Skip to Content
Tito1.jpg

Tacos el Tito ~ Vermont & 167th St. Gardena, CA 90249

Everyone who loves tacos knows they taste best when you've been working your booty off all day or night doing something hard, whether labor or leisure. I was tired from same-said style of ass-busting, having worked hard under the guidance of inky-azz CBro and his winged-monkey army at the TACO propaganda arm, pushing and pulling on multi-ton, ancient iron machines famous for their ability to endow one with "buns of steel." Bedraggled, blunted conditions aside when our presence was announced with great ceremony at Tacos el Tito, these mu'fuckas were practically the best tacos I've ever had. Thankfully, they are as far away from Tito's Tacos, the favorite taco joint of many old skool LA heads, like Tony Danza, for example.

tito3.jpg

I'd been starving for weeks. Both Mary Kate AND Ashley are coming to town soon, and I refuse to be the fattest one as we berate the staff at Hyde for not bringing our $600 bottles of Georgi Vodka quickly enough. Like Syzmon Bukowski, the famished Majdanek hostage in Michener's epic Poland, the thought of big, oily, golden globules of fat sitting on a bowl of soup or anywhere else occupied my waking sleep. El Tito provided just that. These were not only some of the top rankin' tacos on my plate-O-fame, they were no doubt the oiliest. Each taco seemed half-liquid, each tightly-flavored bite exploding like a Mexican Chewels!

tito5.jpg

The asada was excellently spiced, and the meat was a perfect mix of sturdy and tender, thoroughly lubed up by all that grease. It was not all burnt-like, as some of the asada in town is, but rather kind of tender and very lightly browned. Delicious! Yes, they had no carnitas, they had no carnitas that day!!! I was bummed, but went for the pastor and chorizo. The chorizo was probably the least best, as it comes so ground up that all that oil made it a little pastey. Still, the commitment to flavor was still evident as it was a DEEP RED chorizo, also packed with varied and intricate flavors, hinting at sundried tomato or a tomatoey mole.

tito4.jpg

Pastor was the bomb, with nice medium sized square chunks griddled and slightly sticky, tough and tender, and really tasty. All three tacos had great proportions of their meat chunks and generous helpings. Even so, I went back for an asada, when I usually go back to pastor, I struggled on that one but opted for what I thought tasted best and was not let down by my second go-round.

tito2.jpg

CBro was also pretty damned stoked on his tacos. He and Rio Kvisto appear to be on a never-ending quest to get Madcow's Disease and I spied his crazy ass stuffing buche tacos down to his gullet. I asked him what was up with the buche, and he nodded that they were the bomb, with grease all running down his plate, fingers, and chin.

Tacos el Tito is a little like a religious experience, or at least was, to me, that night. Its flank is painted with two saints straddling a small country town church. With kids giggling over bouncy, wee soccer balls in a small yard on the corner, neighborhood players coming through to shoot the shit, laugh, and munch spicy-as-fuck cucumber salad, and those heavenly tacos, Tacos el Tito is as close to eating tacos with The Big Man Upstairs as I've come in a long time.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from L.A. TACO

Tens of Thousands of Angelenos Flock to L.A.’s Flower District for a Valentine’s Day Flower Free-For-All

Tens of thousands made their way to the city's wholesale flower capital, jamming the streets and sidewalks with countless flowers and people. L.A. TACO'S contributing photographer Kemal Cilengir was there to capture it all, including street vendors getting fined and the dystopian-like flower free-for-all being had by lovestruck customers and hustling vendors eager to offload their prized plants.

February 14, 2025

This Weekend: A New Bar-Setting Indian Restaurant, Duck Laab Pizza, and a Filipino Breakfast Diner Pop-Up

The founder of World Central Kitchen has Tequila-laced queso fundido and Tequila-laced Oaxacan chocolate cookies for you, while the Fairfax Farmer's Market is now serving Polish eats.

February 14, 2025

Self-Defense Against ICE: Community Groups In L.A. Are Uniting to Protect Themselves

More than 50 organizations have joined the call to join this coalition, making it one of Southern California's largest immigrant rights coalitions. The group aims to extend from the San Fernando Valley to the U.S./Mexico border. The coalition is organizing training sessions to prepare its members for community tactics to defend their neighbors from ICE raids and deportations. Their first mass protest is taking place on Monday.

February 13, 2025

Tacos Before Vatos: 13 Tacos In L.A. That Will Make You Forget About Him

For L.A. TACO, love is always in the air, and it smells like charcoal burning on a sunny day under carne asada and tortillas hot off the comal, with vibrant salsas, caramelized onions, and thick guacamole. Forget him, and spend time with things that matter in life: tacos, forever. 

February 13, 2025

Unmatched Hustle: Immigrant from Michoacán’s Tierra Caliente Creates Innovative Tortillería on Wheels…In Bakersfield

Many come and buy pounds and pounds to share with their family members as soon as they taste a warm “taco de sal,” a tortilla sprinkled simply with salt and rolled up like a thin flauta. It’s common to eat tacos de sal while waiting in line at a tortillería in Mexico, but not so much in the U.S. 

February 12, 2025
See all posts