What with all the supply chain issues, inflation, and shit literally "falling off the back of a train," L.A. TACO is especially concerned this year with taking some of the stress off the consumptionist nightmare known as "the holidays."
Which is why we've combed the city, nay, the very western hemisphere, to find some cool stuff that the people in your life are sure to adore.
We mean everyone. The buddha-heads, the sharp-dressers, the home-cooks, the book-worms, the un-en-hyphenated... everyone.
So take a look at what we've found for your consideration in The 2021 L.A. TACO Holiday Gift Guide.
“Don’t Fake the Funk” is the autobiography of Zackey Force Funk. It’s just your average tale about a teenager who grows up in a Tucson barrio, gets locked up in maximum-security prison, goes on to rob drug dealers, sell thousands of records, and then build historic rockets for Space X.
Don Chilio makes Sichuan-style chile crisp, only with Mexican flavor profiles. There's a gift pack with all three flavors: jalapeno, habanero, and serrano. Which they'll proceed to be put onto anything and everything.
Jewelry from Lagrimas de Oro, handmade "con amor" by an East L.A. local, and including this gold-wrapped, yellow apatite pendant, which offers various healing properties, making it a gift that keeps giving.
Santa Ana's Alta Baja Market has holiday gift baskets this year. Like this Best of Baja Vino collection, featuring one sparkling, three red, and two white wines from Baja's Valle de Guadalupe, along with tasting notes and pairing suggestions. That should cover lunch.
We wish Pati Jinich was our mom. She's the best. Plus, how good would the food be? Until then, we have her brand-new cookbook, Treasures of the Mexican Table, releasing Nov. 23 with recipes from her travels across Mexico. We also have our own moms.
The L.A. Meekly Podcast’s “365 Days of Los Angeles History” calendar will make you aware of important dates from our city’s past, such as the day the Watts Towers were deemed a national historic landmark or the day The Doors released "L.A. Woman." Which is important to some of us.
JCoco’s Cayenne Veracruz Orangein white chocolate is a 30% West African cacao chocolate bar that sees a portion of proceeds going to fight hunger in the U.S. In other words... it's a stocking stuffer with a win-win resolution.
Help the woke wake-up in the morning with this “Knock Out Racism” mug, which comes from anti-racist personal trainer and two-time National Endowment for the Humanities award-winning educator, comedian, and consultant Kanene Holder. Now they'll have no excuse for not knocking out racism.
Marcela Gomez’s Downey-made “Oh Comadre" candles” come in scents like champurrado, concha, Vick’s VapoRub, Chocolate “Abuelito” and other familiar aromas that may remind you of your childhood. So even if you can't physically be with your family this year, it’ll still smell like they’re around.
We all love Danny Trejo's beautiful mug. But the The Trejo's Tacos Holiday Bundle, with a signed copy of the Trejo's Tacos Cookbook, hot sauce, house blend whole bean coffee, canvas tote bag, and $50 gift card to Trejo’s Tacos, just screams "perfect for Dad" to us.
MXXN is a cannabis cocktail mixer. It’s booze-free but loaded with THC, in flavors that mimic tequila, whiskey, and gin, so you can make cocktails that taste familiar, but pack a whole different kind of buzz.
The Buddy is a stylish one-hitter from WOC-owned Budwell. It can be personalized with laser etching, is unbreakable, and comes in a brand-new Buddy Gold edition with a tumbled brass tip, airtight, odor-proof carrying case, an ash cap, and cleaning wand. Wait, we want one.
Tanteo Navidad is a new añejo from the only tequila distillery “owned by its co-op of agave farmers.” It comes hand-infused with nutmeg, ginger, clove, cocoa beans, pequin chiles, and cinnamon, so it already sounds better than eggynog. Also, 10% of all sales profits go to Un Salto Con Destino, which provides essential medical services to Jalisco’s El Salto community. Seriously though, what the fuck is eggnog?
And don’t forget to buy merchandise and gift cards from our local taqueros and restaurants. They make great gifts. We don't know anybody who wouldn’t smile wide upon unwrapping a Birria Nochistlán hat or shirt from Evil Cooks or Balam.
And we’d never want to, now that we think about it.
One of L.A. TACO's co-founders, Hadley Tomicki is a critic and journalist whose work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, New York Magazine, and many other places.
The K Line is Metro's newest light rail line that cruises through the heart of Black Los Angeles, from Nipsey Square to Leimert Park. The taco scene along this route is all about hustle, featuring some of the cities must under-the-radar community gems like a historic L.A. taquería with a killer red salsa, lightly crunchy "enchilada tacos," and so much more. Next stop: flavor.
A local news station scanned Google, TikTok, and other online reviews to cherry-pick a handful that calls the Boulevard "grubby, slightly scary... dirty, unsafe" and "one of the worst tourist attractions on the planet." We weighed in on the subject.
This may be the last generation of beautifully grimy punk bars and venues in a city that is overdeveloping all of these counterculture community spaces into the post-gentrification abyss. Go and support by buying drinks at all these places to make sure they stick around for the next generation.
On weekends,Cafe Fresco transforms into one of the rare places in the city to find seco de chivo, llapingachao, guatita, and other regional Ecuadorian eats.