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Highland Park’s Best Kept Secret: Brunch at Garvanza’s
Sep 19 2012
By all rights, Garvanza’s should be wildly popular, but its tucked-away location keeps it undercover. The neighborhood restaurant focuses on pan-Latin flavors with an emphasis on high quality local ingredients. The produce is fresh and seasonal, and the service is super friendly. A lot of people, including me, are rooting for it.
The bulk of Garvanza’s menu is burritos and tacos, including tender barbacoa with pickled onions, pork shoulder slow cooked in garlic and peppercorns, and flaky mango-salsa-topped fish tacos. Plates, comprised of those same meat choices and some of the most flavorful rice and beans in a 10 mile radius, are also served.
The one must of the appetizers is the Garbanzo Bean Salad, a simple mix of fried garbanzos, tomatoes, onions and cilantro. The cool veggies and a drenching of lime juice really brighten up this highly addictive dish. The chips and salsa are also notable for the same reason—the chips are thick and greasy, making them the perfect match for the tangy salsa their served with.
Travel Food Guide: What to Eat in Tulum, Mexico
Apr 27 2011
Ever since my Flor de Michoacan paleta post, I’ve gotten a ton of requests for more Tulum restaurant tips. Instead of writing a bunch of emails, I decided to make a little eating guide with some food photos I took when I visited the small Mexican beach town last Christmas. For part 1, I’ve included all the places I love in the puebla (as opposed to the beach).
This is by no means an exhaustive list, so if you have Tulum food advice, help a fellow traveler and write it in the comments.
El Tacoqueto, Av. Tulum (it’s a red building with a thatched roof)
Popular with locals, El Tacoqueto is a place we always make sure to visit every time we’re in Tulum. This little red, thatched-roof restaurant is located on the main drag and offers some of the best “home-cooked” food in town at great prices—two people can eat for about $10. When you walk in, you’ll see a big, open kitchen, where women reside over large stainless steel pots of soups and stews. There’s no menu, so just walk up to the kitchen and take a look before you order. The mole is great (pictured at the top of this post), the soups never miss, and sometimes they even have chile rellenos.
Taco Task Force: LA’s Best Carnitas
Apr 20 2011
In every life, there comes a moment when you must make a choice. Recently, this moment came for me. I couldn’t waffle, I couldn’t equivocate—I had to declare…my favorite carnitas. Luckily, I had a team, a Taco Task Force if you will, to help me navigate the meaty jungles of this town and cut through the pork.
The Taco Task Force’s previous missions have included finding the best fish taco, potato taco and birria in town. I was lucky enough to be drafted for the most recent TTF to crown the best carnitas. The tasters for this outing included founder Bill Esparza (Street Gourmet LA), Josh Lurie (Food GPS), Matthew Kang (Mattatouille), Zach Brooks (Midtown Lunch), Dave Lieberman (OC Weekly) and his wife Linnea.
A word about carnitas: I learned that most carnitas you find in LA are boiled and then fried in lard. This is cheating and the reason why carnitas often have a hard (sometimes to the point of petrification) and stringy texture. It’s definitely the reason why I’ve never been a big fan—in their usual state, they’re almost oppressive. Ideally, they should be slow cooked in their own juices in a cazo (copper or stainless steel pot).
The scoring: To make the comparison as fair as possible, we ordered a taco surtido, a mix of various pig parts, at each location. Each taco was judged on Grade of Key Ingredient, Condiment/Tortilla, Overall Flavor and Cooking to determine a final score. Catagories were scored with a 1 to 5 scale, 5 being the best.
The contenders: Some of carnitas destinations were chosen by popularity and buzz, but there were also some less established places here that specialize in carnitas.
Highland Park:A New Carnitas Experience at Metro Balderas
Jan 24 2011Metro Balderas only serves carnitas on the weekends, but they make up for that by serving 8 different kinds. The most common type of pork carnitas served in Los Angeles is maciza, braised pork butt (actually cut from the shoulder). Metro Balderas serves maciza, of course, but they also cover less-frequented pig parts: cuerito (skin), trompa (snout), nana (uterus), buche (stomach), costilla (pork rib), oreja (ear), and surdita, which is a combo of all the above minus the Nana.
Metro Balderes also does something else differently: they don’t boil the meat. According to Street Gourmet LA, that’s a cheater method and the culprit behind the hard, stringy texture of so many carnitas that you come across. That problem is exactly what’s kept me from being the carnitas fanatic that I know I can be.
Eastside Goes Westside: Fluffy Tortillas from Tacomiendo
Oct 07 2010
I just found out that Monday was National Taco Day, so I figured better late than never. I first heard about Tacomiendo on a The Great Taco Hunt’s top 10 Westside tacos list and was intrigued. We’re privy to some pretty outstanding tacos on this side of town, so most of my forages on the westside tend to lean toward “ladies who lunch” establishments, where I can get a fancy sandwich, an Arnold Palmer and some sort of outrageous baked good. But Tacomiendo does, indeed, make a good carne asada taco.
And by good I mean the tortillas are handmade and super fluffy, the meat has the crispy-tender thing going on, and the salsa bar leaves little to be desired. The tacos are served barebones and garnished with a green onion. I ordered a side of guacamole to dress them up and went for smoky salsa roja on one and verde on the other because that’s the way I do it.
My lunch companions ordered combo plates, which looked only so-so to me, so I think I’ll stick with Tacos Por Favor for my non-taco Mexican fast food cravings, but these tacos are a treat.
-Valentina
Tacomiendo
11462 Gateway Blvd (Map It)
Los Angeles, CA 90064
The 3rd Annual Taste of East LA: Food, Music & Art
Aug 30 2010
My dad invited me to this year’s Taste of East LA, and I’m glad I went. The event is organized by the East LA chamber of commerce to bring attention to local businesses. While it’s true that there are some obvious absences from this collection of the “best restaurants in East LA” and some strange inclusions (i.e. Coffee Bean and Juan Pollo), there were some great bites to be had while taking in good music and art. To be honest, I actually had more stress-free fun here than at the recent LA Street Food Fest, where each tasting was separated by a 20-minute wait in line. Maybe it wasn’t the foodie event of the century, but vibe at the Taste of East LA was less competitive and the price was only $20 for a one shot at every booth, which garnered enough tasty food for two people. Plus, I even got to meet Lalo Alcaraz (see his “Tacos Sin Carne” print after the jump) of La Cucaracha fame.
Here’s what I ate and saw:
Fish Taco from Fish Taco Express 
Pork Mole Sope from Moles La Tia
Highland Park: The Taco Stand with No Name on York Blvd.
Jul 12 2010
Highland Park has been called “the taco capital of Los Angeles” a well-earned title, considering the innumerable taco trucks, stands and shops that line its streets. No matter your poison— al pastor, carne asada, tripa, chorizo, cabeza…you’ll find it here without much trouble.
While most of the “Best Tacos in HP” attention gets lavished on La Estrella, my vote goes to the unnamed stand on York Blvd. and Outlook Ave., which serves one of one of the best al pastor tacos I’ve ever had. No kidding. They’re juicy and a little fatty with a sweetness that’s complemented by the heat of fresh salsa. We actually found this place during an obsessive search to find some worthy tacos after a trip to Mexico City ruined us.
They set up at night in front of the tiny blue East LA Auto building across the street and a few blocks up from Villa Sombrero. The stand features a spit topped with the very necessary slab of pineapple. If you’re lucky (or if you just ask nicely), you’ll get a big, sweet, citrusy chunk sliced along with your pastor, which is chopped up and cooked to tender-with-crispy-bits perfection while you watch and yearn.
The only downside is that the tortillas are not made on the spot. They are, however, dipped in the grease of the giant pan where the chorizo, tripa and maybe a corazone or two, sizzle. The result is a moist, greasy (but not too greasy) tortilla with a slight meaty taste. Delicious and addictive.
-Valentina
