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.

Lobsta!!!

Lobster + food truck = LobstaTruck. One of the latest gourmet style food trucks to roll out recently. Based on the crowds it looks like they are turning out to be a pretty popular truck, I mean it is lobster after all. I know they get their lobster flown in, just not sure from where, it's definitely fresh though. They have a simple menu, lobster rolls with butter or with mayo, crab rolls, chowder and a few sweets. The lobster roll is fairly straightforward, cooked lobster bathed in butter (mayo, just not my thing ever) on a lightly grilled/toasted roll. That's it. Its quite good and satisfying with sweet and succulent meat and the roll is quite tasty as well. I've had them twice now, both times, equally great. Since its seafood, you don't feel heavy after eating which is nice, but I did find myself getting hungry again sooner then later though. For the price, $11 or $9 for crab, its not something I can justify to eat at to often (is once a week to often?), makes for a nice indulgence though. My only real grumble is that it seemed to take a while to get my food, first time they were swamped, so I attributed it to that, but the second time there was no line and it still took a while. Maybe they steam/boil and cook to order? I'll have to ask next time, and yes there will be several next times. If you love the lobster, this is definitely a tasty way to get your fix and it's worth the wait.



You can find out more info about them on their site here or follow them on Twitter here.

The Best Fish Taco In Ensenada

Great little taco place in Los Feliz, The Best Fish Taco In Ensenada. Very simple and straight forward. You order fish or shrimp tacos. That's it. The fish and shrimp are lightly battered and quickly deep fried, the corn tortillas are warmed on the grill and the tacos are served naked. On their own, the shrimp and fish are really tender and sweet and with a crunch of the batter are pretty tasty. Where the tacos really shine is with the salsa bar. You dress em' up yourself. There are the basics like cream and shredded cabbage, but what is really great is that they make a bunch of different fresh salsas like mango spicy or mild, or guacamole style or my favorite, the radish salsa which is both a little spicy and tangy. You can load it up as much or little as you're feeling like.

Every time I've eaten here, its been really good. Always satisfying and surprisingly filling. You can't beat the prices either, $2 for shrimp and $1.50 for fish. Very affordable, fresh and tasty tacos. They have 3 locations. You can find more info on their web site.

Summer in November @Willoughby Road

The last couple of days it's been summer in November here in L.A. Heard it hit/almost hit a 100 degrees on Wednesday....in November! Needed to escape the heat and grab some lunch, so Miss Absinthe and I promptly went down to Wilshire near LACMA to find a food truck for lunch, in the heat (yah I know). Found a convenient metered parking spot and then realized it had a nice big flashing FAIL on it and wasn't sure if it's still legal or not to park at a failed meter. As we were discussing it, a bicycle officer, who noticed our confusion, rode over and told us, "You're ok to park there for 2 hours, no worries". Thought that was pretty cool and nice to let us know like that, especially considering last time I got pinched for not paying attention to the signs. This seemed to make up for it, well kinda sorta. Barely out of the car, hot, but off to a good start.



Lots of trucks parked out on Wilshire has become the norm, plenty of options. Came across the Willoughby Road Food Truck, "classic southern cuisine re-defined." What's great to eat on a hot summer like day in the fall? Fried chicken! Twice fried chicken and grilled watermelon with a generous side of mac n cheese.



First off, generous sized portions of chicken (we took one piece home and finished it off a couple of hours later). The chicken is twice fried, with one layer of coating being a tempura type of batter. There's a lot of crunch and flavor going on, a good savory coating. The meat was really tender and juicy. They pour a Harrisa glaze (North African spice) on the chicken which adds this spicy, but sweet quality. I didn't know that when I ordered, even though I enjoyed the extra level of flavor it added, I would have preferred it on the side to add as needed or maybe just a little less. That being said, it was still really great. The cut of the chicken is a little odd, kind of block like, but easy to handle. Not your regular cuts of leg, breast, thigh etc. The grilled watermelon, wow, these were great, almost steals the show. The grilling process seemed to have tenderized the watermelon and with a bit of that grill flavor and a touch of salt, mmmm, just a great way to finish off the meal. The mac n cheese was good, but not necessarily a stand out in comparison to the flavor/seasoning of the fried chicken or the watermelon.



It really was a sweltering day out and I know the chefs were definitely cooking themselves in the process. So a big thanks for making a great meal on such a hot day. Definitely recommend checking them out and I know I'll hit them up again as well. You can follow them on Twitter here and find more info about them on their site here.