Getting some tongue on foothill blvd.

by Brian

Last night I set off looking for fortune.  I went to the ATM, took out a couple Hamiltons (Benjamins are so 2008), and headed for Lake View Terrace and my friend Alex’s weekly poker game.

I arrived expecting to throw some bucks down on pizza or whatever delivery we could score, but Alex had another idea altogether.  We got to talking about EatMeCalifornia and Alex let me know that nearby Sylmar had more taco trucks per capita than UCLA has asian people.

Well it doesn’t take much to get my interest, so we all piled into Alex’s car and headed down foothill looking for our fix.  We eventually found it in Tacos El Gordo.

Tacos El Gordo – Foothill Blvd.  West of Paxton in Sylmar.

Tacos El Gordo means Fat Tacos (I think) in Spanish, which seems like a pretty good name for a pig-out spot.  It sits on the main drag between a couple of pretty busy intersections and there were a lot of people waiting in line when we got there around 9.  What is even more impressive is that on the way to get to this truck, we passed two others within a mile.  Apparently the taco truck turf wars of North Hollywood are not as intense in Sylmar.

I got up to the window and was still trying to figure out what to get when it was suddenly my turn.  I wasn’t that hungry so I decided to go for 2 tacos, 1 carne asada and one lengua.  Yeah, I said lengua.  That’s cow tongue for the english speakers out there.

I never in a million years would have ordered this, but Alex told me that it was good.  Then he added the caveat, “But I’m Filipino, so I will pretty much eat anything.”  Too bad I didn’t hear that until I had already ordered.

Anyway, compared to Mariscos del Mar, these tacos were about 1/2 the size.  They were cheaper (about $1.25 per taco) but for the money I think Mariscos was a better deal.  The carne asada was really good, but the lengua was a little odd.  It was pretty soft and it seemed to have a decent amount of connective tissue going on, which made each bite squirm between my teeth a little too much.

Aside from that, this taco truck is awesome.  They give you the tacos with just the corn tortillas and meat and then you have a saladbar-esqe setup that allows you to add cilantro, onion, salsa and all the other trappings of your perfect taco.

Tacos El Gordo also is the first taco truck I’ve seen that had a TV that you can watch from the seating area.

Finally, since the mission of EatMeCalifornia is to support local business, I felt obligated to let you know that next to the taco truck there is a guy selling bootleg DVDs.  Since every little bit counts, I decided to stimulate this guy’s economy by shelling out 5 bucks for a copy of Valkyrie.  I don’t know what I was thinking.  I’ve never paid that much to see Tom Cruise.  I guess i’m just a giver.

And in case you don’t believe me… evidence:

Anyway, that’s about all I’ve got for now.  But if you find yourself in Sylmar and hungry, hit up Tacos el Gordo.  It’s not that ghetto, I promise.

Likes

• Cheap tacos
• DIY Taco Bar
• DVDs (note: I haven’t watched it yet, so I can’t speak to the quality)

Dislikes

• Lengua (for the moment)
• It’s in Sylmar