Tinga

Earlier this year started going to this fairly new Mexican restaurant called Tinga Buena located on La Brea between 1st and 2nd. Great little place. Its seems to be a combination of traditional & authentic Mexican flavors, but refined with wonderfully seasoned dishes that pack a lot of punch.

The Tinga Tacos is their house speciality. Spicy stewed chicken, with lettuce, pickled onions, crema and cheese on fresh made crunchy tostada style shells. Very satisfying dish, great textures and flavors. Its spicy, but not that hot. Just good flavors.

Pechuga tacos, lemon brined chicken breast with, queso fresco, salsa verde and purple cabbage on fresh made soft corn tortillas. This had a much more subtle flavor make up, but was bright with flavors. Also, the other taco orders come with a small side of house made tortilla chips with a nice house made smokey chipotle hot sauce.

Chorizo quesadilla with goat cheese and pickled onions. Very filling and tasty. This makes for a good dish to share with some one if you're wanting to try out a few things on the menu. Great seasoned chorizo with a nice balance of sweet from the goat cheese and tangy crunch from the pickled onions and served with the tasty chipotle hot sauce.

Elote Especial, hands down one of my favorite things there. A must have or a must try side dish. Its grilled sweet corn with creamy lime, chile and a poblano puree. A nice mix of sour tangy, spicy and sweet. The lime adds such a nice bite with a little heat with the sweetness of the corn, yum.

Usually go there about once or twice a month now. Service has always been terrific and pretty quick. Highly recommend checking them out. Great all the way around. You can find out more info as well as their menu here.

The Mighty Boba

Recent new favorite food truck of mine, The Mighty Boba Truck. Their menu is about different tea drinks with boba (which I have to admit, I haven't tried yet, but I plan to) and some different types of Taiwanese snack meals.

I've been hooked on their popcorn basil fried chicken which you can get as spicy or mild as you want. Really makes a great quick lunch and a good value as well, a lot of chicken for $4. Served to you in a paper bag with little bamboo skewers to eat them with which is pretty fun. I tend to get mine at a spice level of 4 and its still pretty damn spicy. They have a few other items which sounded interesting and good as well, like the island pork chops, Taiwanese sausage or the toast bread snacks. Definitely recommend checking them out. Service is always great and usually pretty fast. Find more info about them on their website here and you can follow them on Twitter here.

The Ahn Joo Stew

Had some Ahn Joo for lunch recently, a Korean pub grub inspired food truck. The menu is similar to when chef/owner Debbie Lee did a pop up restaurant at Bread Bar on West Third last year, you can see my blog post about it here. The food/menu seems well suited in truck form, both in terms of portion and price.

I decided to try something new and got the special, hangover stew with spicy pork, egg fried rice and crispy potatoes. Even though its called a stew, it wasn't really that stew like. I think I was expecting something on the soupy side, which this wasn't. Bowl of fried rice with a good portion of pork on top and potatoes on the side. It was still really great, just not quite what I thought it would be. The pork was fairly tender and pulled apart easily, the sauce was pretty spicy and flavorful, definitely broke a sweat. There was enough rice and crispy potatoes (which were both great btw) to balance it out. Very much enjoyed the meal and it really filled me up, great on a cold day.

I definitely recommend checking them out. You can find out more info on their website here and you can follow them on Twitter here.

Yummy!

Lunch at The Yummy One food truck, specializing in mostly Korean cuisine and black angus beef. I do not eat beef, so I do miss out on quite a few things at times, but thankfully most trucks have a chicken or vegetarian option on the menu. I gave the fried chicken tacos a go.



These turned out to be some really good tacos. The chicken was light and tender with a very thin fried crust to it, definitely not the heavy battered crunchy coating style, but it made for a nice lighter meal. The tacos are pretty straight forward, lettuce mix plus the chicken in corn tortillas and they pour a little siracha sauce on them. They also give you some peppers on the side and a small side of a spicy tomatillo sauce and a side of a spicy smokey chipotle type of sauce.



I'll definitely be eating there again, they have a rice bowl version with the chicken I want to try. Check em' out. The service was really great, good prices and food was prepared quickly. You can find out more about them on their site here and you can follow them on Twitter here.