[dropcap size=big]O[/dropcap]ne of L.A.'s original birria taco pop-ups, Goat Mafia of Compton, has found a home and L.A. Taco members were among the first to experience their soft opening as a weekend pop-up in Echo Park on Saturday. If you've been eager to try Goat Mafia, first featured last October on L.A. Taco, this past weekend was your most recent chance — if you're a card-carrying member of L.A. Taco, that is.
Chef Juan Garcia's delicious birria tacos were up for grabs for the smart ones who showed up for our second exclusive free members-only tasting, including the debut of possibly the first Burmese taco with upstart popup Myanmar101. The "intro to Burmese cuisine" is by Matt Kyin, and his mother, and is already making waves.
Kyin's invention is a palatha-based taco (which is something like a pancake and a flour tortilla if you haven’t had one), with meat curry on top, and topped with pico de gallo, a special sweet chili, thai chiles, and fish sauce.
Goat Mafia has set up shop and will be open weekends inside 88 Monks, Kyin's gallery and game and streetwear store, and now also a budding kitchen space on Alvarado Street in Echo Park. Also on hand was Cerveza Mundial, offering L.A. Taco members its new black-and-white beer cans of “La Cordoniz,” a crisp pale ale.
Overall it was a great event. New friendships were made over a futbolitos table, Street Fighter, and tacos. These are just some of the pics of this weekend's best taco lifestyle experience, by L.A. Taco senior photographer Erwin Recinos.
Still not a member of L.A. Taco? Seriously what are you waiting for?
All photos by Erwin Recinos.
RELATED: 'Birria Has to Be Goat': How Goat Mafia in Compton Is Throwing Down a Gauntlet
Cesar Hernandez contributed to this report.
