Los Angeles : J. Gold on Grilled Meat

Here is a fun and informative piece by Jonathan Gold:

"Out of the Flames" @ LAWeekly

E.M.

Erik M. wrote:Here is a fun and informative piece by Jonathan Gold:

"Out of the Flames" @ LAWeekly

Erik,

Fun and imformative pretty much describes it, thanks for the link. I'm a big fan of J Gold, soon as I get to LA a copy of Counter Intelligence goes in the rental car, along with suggestions you and JeffB have posted through the years. .

Enjoy,
Gary

Erik,
I especially like the following passage:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I have been going to El Parian for many years now, grabbing a table in the long, stark dining room, settling in to a cold bottle of Bohemia, and preparing to devote myself to a sloshing bowl of birria, the roast goat served with amplified pan-drippings that is the café’s great Guadalajara specialty. I went on record in 1990 claiming that El Parian’s birria was the single best Mexican dish in Los Angeles, and nothing in the thousand L.A. Mexican meals I have eaten since then has done anything to sway me from that belief.

In the last few months, people whom I have cause to trust have been telling me that El Parian also has the best carne-asada tacos in Los Angeles, that the kitchen succeeds better than anybody else in town at drawing a sweet, meaty, garlicky taste out of thin, charbroiled steak. (The corn tortillas, of course, have always been homemade.) I hadn’t been aware that El Parian actually served carne asada — I hadn’t been aware that the restaurant actually had a menu — so I drove to the Pico-Union district to put the theory to the test. And it did serve carne-asada tacos, although given the choice between an unknown quantity and El Parian’s birria, I naturally ordered the birria instead. It’s a good thing I brought a friend along, because otherwise I never would have gotten to taste what did turn out to be probably the best carne asada in town, well-blackened, beautifully marinated, peppered with delicious pockets of liquified fat that exploded under my teeth. Will I order the carne-asada taco the next time around? Of course not. But I’ll at least think about it. 1528 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, (213) 386-7361."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was just at El Parian last week, and I can wholeheartedly vouch for the quality of the Carne Asada tacos. Simply the best in every way that I've ever had in my life. No small praise in a town literally bursting at the seams with great tacos. (Thanks to the high praise from Bandini and other L.A. Chowhounds that got me down there!) I sure wish I could have tried the Birria, but I was so full from various taco trucks even before I went in that I could barely manage to finish 2 Asada tacos without exploding. And sadly, it was the last meal that I had before flying back. But everyone besides me seemed to be ordering the Birria, and I can tell you that it looked and smelled better coming out than any other that I had seen in town. My waitress also highly recommended it. I can't wait to get back to LA!!!!!

In the meantime, I will make it my mission to get over to Birrieria Reyes de Ocotlán one of these times soon when visiting Chicago. It seems from my reading on this forum that they are world-class in their own right.

Jeff from Michigan wrote:Erik,
I especially like the following passage:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I have been going to El Parian for many years now, grabbing a table in the long, stark dining room, settling in to a cold bottle of Bohemia, and preparing to devote myself to a sloshing bowl of birria, the roast goat served with amplified pan-drippings that is the café’s great Guadalajara specialty. I went on record in 1990 claiming that El Parian’s birria was the single best Mexican dish in Los Angeles, and nothing in the thousand L.A. Mexican meals I have eaten since then has done anything to sway me from that belief.

In the last few months, people whom I have cause to trust have been telling me that El Parian also has the best carne-asada tacos in Los Angeles, that the kitchen succeeds better than anybody else in town at drawing a sweet, meaty, garlicky taste out of thin, charbroiled steak. (The corn tortillas, of course, have always been homemade.) I hadn’t been aware that El Parian actually served carne asada — I hadn’t been aware that the restaurant actually had a menu — so I drove to the Pico-Union district to put the theory to the test. And it did serve carne-asada tacos, although given the choice between an unknown quantity and El Parian’s birria, I naturally ordered the birria instead. It’s a good thing I brought a friend along, because otherwise I never would have gotten to taste what did turn out to be probably the best carne asada in town, well-blackened, beautifully marinated, peppered with delicious pockets of liquified fat that exploded under my teeth. Will I order the carne-asada taco the next time around? Of course not. But I’ll at least think about it. 1528 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, (213) 386-7361."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was just at El Parian last week, and I can wholeheartedly vouch for the quality of the Carne Asada tacos. Simply the best in every way that I've ever had in my life. No small praise in a town literally bursting at the seams with great tacos. (Thanks to the high praise from Bandini and other L.A. Chowhounds that got me down there!) I sure wish I could have tried the Birria, but I was so full from various taco trucks even before I went in that I could barely manage to finish 2 Asada tacos without exploding. And sadly, it was the last meal that I had before flying back. But everyone besides me seemed to be ordering the Birria, and I can tell you that it looked and smelled better coming out than any other that I had seen in town. My waitress also highly recommended it. I can't wait to get back to LA!!!!!

In the meantime, I will make it my mission to get over to Birrieria Reyes de Ocotlán one of these times soon when visiting Chicago. It seems from my reading on this forum that they are world-class in their own right.

Hey, Jeff. I'm glad you found us.

I scan the LA Chowboard every day and I followed along and read your "taco excursion" posts, this past weekend.

I have never been to El Parian, but I am headed to LA again shortly and El Parian is very near the top of my list.

E.M.

P.S. I read Bandini's blog, too.

Erik,

I'm so jealous! The combination of fantastic food and weather on my very short trip to L.A.has me aching to get back there a.s.a.p.

Will you be doing any dining in East LA? That is the one area that I drove through but didn't have a chance to stop and try any of the places. But talk about a high concentration of great looking taquerias and trucks, most of which I assume aren't the slightest bit "gringo-ized". I truly wish I had spent at least a day there.......

Please keep us posted, and let us know about any great finds that you come across.

Jeff

p.s...I'm also very glad that I found this forum, as I have a feeling I will finally be able to experience the world-class Mexican food that I know has always been in Chicago but has so far eluded me. (Maybe this weekend if I can find anyone to go with, if not soon.)

Jeff from Michigan wrote:Erik, I'm so jealous! The combination of fantastic food and weather on my very short trip to L.A.has me aching to get back there a.s.a.p.

Shh, Jeff. Keep your voice down!

L.A. is not a popular subject at LTH, and conversing with the resident L.A. booster is not a good look for you.

Jeff from Michigan wrote:Will you be doing any dining in East LA?

I'll do what I can.

My brother lives in WeHo, so it is a bit of a challenge to get to the Eastside.

That said, I have been to quite a few Eastside taquerias: Tacos Baja Ensenada, Maria's (@ Grand Central Market), Cinco Puntos, Mi India Bonita, El Tepeyac (home of the infamous "Hollenbeck" burrito), King Taco, La Serenata de Garibaldi, Antojitos Denise’s, El Gran Burrito, Ciro's, etc.

But, with the exception of Tito's and La Super Rica, I haven't written much about the SoCal Mexican food scene. I suppose that I should.*

Anyway, if you want to recapture a little bit of the L.A. taqueria vibe, right here in Chicago, wait until Spring and hit El Potosi.

E.M.

* If you are curious about my other adventures in Los Angeles, you can do a keyword search here. [keywords: "Los AND Angeles"] I have written about a great number of things.

Erik M. wrote:

Jeff from Michigan wrote:Will you be doing any dining in East LA?

I'll do what I can.

My brother lives in WeHo, so it is a bit of a challenge to get to the Eastside.

Have you ever tried Gallo's Grill?. That's been high on my list of places to try in LA.

Speaking of rivalries, how long do you think the list of Chicago places with live fire would be? (Shall we start a list?)

Rob

Vital Information wrote:Have you ever tried Gallo's Grill?. That's been high on my list of places to try in LA.

No, I haven't, Rob, but I hope to someday. And, I may just have to go by myself, as it gets harder and harder to trick my pescovegetarian brother into accompanying me on those kinds of jags.

Vital Inforamation wrote:Speaking of rivalries, how long do you think the list of Chicago places with live fire would be?

Nearly as short as a number of other lists we could generate.

E.M.

Anyway, if you want to recapture a little bit of the L.A. taqueria vibe, right here in Chicago, wait until Spring and hit El Potosi.

Thanks for the rec. I'll add that one to the list. And thanks also for the photo, it looks like a cool little place. As soon as the weather breaks, I want to check that out, along with the Maxwell St. Market stands.