisto was shrimp
yeah that's also fish right
no absolutely not it's seafood
a shrimp is finishing can we like do a
check on that a shrimp fish
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it doesn't look like it's gonna be my
favor I'm not the biggest fan of corn
and like it goes a little dry okay fair
enough we were in there when Washington
make this batter and fried his fish and
it just looks incredible when that fish
came out he dumped it I was like I want
that so bad so if there's a lot of fish
in here yeah yeah yeah he did not skimp
on the fish which I like most fish tacos
they are kind of light on the fish yeah
and I had all the toppings no lime here
funny enough and it smells spicy let's
fight let's do it
Wow this is incredible man it is like
can you see like how much fish is in
this taco it's a lot ya know when you
get like fish and chips like battered
fish that's what this is like yeah big
piece of fish he would take them out of
the fryer occasionally to stab them to
like get the heat in there faster okay
yeah because the pieces are so big yeah
it's like super tender
nice and flaky almost like tempura like
mm-hmm
really really delicious and honestly I
use the mild salsa and it's still kind
of spicy how are you doing mine is kind
of spicy incredibly flavorful is blend
of veggies and this ends in the salsas
that he make together make this thing
incredible
whose incredibly flavorful true so we're
here at Salazar and we're having a
couple cocktails and we're gonna talk
tacos at Sydney we went to four of the
best taco places in Los Angeles and now
we must decide together which one was
the best taco I have never made a
decision this hard in my entire life
between your wedding easy
let me tell no question this is the
hardest mundi hardest but we have to do
it for you guys and I want to see what
was your favorites so let's do it right
now
okay ready and the count of three we
will reveal to each other and to the
world our favorites one two three really
really I'm actually shocked by that why
I just I don't know I that wasn't even
like I mean it was delicious but not
like on my list oh no way this one like
totally blew me away
so obviously of a disagreement so it's
taco talk time with these guys
Dada carnitas was like something I've
never had before in my entire life and
after we did these four taco tastings
this is the one that I have like thought
about and like when I think attack OHS I
think of this one and I already have
like planned to go back to get more I
mean it is very good it's like fatty
it's greasy it's rich it's delicious
it's filling yeah but I think as far as
like what I want to eat like regularly
what I want to go get and like feel good
about eating and maybe have like one or
two and not feel like heavy and sleepy
that's funny because you were thinking
two different things I'm thinking like
what's the best one I've ever had you're
thinking of the one you would want to
have frequently yes I know the time and
effort put into a senora time like all
in is so different and unique compared
to everything else you can get in LA
like I've had like lots of good carnitas
mhm but as far as an all-around taco the
tortilla the meats the way they chop it
the way she goes to Mexico to get the
flour I think like overall this is my
favorite and the best one in LA fine
I changed my mind did you really - no it
sounds the best
alright can we just get graphics to put
Sonora town across there and said okay
well that was fun
alright that was easy so our town winner