El Chato Taco Truck & LA Living

I used to drive by El Chato every other day heading to and coming back from Los Angeles’ Koreatown and Downtown when I lived in Westwood.  The little taco truck always had a line in front of it like consumer slaves waiting the night before Black Friday.  

My buddy mentioned El Chato is considered one of the best tacos in Los Angeles and it’s a title only reserved for the long-standing Los Angeles’ Taco Bell.  However, people’s food taste is very subjective like determining which fitness culture is more obnoxious.  For example, Cross-fitters and Bodybuilders are both obnoxious, but some might find bodybuilders more annoying with their Beats by Dre headphones.  However, I find them both annoying cause it doesn’t take much athletic ability or brain power to lift weights.

The same could be said about taco stands.  The age old debate of Del Taco or Taco Bell.  However, nothing beats a taco from a roach coach in Los Angeles like California weed.  A nice and greasy taco is only comparable to some good kush.  It would take a lifetime to try every single taco shop in Los Angeles and four lifetimes for Southern California.  That or a lot of weed.

El Chato is it’s only open after 9 PM.  It’s located on Olympic and La Brea where the traffic resembles the speed of Department of Motor Vehicles’ service.  After 8:30 PM, the intersection is completely free of traffic and El Chato sets up shop like the local neighborhood street dealer on the block.  As a Californian, tacos are a regular part of my diet and Spanish obscenities are in my vocabulary.   El Chato are quality tacos and burritos at cheap prices.  How cheap?  It’s $1 tacos and $4-5 burritos served on a paper plate.  It’s cheaper than a dime sack of shitty weed.

Now, la comida.  The El Chato doesn’t have a huge menu. They keep it simple with 8 different meats and a few drinks.  The bit size tacos have gotten smaller over the years; however, I’ve always been big on quality over quantity like Bud Light over a merlot.

1. Asada – El Chato uses skirt or flap steak with a bit of garlic and salt. The tender morsels of beef with the additions of lime and their salsa had my buddy from OKC say he will leave his girlfriend and move to LA.  The asada robust flavors with the additions of their salsa is enough to make you reconsider whether Taco Bell has the best tacos.

   

2. Al Pastor –  The spices and chili for flavoring is mouth-watering like seeing a bag of chips after a bong rip.  These are one of the best al pastor I’ve eaten in my life. Easily.   It’s slow cooked on a rotisserie grill similar to how shawarmas are cooked.  The pork juices are redistributed over the pork as it turns like re-gifting Christmas gifts you were given.  The fat dripping from the grill will have Anthony Bourdain and David Chang re-evalutate their love for pork.

   

When in LA, here are the top 10 things you need to do:

1. Tacos at El Chato
2. Smoke some weed
3. Sit in traffic
4. Eat an In N’ Out Double Double
5. Tacos at El Chato
6. Smoke some weed
7. Eat Pho at Pho 79 in Little Saigon
8. Tacos at El Chato
9. Smoke some weed
10. Tacos at El Chato

Fuck the museums.  Fuck Sunset Blvd. Fuck the Hollywood sign.  Like 2pac said, it wouldn’t be LA without Mexicans.  I’m sure he was talking about the tacos.

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