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Spot Check: A Chilled 40 Oz. With Caviar-Topped Tamales at a Fine-Dining Restaurant In Downtown

Also, high school students get $2 Baja tacos all summer at a local chain and a thinly sliced al pastor is making its way down the 110 Freeway.

Ah yes, the 2023 is a great vintage… photo: Evan Tsuchiyama

Spot Check! Welcome to L.A. TACO’s latest column, where we bring you the latest and most exciting openings, pop-ups, finds, and food events around all of Los Angeles this week.

Francisco Aguilar, owner and chef of L.A.'s acclaimed Simón seafood truck, will be cooking six-course "Mariscos Chingones" dinners on three separate nights at Bolita in East Hollywood. The meals, held June 14 and 28, and July 12, will be served with mezcal pairings. Tickets are available on Resy.

864 N. Virgil Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90029. Closest Metro lines and stop: Bus Line 4 - “Santa Monica/Virgil" or Bus Line 10 - "Melrose/Virgil."

Look for Con Tocho Morocho Tacos, a stand that sets up from Highland Park to Garden Grove, and touts its thinly shaved al pastor, charcoal-grilled asada and chorizo, and buche in tacos, mulitas, quesadillas, tortas, vampiros, alambres, and burritos, along with papas locas rellenas.

2627 N. Figueroa St. Los Angeles, CA 90065. Closest Metro lines and stop: Bus Lines 81, 90, 94 or 251 - “Avenue 26/Figueroa” or Metro A Line - "Lincoln/Cypress Station."

Baja taco chain Ensenada Surf n' Turf has a summer deal for high school students. $2 fish tacos with your official high school ID all summer long at any of its six locations (in L.A. limits, there's stores in Gardena, El Segundo, Lawndale, and Hermosa Beach). Limit two per customer.

Reunion is now open with a beautiful open-air terrace at NeueHouse in Hollywood. Straightforward, flavorful, and gorgeous coastal Italian dishes include kampachi and scallop carpaccio, tuna belly and uni bruschetta, sunchoke tortellini with uni and caviar, and sliced Tuscan butcher's steak, along with cocktails by O.G. L.A. mixologist Eric Alperin, and double chocolate chip affogatos with sherry for dessert.

1538 N. El Centro Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90028. Closest Metro lines and stop: Bus Line 2 - “Sunset/Gower” or Metro B Line - "Hollywood/Vine Station."

Caviar-topped honeynut squash tamales at Asterid photo: Evan Tsuchiyama

Ray Garcia's Downtown restaurant, Asterid, launched a happy hour this week, allowing guests choices of 10 different $10 cocktails, along with "caviar bites," which involve a round cake of honeynut squash tamal topped with crema and a tall anthill of Grand Selection Schrenckii sturgeon roe. Drinks include a non-alcoholic Gin & Hop Water, Oaxacan rum daiquiris, a Japanese whiskey highball, and a forty of Miller High Life aka "The Champagne of Beers," served in a bucket and poured table-side into everyone's chilled coupes. Happy hour is from 5-7pm, Weds-Sat at the restaurant's bar and lounge area.

141 S. Grand Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90012. Closest Metro lines and stop: Metro A or E Lines - "Grand Av Arts/Bunker Hill Station" or Bus Lines 53, 55, 60, 62, 70, 76 or 78 - “Grand/2nd.”

Bar Nuda is bringing its zero-proof "cocktail" bar to Silver Lake's De Buena Planta, which will serve food, tonight from 6-10pm. The bar, which has previously popped up in Venice, is held as a safe social space for anyone who embraces or wants to explore a sober, sober-curious, and health-conscious nightlife experience, with a vinyl-strapped DJ and drinks inspired by and made with Mexican ingredients. Tickets at the door.

Tonight, 6-10pm, 2815 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90026. Closest Metro lines and stop: Bus Lines 2 or 4 - “Sunset/Silver Lake.”

San Diego's Epic Wings chain is grand-opening its second Los Angeles location this Saturday in Long Beach. The company, which claims to be the first to have brought Buffalo wings to our coast back in 1982, sells combo meals centered on entrees like tenderloin strips, Buffalo-style and boneless wings, salads, fries, and pizza sticks, while they celebrate Tuesdays with the appearance of chicken tacos topped with chipotle ranch. Saturday's grand-opening will see a DJ on site, along with promises of giveaways, "a well-known Long Beach based special guest rapper and songwriter." Wait, is that Lil' Half Dead sneaking up behind you?

11am-3pm, 4494 Atlantic Ave. Long Beach, CA 90807

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