According to the Los Angeles Times, the star attraction of the Octopus exhibit at the aquarium beneath the Santa Monica Pier opened a valve last night, flooding the small building with 200 gallons of sea water. The precocious cephalopod, similar to the one pictured above, swum to the top of his tank and disassembled the water recycling valve above the tank. Damage to the aquarium was minimal.
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Japo had a presence that loomed large everywhere his raicilla landed, whether that was in one of Mexico’s most beloved cumbia mezcal bars, like Guadalajara’s Pare de Sufrir, where people order raicilla by name of the master distiller instead of brands they are associated with. Or in Torrance on Madre’s mezcal menu, where they still have 20 bottles left of a label Japo made for the restaurant. Like the greats in any craft, he created his own style of distilling that no other raicilla has come close to replicating.
“This is a special item that we kind of gate-kept,” says Sebastian Ramirez of the giant masa treats stuffed with stretchy mozzarella, Salvadoran frijoles de seda, and hand-chopped brisket that’s been smoked for 16-18 hours on post oak in the bellies of Ray’s two behemoth J&R Smoke-Masters.
From tacos de canasta in Fontana to brain tacos in San Bernardino and insanely tasty puffy tacos filled with chile verde in Alta Loma, these tacos fuel the Inland Empire's working class and taco fanatics. All are worth the drive.
L.A. TACO caught up with Madrid’s rising post-punk crooner over tacos de pulpo on Sunset Boulevard. We talked about the critical differences in the tacos in L.A., Spain, and Mexico, his favorite cheeseburger in Los Feliz, and a new album out soon.
While a pop-up in East Hollywood offers Nigerian and Kenyan influences in dishes like rosemary lamb suya and short rib biriyani, and Anthony Anderson and Cedric the Entertainer bring brisket to an L.A. mall.
