OH MY GAAWWD, I WANT TACOS!!!

You cannot call yourself a foodie if you’ve never hound dogged some food.

Hound dogged food? What pray tell is that? You get a crazy craving for something, you just have to have, no matter what it is, so you call up a friend or two, hop in the car and you all go out hunting for something to eat—that’s what food hounding is. This is exactly what happened to me last night, Saturday, September 28, 2013. I sat around for a few hours tinkering with WordPress, broke it a couple of times while trying to figure out if I was going to go to Fresh & Easy to get the items I needed to make a bacon & asparagus pizza. All of a sudden, it hit me; I get this out-of-thin-air craving for tacos. But not like restaurant tacos that you would get from a place like Ramona’s or fast food tacos from somewhere like Cinco de Mayo, Chronic, or Titos; I wanted street tacos, roach coach tacos; those tacos that most likely defy everything I learned in my ServSafe class.

A few years back I used to get these sort of tacos with a buddy of mine, who I’ve since, disowned. Sadly enough, I forget where in Downtown Los Angeles we used to go get these amazing $1 tacos. Struggling to remember and not being on speaking terms with this particular friend, a light bulb goes off in my head and I think “Redd would know where to get great tacos,” I pick up my iPhone and call my friend Redd, excitedly, I ask how he’s doing and go on to exclaim: “I want some roach coach tacos!!!” There is a pause in the conversation—he’s thinking. I’m chattering on about tacos and finally ask: “Are you in L.A.? What you doing tonight? Let’s food hound for some roach coaches!”

I dash over to Gardena, pick up Redd and we hop in the car and get to hounding. My intention was to go to a few places and try out their tacos; who knew my needs would be met with only one place, sort of like a happily married man. My buddy remembers a place but cannot recall the name. He says it is on 7th & Mateo, downtown. Driving aimlessly with only his memory to be our guide, I get on the 110 north towards downtown exiting at the 10 east. He tries to remember where to get off the 10 east, at San Pedro, Alameda or what. Finally getting off on Sante Fe and driving a short distance, we are at our destination. There is a short, yet growing line, and it’s rotating and turning, out carne asada tacos, burritos and, of course, al pastor. I order 5 carne asada tacos for myself [to start] and 3 for my lady friend; Redd had eaten already and only came along for the hound, that’s what real hardcore foodies do; we band together in the hunt.

I top my tacos and begin diving-in, eagerly. They are amazing!!! The meat is juicy and has that right amount of char that you expect from grilled carne asada. The red sauce is spicy but not overpowering, the onion & cilantro mixture is fresh with a mighty kick that compliments the crunch and the bitter bite of the pickled radishes. The lime juice adds that extra Mexican flavor that pushes everything over-the-top.

I didn’t stop there, I ordered 5 more tacos, but this time al pastor. Whew, boy let me tell you! Right off the grill onto my tacos. As before I top them, this time using the green sauce. Amazing. That’s all I can say, such a simple and amazing food pleasure.

So when the craving hits you, don’t ever hesitate to call up a few great foodie pals to go on a proper food hounding hunt. You never know what kind of diamond culinary gems are out hiding in the rough.