All photos by Tatiana Arbogast
Bill Esparza single-handedly raised our standards for authentic asada, carnitas, and pastor in L.A. through his blog Street Gourmet L.A. and writing in The L.A. Times and O.C. Weekly. Fueled by fastidious explorations of the regionally rich and diverse culinary culture of Mexico's many states while traveling as a professional saxophone player, the Stockton native often plays secret weapon as a consultant on other parties' street food events, intrepid eaters' television shows, and fancy restaurants State-specific Mexican menus. Next Sunday, Esparza presents his own event, Tacolandia, in a partnership with L.A. Weekly at The Palladium. Priced at $20, the writer promises us, "I've put together a tight group of vendors that is a refreshing break from the usual Gourmet Truck fests--not knocking them--I love them and support them for real as I support all street food venues--but it's nice to offer something different. We also have the best Mexican chefs in town: Rocio Camacho, Jimmy Shaw, Jaime and Ramiro (of Bell's Casita Mexicana). We have the 4 Baja chefs and stands, Trey Foshee from George's on the Cove in Coronado, we have traditional mom and pops, and some chefs doing great things with tacos--Wes Avila, Joshua Gil, Laurent Quenioux--can you say...escamoles?--and Ricardo Zarate."
To get ready for this titanic L.A. taco throw-down, Esparza picked L.A. Taco up in a van from the company Mustache Rides (the two throw tours together on weekends) and we hit the town to sample four of L.A.'s own regionally specific and extremely different taco spots. Come take a look at what we got into last Saturday with The O.G. Street Gourmet L.A.
The Tacu-Tacu Taco at Mo-Chica