Best Food Spots in Los Angeles, CA. : The Taco Tour

L.A. TACO is a source for information covering food, culture and community in the Los Angeles area. Founded in 2006, it all started with a mere desire to document the best tacos and other favorites in the area and has since grown into a full-blown community passionate about the L.A. lifestyle. Whether an L.A. local or one of the millions of tourists who visit each year, one of the questions L.A. TACO gets asked the most is: If we only had time for one or two essential tacos while in Los Angeles, where should we go? 

Cloud Nine reached out to L.A. TACO with that very question and they delivered a list of 10 of the best tacos found in L.A. We have put the top 5 below (scan the QR code for the full list). If you get a chance to try some of these suggestions below you will understand why people in Los Angeles are so passionate and prideful when it comes to their tacos.

Evil Cooks 

Tacos to try: The Three From Hell

461 N Eastern Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90032

Evil Cooks came on the scene with a heavy metal guitar solo, starting with one black trompo; now they’re up to three. The Three From Hell comes with three tacos from each trompo: beef, pork, and octopus. The protein for each respective trompo is rubbed with recado negro, a paste made from burning spices and chiles. Make sure to try their roquero dessert tacos. – Cesar Hernandez

Tacos Don Cuco

Tacos to try: Adobada and Asada Vampiro

752 S Fetterly Ave, East Los Angeles, CA 90022

One of East L.A.’s best Tijuana-style tacos, and they serve adobada. They make the distinction that adobada and al pastor are entirely different. They outline that the difference is in the preparation of the pork and how it is cooked. At Don Cuco, the adobada is grilled over coals instead of on a trompo, which they believe to be the true method of adobada. The result is smoky, succulent pork that tastes different from al pastor. Try the vampiro with both adobada and asada, basically a crunchy and meaty tostada sandwich with melted cheese.  –Cesar Hernandez

El Ruso

Taco to try: Asada taco on Flour Tortilla

3140 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026

El Ruso pairs excellent grilled asada with supple flour tortillas made in the Sonora style. The cashier will ask you if you want beans and cheese, and you do. A pile of cheese is placed on the plancha and covered with a flour tortilla, then scraped off, creating a cheese crust. Then goes the chopped asada and a scoop of beans. It’s a quintessential taco experience in L.A. that combines several Mexican regions in a flour tortilla. – Cesar Hernandez

Macheen

Taco to try: Hongos Al Pastor

Currently popping up at Milpa Grille, 2633 East Cesar E Chavez Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90033

Macheen is known for making otherworldly creative tacos. Like the hongos al pastor breakfast tacos that place mushrooms in adobo over fluffy scrambled eggs. The mushrooms are in a silky adobo that tastes of acidity and heat. This taco is my recent fascination but definitely try the entire menu; every taco has the same amount of love and care put into it. – Cesar Hernandez

Burritos La Palma

Taco to try: Burrito de birria de res, bean and cheese, chicharrón

2811 E Olympic Boulevard

Burritos La Palma specializes in petite, guisado-filled burritos in the style of Jerez, Zacatecas—on superlatively chewy, freshly pressed, handmade flour tortillas. These types of burritos remind you that yes, even a burrito is a type of taco. They are lightly toasted and crispy with the juicy, spiced filling inside the tortilla. Once you have these, it’s hard to go back to the gut bombs that you used to associate with burritos, so be forewarned. They are so good that they are even available frozen. – Javier Cabral

Mariscos Jalisco

Taco to try: Taco de Camarón

3040 E Olympic Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90023

Speaking from purely a gustatory standpoint, no other taco is as purely delicious to inhale as these; crispy, creamy, refreshing, and spicy all the same time. Whether you eat just a couple or five—it happens—this taco is timeless. – Javier Cabral

Carnitas El Artista

Taco to try: Carnitas Taco

510 N La Brea Ave, Inglewood, CA 90301

El Artista has succulent carnitas tacos with a recently opened taquería in Inglewood. They’re fully dressed with salsa, onions, and cilantro, along with pickled onions with habaneros. Make sure to add a bit of chicharron, and check to see if they have costillas available. – Cesar Hernandez

Tacos y Birria La Única

Taco to try: Chivo Taco Dorado

2840 E Olympic Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90023

Not many taqueros in L.A. offer tasty versions of birria de chivo and beef. They also offer handmade corn tortillas for all their tacos, a game-changer, and another rarity in L.A.’s cutthroat Birria Wars. Catch me swimming in their clavo-intensive consomé. – Javier Cabral

Sonoratown

Taco to try: Burrito 2.0

208 E 8th St, Los Angeles, CA 90014

The burrito 2.0 has become my go-to order at Sonoratown but is also in the running for the best burrito in LA. This burrito shines because of its strong fundamentals, excellent grilled asada, buttery, fluffy flour tortillas, and frijoles. But the real hack at this taqueria is adding the option chile poblano, which adds an extra earthy and smokey chile flavor. – Cesar Hernandez

Los Originales Tacos Árabes de Puebla

Taco to try: Taco Árabe Especial

3600 E Olympic Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90023

As you might have guessed, tacos árabes are the specialty of this Boyle Heights lonchera. The especiales add stringy quesillo and slices of avocado to pan árabes filled with marinated pork. Even though the pork is shaved from a trompo, it is not al pastor. This recipe for protein is one of the Villegas family’s most guarded secrets, receiving offers of up to $15,000 to sell it. They didn’t, so their loncheria is the only place to find it. – Cesar Hernandez