Loteria, Farmer’s Market, Los Angeles California

Tacos are something I really enjoy but don’t think of as being very versatile. I am a midwestern boy and tacos are filled with ground beef, cheese, lettuce, and salsa. I have started to revise my view on this through such chefs as Rick Bayless, and now I have one half of my LA hosts to thank for broadening my view of the ubiquitous taco. Stephanie and I went out shopping at the Farmer’s Market and in Beverly Hills while Ian and Aaron went to the studio to record some drums for a film score Aaron is working on. We strolled leisurely around the market taking in the sights and sounds of a truly great open-air public farmer’s market, the kind I wish we had in Dayton, and really enjoyed ourselves. There are shops covering a lot of geography and even more culinary ground, I was in heaven.

Stephanie informed me, “You have to eat at Loteria, they have the most amazing tacos!” To be honest I was not really in the mood for tacos given my perception but I was willing to give it a go. When a Guatemalan girl says, “Eat a taco here, they are great” you do as your told. And so we ordered. I ordered three different tacos, as I wanted a well-rounded view of this little taco stand. I got the chicken and chorizo (not surprisingly), the braised shredded beef, and on Steph’s suggestion, the potato and goat cheese. To drink I ordered horchata a Mexican rice drink, similar to a milk shake. The beef taco was about what I expected, tender and rich, with a fair amount of chipotle heat, the chicken taco was also braised and was aided in flavor by the addition of chorizo which was really tasty. I will say that I have eaten a lot of chorizo in my life and a lot on this trip and LA certainly has the finest chorizo I’ve ever had and some of the best Latin American food I’ve ever had outside of Latin America. Lastly, we come to the potato taco. I was hesitant about this and if Steph had not intervened in my order I never would have had this wonderful experience. The potatoes were cooked just to the point if being mash-able then they were dressed with fresh cilantro and lime. The whole thing was topped with a mild and salty goat’s cheese that added some much needed salt, fat, texture, and dimension to the taste of this little wonder. All of these tacos were wrapped up in housemade corn tortillas hot off the grill. I am in love with this taco stand. I demand a Dayton outpost of Loteria soon be opened adjacent to or in conjunction with Mexi-Hole!

Shopping, tacos, food porn at the Farmer’s Market, Ralph Lauren in Beverly Hills, all made this day great and it was certainly a high water mark for the whole trip! Ten out of ten!

Arturo's Tacos

Arturo’s Tacos
WOW! This was my favorite meal of the whole Chicago trip. Arturo’s Tacos is a twenty-four hour restaurant that serves up authentic, reasonably priced, Mexican and Latin American cuisine with fast, efficient, service. The portions are huge and everything meets or exceeds expectation. I was surprised to see tacos filled with brains, tripe, and tongue, as these are typical of the American view of Mexican food. I ordered the chorizo torta, a dish that is masterfully handled by Dayton’s own Mex-a-Hole so they had big shoes to will. In addition to this huge sandwich I ordered a taco langua (tongue.)

The torta was filled to the max with wonderful house-made chorizo that was really strong on clove. Steve informed me that this was the case prior to eating it and to be honest I was weary. Clove is not a spice I ordinarily enjoy especially when used in savory dishes. The clove was definitely the main flavor in this sausage but it was in complimented the fattiness and the spiciness of the meat. The bread used to make a torta is a rich, eggy, brioche, like bread. Shredded lettuce, diced tomato, and sour cream served as the garnish on the sandwich and helped to cool the heat of the chorizo.

The taco langua was fantastic. The texture of tongue is often stringy and chewy but not this version. The meat was braised well and was so soft it fell apart in your mouth. The taste of tongue is similar to regular beef only much more intense. When I was in culinary school I spent ten days eating nothing but organ meat and tongue was one of the offal products that I truly enjoy. These tender bites were topped with mild farmer’s cheese, fresh chopped cilantro, and diced onion for texture. Then everything was wrapped up in a house-made white corn tortilla.

My dining companions enjoyed carne asada, chorizo, and vegetable tacos in addition to cheese quesadillas. The service here was quick and pleasant. Everything was very laid back and our waitress did a great job. 10 out of 10!!!