If it’s been awhile since you’ve been on a taco crawl, the writers at LA Taco have an idea for you. Let's use the MTA 33 bus as a throughline to explore some of the best tacos in Los Angeles, and food journalist Memo Torres is here to drive that bus. (He also shares five new places a month for his Apple Maps project, which we recommend.)
KCRW: Hi, Memo. Tell us, what is the route for the 33 bus line?
Memo Torres: Hop on the bus! I've taken the 33 route my whole life. It takes us from Santa Monica, by the Pier and the Promenade, down the beach and all the way to Venice Boulevard. Then from Venice Boulevard, it goes straight into downtown. If you go along that route, Line 33 probably has the most epic, legendary, historic tacos you can find in Los Angeles, which is why LA Taco decided to choose this one for a Metro Guide.
You pick 13 places that sit near the route. Let's do some highlights, starting in Santa Monica. I think it's also a reminder to those on the westside how rich the eating environment is there. Let's start with La Isla Bonita on Rose.
Ah, I love La Isla Bonita. When I was young, I used to work at a coffee shop just down the street and get tacos there. This place has been around since 1986. Fun fact, the reason they're called La Isla Bonita is because when they purchased the truck, Madonna's hit song, "La Isla Bonita," was the one on the radio. It's named after Madonna's "La Isla Bonita."
That's hilarious.
I would sing it for you but I don't want to offend Madonna. Funnily enough, when they bought it, they'd also just had their firstborn child, Jose, who is still there. He's working the truck. They still do tacos the way you usually see them in Mexico, which is sprinkled with some frijoles de la olla, so fresh beans on top, and a good salsa. It's a very old school truck. They do mariscos as well, like ceviches and cocteles.
If you stop by and you see the young chef back there, Jose, ask him if he's got a secret menu, a secret taco today. He usually has something cooked up, a different fish taco, maybe a pulpo, maybe a gobernador. It's a legendary truck. It's been there for years. It's probably the only one that survived gentrification in that area.
Some of the places on this list have a nixtamal program for their tortillas, which is really great to hear. Tell us about the restaurant Quiadaiyn near the Venice/Centinela stop.
Quiadaiyn opened up about four years ago. It's a Oaxacan restaurant. It has all your typical Oaxacan dishes — tlayudas, enmoladas, tacos de barbacoa. But one of the things that this restaurant does that I really respect is they don't cut any corners. They'll make chocolate from scratch. Everything they do is as close to the beginning as you can get it for an ingredient. They even went so far as to start their own nixtamal program, making their own masa, making their own tortillas in-house, which is a lot of work. It's very respectable when a restaurant takes that much effort to ensure that every ingredient [is something] they've touched, they've produced, they've made. And it comes through in the flavors of any meal you get there.
What's your order?
Well, since it's a taco list, I recommended the taco barbacoa. The tortilla they use for it, which is a larger tortilla, they make it [in-house]. It's part of their nixtamal program, so you get that full flavor of a fresh corn tortilla with their delicious barbacoa, which is goat simmered and stewed with spices. Get some onions on there, a little bit of cabbage, a little bit of green salsa. I think that it's a great dish to have.
Next up is another place that's making its own masa from nixtamalized corn, Saby's Cafe. Tell us about them.
Saby's Cafe is a place I started going to recently. That location has been there for a long time. It shares a block with Venice High School, right on the corner of Beethoven and Venice Boulevard. It's a mother and son [operation]. They took over three years ago and the mother decided to revamp the menu. They decided to bring in blue corn. Same thing as Quiadaiyn. They're doing it from scratch. They're nixtamalizing the blue corn, they're making their own masa, they're using predominantly blue corn for everything, whether it be for the tacos or for tortillas with their dishes, or for their big long machete-size quesadillas.
Is that your go to order there?
It is my go to order there. I usually go in the mornings. I've had her chilaquiles. You can pretty much have chilaquiles anywhere in LA now. But a large machete-size quesadilla with indigenous ingredients like huitlacoche… You can get flor de calabasa (which is squash blossoms), tinga or anything else on it. Just the fresh blue corn masa taste alone... They don't just use mozzarella, which every taco stand here uses for their quesadillas. They use a queso Oaxaca sourced from Oaxaca so the flavors are just phenomenal.
It sounds so good! I really love cochinita pibil. Who on the route is making tacos with it?
Flor de Yucatan, which is a bakery, by Venice and Hoover. This was a pick that Hadley Tomicki, another writer at LA Taco, put on the list. It's one of his favorites. I've enjoyed it as well. Cochinita pibil, which is from Yucatan, is pork that's been cooked underground for hours on end. It's marinated with achiote and a little bit of citrus. It's basically this deliciously pit-roasted or marinated pork. You can find that at Flor de Yucatan. It's about a five-minute walk from Venice, down the block on Hoover. It's definitely worth that little walk off the 33.
Of course, the famed Leo's is on this route with its notable trompo al pastor. But let's give some love to Tacos y Birria La Unica.
The westside has been blessed by Tacos y Birria La Unica's decision! The legendary truck from the epic Olympic row down in Boyle Heights does both Michoacan-style goat and beef. They decided to expand and bless the westside with a second truck. If you haven't heard of Birria La Unica, you're missing out. It's one of the best birrias.
My personal favorite thing to get there is a quesataco. I know everybody makes tacos so it's like what's so special about this one? It's one of the few trucks that actually makes the tortillas from scratch, by hand. They'll make a fresh pressed tortilla, they'll put it on the on the griddle, they'll fry it on one side just enough to where it gets crispy on one side but on the inside, it's still nice and soft like a tortilla, then they put the cheese and the meat in there. You take that crunchy bite and the smoothness of the tortilla and the cheese and the flavors of the birria comes through. To me it's the most perfect quesabirria taco you could find in LA.
Now we're nearly at the downtown end of the route where, of course, there is the famed Sonoratown. But you want us to pay attention to what you say might be the most underrated place on this Venice crawl, La Esquinita Baja Grill Seafood.
La Esquinita Baja Grill Seafood is on this little corner on Venice Boulevard, just a couple blocks from the Convention Center in the Crypto.com Arena. It's woman-owned and the curious thing about it is that they have three different people working in the kitchen — someone from Peru, someone from Argentina, and the owner herself, who is Mexican. So you'll find empanadas, you'll find a lomo saltado but you'll also find these really tasty Baja-style fish tacos. They have an outdoor seating area and there's a little liquor store next door so if you get a beer, you can go over there and they'll prepare a michelada for you. You can enjoy these great fish tacos, get a michelada then head over to the Crypto Arena.
Perfect. We should say that there are a lot more suggestions on your fabulous LA Taco list than what we have time to talk about here. I love this list so much! Thank you, Memo.