Pinches Tacos...a better taco for the Strip when you need it

8200 W. Sunset Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA 90046
(323)650-0614
Mon-Wed 11AM-Midnight
Thur-Sat 11AM-3AM
Sun 11AM-10PM

The Sunset strip. A place you love to go and also hate to go to. When you're there and want to be, it's THE place to party. When you HAVE to be there and DON'T want to be it can be the equivalent of sitting on the 405 at 5:05. The joy of the area is that there's lots to like about it even if you aren't there to party, such as shopping and great food. A new restaurant by the name of Pinches Tacos, right at the edge of the strip, is taking advantage of the night life street walkers (no... not "those" street walkers) that are hopping from party to party late at night.

What I like about this place is the fresh taste of the ingredients. The owners, the Anaya brothers of Cha Cha Cha fame, have really tried to keep things legit while at the same time making sure that the ingredients stand out as healthy (or at least as healthy as Mexican food could presume to be).

The place itself has fast food vibe to it where you walk up to the register and order your food and they bring it out. It does however have a great patio that's covered and the food is brought out to you.

Obviously this place is totally a taqueria, but they do serve more than that. The tacos themselves are not cheap but don't let that discourage you in the least. These tacos are filled to the brim with meat. Not fall apart and get you pissed off full, but mighty full. The carnitas shown above were nicely flavored and juicy. Many people's pork tacos fall flate cause they cook them a tad too long and they get prety dried out, but not so with Pinches.

The fish taco was not so much my thing. While it was packed I didn't like the fact that the salsa overpowered the fish all together. Definitely designed for the late night buzzed crowd.

Their flautas are pretty dynamite. Light and well constructed. The meat inside, delicately flavored and moist. All plusses and a sure bet when you can't decide on what to get.

The al pastor was pretty rocking and you could really taste the marinaded char on these. These have been the most consistent for me. I could load these up for a party and everyone would be happy (unless you don't "dine on swine").

Their mole tacos were special indeed. Very packed and slightly sweet which is refreshing from typical mole that has more of an earthiness to it. These were rich and very satisfying. These are wonderful, especially with the horchata they make.

The carne asada had just a hint of smoke and on occasion were juicy but for the most part were bordering on being a little dry. Though not my favorite in LA, I could hit these just about anytime.

As I said before, the tacos aren't that cheap. Ranging between $2 to $3 a taco it could get a little pricey if you're trying to go there when you could eat a small donkey, but those tacos are really packed and packed with good ingredients. There is parking too which is another miracle for Sunset. The final kicker is...they deliver! So next time you're partying on the Strip remember these tacos to send you on your way.

Free refills: On the soda yes, on the horchata no (I badly wish they did though).
Entree Price Range: Instead of quoting things...HERE'S THE MENU

Best Fish Tacos in Ensenada...and LA (so far)

1650 Hillhurst Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90027
Tue-Sun 11AM-8PM
(No phone number that I know of)
CASH ONLY

A while ago some one asked me what was my favorite fish taco was in LA. I really hadn't found one that I thought was worthy of mention until now. The Best Fish Tacos in Ensenada is a little shop on Hillhurst that has won me over in a big way. I'll keep it brief as there's not really much to expound on.

You hop in and order up what you want. The menu has 3 items. Fish tacos for $1.50, shrimp tacos for $2 and drinks for $1. Keeps things simple. They fry them up and you pay after you're done with your meal. Another thing is that it's BYOB (no corkage fee) for you people who love the combination of cerveza with your fish tacos this your place. When they've fried them up you get them bare with only a tortilla accompanying it. You then take them over to their dressing bar which has the cabbage, crema, and assorted salsas to fix them up. I love the spicy pineapple one!

The shrimp tacos are solid with the batter being super light and not soggy at all.

The fish tacos have a good amount of flavor, which can often NOT be the case when it comes to the white fish they use in so many fish tacos.

I can't find anything wrong with their tacos. The price is like seduction to your wallet...you always feel like it's cheap enough to grab another. They have indoor and outdoor seating and the place is super chill. I absolutely hate that they're not closer to me, but then again, I'd be a whole lot fatter if they were!

Free Refills: No but it's super cheap ($1 a can) so at least you don't feel robbed. Oh and they have Welch's grape soda which also scores a point.
Price: Cheap: Super duper cheap ($1.50-$2.00/taco)

Cactus Taqueria...keeping it very real in Hollywood

950 Vine St.
Hollywood, CA 90038
(323) 464-5865
Hours: You know what? That's a very good question. Lunch time to really late night sounds about right, but I've never seen them closed.

Few words for an amazing place. Cactus Taqueria is this tiny little stand on Vine that has people almost always crowding around it. Now, while I won't say there's no better place in LA for tacos, I will say this is by far one of the finest in Hollywood and the price is most definitely right. The tacos only being a buck, how can you not afford this place anytime of day?

Notice the spit for pork...it's meat an undeniable force to be reckoned with on Vine.

I figure I might as well start with a non-taco item so we can get that through first. Their quesadillas are light and seared just right, this was their veggie version with avocado included. Perfectly packed so it won't turn into a mess and really just a picture of salivating tastiness.

Fish tacos have been high on my list ever since moving to California all those years ago (so few of us are actually from here). While I won't say I crave these (far from it) I will say they have a decent entry into the fish taco forum. Good sized chunks of lightly breaded whitefish with dabs of sauce make this a simple great taco.

Their carnitas are AMAZING. Quite simply some of the best carnitas I've had in LA. It's juicy and has super tiny bits of crispiness on the ends of the pulled pork. So dang good.

The al pastor rocks as well considering it's pork from the same batch. I will say this though, their bbq marinade for the al pastor is slightly different than most in that there's more of an earthiness than a tang to it. Whatever it is, they do it right.

The carne asada is a touchy subject. I've had it when it's been amazing, and sometimes when it's just average. When it's good, the meat is tender and juicy and falls apart in your mouth. When it's not, it's just not all that happening. Typically though, there's almost no fat at all, no matter if it's a good day or not, a definite point on their side.

I wanted to throw this in here for laughable measure. I myself am more of a purist when it comes to tacos (that being that a taco is a tortilla with meat, onion, and cilantro and that's it), but my buddy Pete was joining us and he likes American tacos covered in cheese.

Though I only showed a few of their meats, it's worth a note that their cabeza and chicharrones are KILLER. I'm sure many of you have passed by and thought... why are all those people standing there? Did Pink's open a taco stand? Hardly. They just know how hard it is to get a good taco in Hollywood (not to mention they take credit) and this is their cure.

PS. There's a second location on Beverly and Kingsley

Free refills: Nope it's by the can, and may I add they have Cactus Cooler at Cactus Taqueria.

Entree Price Range: Big menu and all under $5 to be sure with tacos being just a buck.

Malo (An improvised Cinco De Mayo meal or East Side Love is Living on the West End)

4326 W. Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90029
(323)664-1011
Sun-Mon 6PM-10PM
Tues-Thurs 6PM-11PM
Fri-Sat 6PM-12AM (Bar open until 2AM)
Happy Hour: Mon-Sun 5PM-7PM

Lately I've been finding myself working much harder and getting up much earlier on the weekend. A deadly combination for a musician. I would say roughly that my weekends have consisted of me getting up at around 5AM... sigh. Shockingly though it has been to get to gigs, so I should never complain. Though a musician may have to work odd hours, he still can be successful as long as he is happy at what he's doing. I'm happy... most of the time. What's more important is that even when I don't have happiness I still have joy that can't really be taken away. My friends know what I mean.

I had 2 gigs on Saturday morning. One in Costa Mesa which went fabulously. I got to really let out a lot. Not to mention I got to see some very dear old friends of mine. The second one was in Rancho Santa Margarita and went well cause I was playing with an old friend of mine. The second gig got me getting back into LA around 5ish and starting to sit in traffic for the first time today which was incredible considering it was Cinco De Mayo and the De La Hoya fight was on that night. Me and Celeste called up our girl Ashley to see how she was doing. She was painting her place that day and so we swung by and helped her with some touchups. We then went for tacos cause "why not... it's Cinco De Mayo". We cruised Sunset when we passed Malo and Ashley was like oh we should totally hit there. Being that she live in Echo Park and she knows the owner cause she DJ's at the other two clubs that the owner owns (Spaceland and the Echo) we knew we could trust her.

When you walk in you're treated to a lovely view:

Love the goats!

They popped us down along the wall and we ordered up. We got a two 3-taco plates (one with tacos al pastor and the other carne asada), two different salsas (burnt habanero & creme and tomatillo & avocado), an order of oxacan shrimp, a side of rice and a side of black beans. The food came out quickly and we scarfed. The details: the shrimp was killer...big meaty shrimp that were saucy/spicy (on the addicting side), the tacos al pastor were awesome...plenty of flavor and super tender, the carne asada tacos were decent (a little dry but they were at least pretty tender), the salsas were both insanely good. The tomatillo was great with the carne asada and the habanero was sadisticly good. You want to eat more and more but the more you eat the hotter you get. Thankfully it was more of an after burn as all good habanero sauces are so that you can actually enjoy your food. We initially just warmed our mouths up with lots of chips and the salsas. So good!





Malo is a scene place. You go there with your friends and grab a quick bite but stay for awhile. Here's a shot of the bar side of the restaurant.

I'll be so glad when I move to Echo Park this year. When I came from the East Coast and was living in the projects it was still a community. Where I live now in my apartment complex it seems people make an effort to not know their neighbors and it's sad. Whenever I go to Echo Park or Silverlake I feel like I'm back home... minus the people who decided to use our back porch as a "get high spot". But even that had it's charms. Don't forget this Thursday night if you want to meet me and have some good burgers hop on over to the Mint at 8PM!

Free Drink Refills: Don't know, don't think so(but they put cucumber in their water... good for the cooling effect), but if you're into tequila they've got over 150 different types...psycho!
Entree Price Range: Taco plates are about $6 and entree ranges from $10 to $15

Sky's Tacos

5408 W. Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90019
(323) 932-6253
Mon-Sat 7AM-9PM
Sun 8AM-5PM

Sky's Tacos is not your normal taco place. At all. We ate there last night and we stuffed ourselves (for your benefit of course). Located in an area on Pico Blvd. that is trying to make a great comeback from being downtrodden. They have many new restaurants, theatres, and great boutiques that are just stepping up the area. Literally a facelift for an area that was starting to look like it was on it's last leg. Surprisingly Sky's Tacos has been in the same location for 15 years or so and is part of this "surgical" procedure of bringing in good business.

Why are Sky's Tacos not your normal tacos? Because they're doing there own take on mexican tacos by adding some soul to them. That's right...soul tacos. Don't get me wrong, they're not trying to make Mexican style tacos and failing. They're making tacos their way. I say this in full confidence by the fact that they have "Authentic Taco's" on their menu and they 're just that...super traditional. Tiny corn tortilla with some meat, cilantro, a little onion and some sauce and no lettuce. Very tasty and hey, for $1.50 you score a small victory for your stomach and pocket. But on to what makes them different. Their famous tacos are hefty! Two average tortillas house the monster which can be filled with beef, chicken, turkey, veggie, carnitas, shrimp, steak, or lobster! (By the way, the shrimp tacos are what everyone raves about.) Top it with lettuce and there Sky Sassy sauce that's both sweet and spicy. It' a very unique flavor and just its own. It's like cajun but not at all cajun. It's flavorful and has just enough spiciness to give appropriate heat for ya. They also make fish tacos and you have your choices with that of mahi, salmon and tilapia. Salmon tacos...yummmmmmy. Now they also have burritos but we didn't get to have any due the fact of wanting to really sample as many tacos as possible on there menu. They were hefty as well (from what we saw on other people's plates) but even more so obviously than the tacos. On a side note, they're having a special right now on crawfish tacos that are monstrous...packed to the brim with crawfish and sauce and just man...so good!

This cute place is owned by Barbara Sorrel (husband of jazz bassist Charles Sorrel) and her recipes are perfect for being off the beaten path. The price is not rockbottom for the items but you get a good amount of food and something different which is always welcome. To finish off, have some of their fresh, made her home kitchen, cheesecake...some of the best you'll taste in a while. I personally would go here just cause the food is good and I like to support a scene that is making a comeback. Without you and me eating there the area may start slipping away again. So this Sunday, after church go on in and get some tacos that are not your normal everyday tacos.

Free Drink Refills: No
Average Entree Range: $1.50 to $6 (they have full plates that run a little more but you decide for yourself)