The first time your eye catches Alex "Pobre Diablo" Garcia's lengua trompo, stacked with ten six-inch long beef tongues, you may be intrigued and slightly horrified at the same time. It's an extremely innovative evolution of the humble al pastor trompo found on every intersection in the city.
But is it actually delicious? Or is it just another example of bait stunt food designed to go viral on TikTok?
Garcia and his partner in Evil Cooks, Elvia Huerta, debuted this startling trompo last Saturday afternoon at LB Living's Taco & Tequila Festival.
"It was inspired by KISS," ," says Garcia. "I'm a big fan of the band."
He nicknamed the lengua trompo "The Simmons," in honor of Gene Simmons of Kiss, the rocker with one of the longest tongues in the world.
This lengua trompo is the latest gonzo trompo from Evil Cooks. It follows the outside-the-tortilla lineage of trompos, such as their own ghoulishly delicious all-octopus "Poseidon" trompo, their DIY-engineered trompo-mobile tricycle, and their frozen ice cream trompo that they made especially for our last TACO MADNESS festival.
It's a taco that will scar your lengua psyche, but in the best possible way.
As it turned out, the Simmons is another bonafide Evil Cooks trompo masterpiece destined to turn their taco die-hard fans crazy for lengua.
Garcia tapped into his old-school Mexican cooking wisdom to tenderize the lengua first by cooking it for hours in a pot of beans. The gentle simmering nature of cooking beans also breaks down lengua's texture, which can be chewy if not cooked properly.
The beans also add another layer of earthiness and umami to the beef tongues. Once the lenguas are tender, Alex taps into his horror movie-obsessed taquero ways and impales each of the lenguas onto his trusty trompo where they roast for a couple more hours.
The resulting slices of lengua melt in your mouth and have a textural integrity closer to room-temp butter than a beef cut. It is mind-meltingly tender and enters the realm of being ethereal even.
He places the lengua on his house-nixtamalized corn tortillas—an heirloom Oaxacan corn sourced from Poncho of Poncho's Tlayudas—and adds a small spoonful of chimichurri-inspired salsa verde and raw onions.
Due to popular demand, Garcia tells L.A. TACO that Evil Cooks will be bringing back The Simmons this Sunday at Smorgasburg L.A. in Downtown. It's a taco that will scar your lengua psyche, but in the best possible way.
"This Trompo will make you remember your first kiss," Garcia says.
