That’s right. Not a Pub Crawl, a Grub Crawl. Cuz that’s how we roll.
Back in February (yeah, February, I’m a terrible blogger I KNOW), we grabbed a couple friends and set out on a culinary adventure covering parts of East LA and Downtown. The goals were to: a.) eat. a lot. b.) explore parts of L.A. we don’t typically hang out in, and c.) break our friends out of their South Bay bubble on a rare no-kids adventure. We definitely succeeded on all 3 counts, particularly the first one. Early on we dubbed the day “Faturday.”
Our friends Manoj and Alexis appreciate progressive dining almost as much as we do, so we knew they’d be the perfect companions for our inaugural grub crawl (this was the first of many more to come, trust me).
Stop #1 was Guisados, a modern (but super authentic) taqueria in East LA. Based on Jonathan Gold’s glowing review, not to mention the hundreds of others on Yelp, we knew we had to venture over to Boyle Heights and see what all the fuss was about. Let me just, tell you, I LOVE THIS PLACE. We don’t make a habit of driving an hour+ in LA traffic, but ever since the grub crawl I’ve been scheming about how to get back to Guisados.
So here’s what you do when you get there: You get the mini taco sampler. Especially if it’s your first time (but even if it’s not), I can’t imagine a better introduction to all the incredible flavors you’ll find at Guisados. And the handmade tortillas, Oh, the tortillas. So fresh, so soft, slightly thicker than you might expect. They’re the perfect vehicles for tasty braised meats like tinga de pollo, conchinita pibil, and mole poblano. After you select your meats (or seafood or veggies, if that’s your thing), you’ll pick your heat level for certain tacos. Be careful. Their 4 is like a 7 or 8 by white people standards. Even though my spice tolerance has vastly improved in the last 2.5 years of living in LA, I’m still a white girl and my tongue just isn’t designed for that kind of spice assault. I downed so much horchata trying to put out the fire. Or maybe that was just my excuse. That horchata was delicious.
Also, if you check in on foursquare and show the cashier your phone, you get a free cheese quesadilla. If you think that doesn’t really sound special or exciting, well, in most cases you’d be right but in this case you’d be wrong. so wrong.
Guisados
2100 E Cesar Chavez Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90033
(323) 264-7201
Our next stop was a mid-day sweet treat in the Arts District of DTLA, so stay tuned!
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