[dropcap size=big]E[/dropcap]njoying all that L.A.’s Taco Life has to offer is a matter of constantly pushing yourself to cruise through new neighborhoods and stopping randomly at taquerías along the way. Some surefire signs of stumbling into unforgettable tacos are trucks, restaurants, or stands that have large crowds, or simply a truck offering a taco-style or from a different region that you haven’t seen before.
Yes, this very much means driving out of the neighborhood you live in and hopping on the freeway in the search for tacos that are new to you. It also means relying a bit on that old-school spirit of adventure and leaving your taco fate up to the Taco Gods. Maybe it’s time to replace your Yelp app with L.A. TACO’s official app (that is still in beta, chill). It’s OK not to have an exact itinerary. It’s also normal having a few mediocre tacos before you find one that was worth the journey. I'll never forget a valuable piece of advice that my mentor Jonathan Gold told me when I was still a lil' Teenager Glutster: "For every great meal, you will have at least 10 bad ones." This is also more or less accurate when talking about traversing your way through L.A.'s Taco Life.
I recently pushed myself to do precisely this and chose Compton as my destination taco ‘hood. I allowed myself to do one quick Google search to find a solid-looking destination to pin on the map. This first location served as a starting point and an offering to my bottomless taco stomach. It also prevents the predicament of driving aimlessly while hangry, which is a recipe for taco disaster so don't make that rookie mistake.
Nonetheless, here are my top three spots from that crawl.