la.foodblogging

It is a pretty well known idiom that one cannot be the master of everything. I believe that this also applies to restaurants. Some restaurants try to over-diversify in order to (alledgedly) attract a greater number of customers. However, the ability to do a few things superbly is what would make me want to revisit a restaurant.

Within Mexican cuisine, there is a large expanse of dishes. You might have seafood dishes, tacos, burritos, enchiladas, moles, as well as various meat dishes. I’ve written before about Guelaguetza and Jonah has written about Monte Alban, which are great places to go for mole.

I feel that I can finally add a recommendation for carne asada (the meat on the right). At Paco’s Taco’s Cantina, I was blown away by the texture and the taste of their dish. It was extremely juicy even though the piece of meat was thin. Usually, for the level of juiciness that I got, I would expect something twice as thick. It may be that they use a higher-than-normal flame to seal in the juice since the char marks were darker than those I am accustomed to. Whatever they did, it was amazing. The lime flavor and the chili pepper were distinct but nowhere near overpowering. It served to complement the beef taste perfectly.

In addition to this, I also fell in love with the freshly made tortillas. Directly behind us, there was a woman kneading dough and making both flour and corn tortillas. In any Mexican restaurant I go to, I stick with the corn tortillas and here they were a little thicker and firmer than the ones I was used to. Strangely enough, they actually had a little of a yellow color so perhaps they use yellow corn rather than white corn, which I believe most other places use.

The only drawback to my experience was the exceptionally long wait. It’s first come first serve and because of the popularity, you end up waiting for a bit. Thankfully, they do give you chips and salsa in the waiting room. This, plus the Cadillac Margarita (in my opinion, the best Margarita I’ve had), helped to pass the time.

Paco’s Taco’s Cantina
4141 S. Centinela Ave.
LA, CA 90066

6212 Manchester Blvd.
LA, CA 90045

By Jeff (see more of his posts).