A British tourist and a local find the best birria tacos in Los Angeles
"Food Wars" hosts Harry Kersh and Joe Avella travel across Los Angeles to find the best birria tacos in the city. They'll be visiting five locations in just one day to see what the city has to offer. This is "Food Tours."
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00:00 Today we are doing some of the best burrita in Los Angeles.
00:04 Now, what is your experience with burrita?
00:06 Very minimal. I don't really know what it is. I've never had it before.
00:09 Oh my god.
00:09 I've seen clips online. I know the internet loves it.
00:12 Which I assume is why we're here.
00:14 Yeah, that's exactly why we're here.
00:15 Can't wait to try it out.
00:16 We're starting the day off at Burrita El Jaleciense.
00:19 These guys won the best burrita at the LA Taco Burritamania last year.
00:24 I'm picturing Wrestlemania, but with like food instead of fists.
00:27 You know, I wasn't there, but I would assume so, yes.
00:29 If they've got a belt, it's good enough for us. I think we should eat.
00:32 This place is only open on Saturdays. Opens about 8 or 9am, cash only.
00:42 The meat we're going to be having today is goat.
00:44 Hector runs the joint. Every Thursday he gets three goats from Chino that suit his needs.
00:50 And that's all the meat they're doing today.
00:52 I know they're one of these places where they go till it's gone, and when it's gone, it's gone.
00:56 That's why we're here at 9am.
00:57 I know. Already a line is starting up.
01:00 I don't know how common burrita is as a breakfast food, as a 9am meal,
01:06 but people are here and they are eating.
01:08 People are here, man.
01:09 Yeah.
01:09 So is goat kind of the traditional meat that's used in burrita?
01:12 Because when I've seen it online, I think it's tended to be more beef.
01:14 I guess maybe beef is just easier to come by than goat might be in a supermarket.
01:17 Well, check this out. This is a story I saw online.
01:20 The dish apparently was accidentally invented when a volcano erupted in Mexico
01:25 and a goat herder had to abandon his flock in a cave to get out of there.
01:28 And when he came back days later, all the goats had been steamed to perfection and burrita was born.
01:35 Now, I don't know if that's true, but it's an incredible story, so let's assume that it is.
01:40 Okay. God bless volcanic eruptions for bringing such a delicious food to our homes.
01:44 Is this us?
01:46 Yeah.
01:46 Okay. That's our food.
01:47 On that note.
01:48 Just edit it so I get up and leave in the middle of what he's saying.
01:54 So, the way they're presenting it here, we got the plate of the meat and the consomme.
01:58 We even got extra consomme in here.
02:00 Tortillas, we're just going to be grabbing.
02:01 Don't forget the lime, the cilantro and the onion.
02:04 I like the kind of DIY approach.
02:05 Yeah, yeah.
02:06 I think that's fun.
02:07 So, you got your tacos here.
02:08 Mm-hmm.
02:09 Just kind of like...
02:10 I'm going to go...
02:11 I mean, we have a spoon, but I think the grab, the dip and grab is probably the move, you know?
02:15 I'm glad they gave us plenty of napkins.
02:17 I'm so stoked, dude. I'm so stoked.
02:19 And of course, I'm just going to pour some on here because why not?
02:22 Yo!
02:23 Jesus Christ.
02:23 Oh my God, it's so hot.
02:25 Oh, whoops.
02:26 You've gone a bit over-eager there, man.
02:28 Yeah.
02:28 Here I go.
02:29 Oh God, it's like falling apart.
02:38 All right, I got to get stuck in, man.
02:40 What am I doing? I'm making a mess of this already.
02:43 How incredible is this?
02:47 It's not a clean eat.
02:52 Do not do this on a first date.
02:53 What I love about this is the meat is just dripping with incredible flavor.
03:01 Mm-hmm.
03:02 This right here.
03:03 So is the table.
03:05 I need some of the salsa.
03:10 How's the salsa?
03:12 You into it?
03:13 Yeah, the salsa's fantastic.
03:14 It's a fantastic salsa.
03:15 All right.
03:22 Mm-hmm.
03:22 Woo!
03:26 That kicked to it, right?
03:28 I was trying to slurp to not waste all the juices.
03:31 Yeah.
03:31 And all the salsa just immediately hit the back of my throat.
03:33 I mean, we're doing good on consomme.
03:36 And juices are falling out.
03:37 Let's just take a sip right from the source, man.
03:39 Why not?
03:40 Cheers, man.
03:40 Oh yeah.
03:44 What are you tasting there?
03:45 Man, it's like the best tomato soup you've ever had.
03:48 It's a flavor that I'm picking up out of here.
03:50 Obviously, you got garlic, you got cumin, but there's a little bit of clove in there.
03:53 Did you taste that?
03:54 I'm not sure I did.
03:56 Oh, it's really nice.
03:57 Picking up on the clove.
03:58 Picking up on the clove.
03:59 I used to smoke 'em, now I'm eating 'em.
04:01 Can I just like look at this?
04:05 Just falling off the bone, man.
04:06 Literally falling off the bone.
04:08 So Hector runs this.
04:09 It is his family recipe.
04:11 And it's a two-part process of first steaming the meat so it becomes nice and tender.
04:16 And then he grills it so we get these really crispy edges on the outside.
04:19 So, again, best of both worlds, right?
04:21 Yeah.
04:21 These incredibly soft, succulent meats with the flavorful, crispy bits on the outside.
04:27 These bits, man.
04:29 These are always my favorite.
04:31 The amount of concentrated flavor you get from those little crispy bits on the outside is crazy.
04:37 It's quite a simple taco in terms of the assembly.
04:39 Obviously, you get the tortilla, the birria, cilantro, onions, lime, salsa.
04:45 That's pretty much it.
04:47 You're not getting a lot of other things.
04:48 You're not getting the guac, you're not getting the red onions in there.
04:50 No.
04:51 But everything in there just works so well together.
04:54 When I looked this place up, I saw it was only open today, one day a week.
04:58 I thought, "Come on, man. One day a week? What are you doing?"
05:01 Now having this and how much care and attention to detail that goes into making this meat and how incredible it is.
05:07 It's like, yeah, I mean, the quality of this is incredible.
05:11 Yeah, looking at the menu, you can tell the birria is very much the focus of it, which I think is really good.
05:16 They're not trying to do a ton of things.
05:18 They're just doing one thing really well.
05:20 All right, man. I would love to stay here and eat all of this.
05:24 Unfortunately, we have many, many, many other birria places to go to.
05:27 So, ready to head out?
05:28 I've saved some room. Let's go.
05:30 Okay.
05:31 In 1974, Raul Martinez was credited as creating the first taco truck in this country.
05:38 Oh, nice. Smart man.
05:39 Very smart.
05:40 '74, did you say?
05:41 1974. When he was credited. I don't know when he started.
05:44 It's the 50-year anniversary, possibly, then, of taco trucks.
05:47 Yeah, it's the 50-year anniversary of taco trucks. Fantastic.
05:49 No better way to commemorate than you and I eating our way around L.A.
05:52 That's exactly my thinking.
05:54 So, let me ask you a question. What is the Pokémon GO situation in Boyle Heights?
05:59 I'm so glad you asked, Joe. It's actually Pokémon GO Fest this weekend, which is like a worldwide Pokémon GO festival.
06:04 So, it's kind of popping off right now.
06:06 Now, does that mean you're still fighting people in the area or are you just fighting people around the world?
06:09 I'm not fighting at the moment. Just catching, collecting.
06:11 Got to catch them all. Got to eat them all. Next taco spot, where are we?
06:15 The king of segways.
06:19 We're at Tacos de Burrilla La Ouncia.
06:23 Another hot spot. And if you don't want to take my word for it, take our man Guy Fieri's word because he was here.
06:30 I'm happy to do that. I trust that man with my life, let alone my food recommendations.
06:34 So, for here, what I specifically want to try is they have the Queso Taco Burrilla.
06:37 And also, they have something in the menu that is a Burrilla Ramen.
06:41 Okay. So, when you say Queso Taco, is it with the cheese kind of like crusted onto it?
06:45 Yeah, yeah. It's got melted cheese in it. Beautiful.
06:47 This place, of course, does do the traditional goat, but they also have beef available.
06:50 Should we try maybe one of each? Yeah, actually. See if we can tell a difference.
06:54 Yeah, let's try a meat variety and see how it goes. Meat platter. Sounds great.
06:59 Thank you very much. Thank you very much.
07:04 At a glance, I can't really tell these apart because goat is quite like a dark meat, so is beef.
07:08 I think we have to judge with our mouths.
07:11 Wait, wait, wait. You've got to get that…
07:13 You're going for a nice controlled pour. I was just going to dunk because this looks crazy.
07:18 Oh, man. I think it's a gem, that's what.
07:20 Wow.
07:25 Can I tell you?
07:29 I think this might be the goat.
07:33 That was the goat. What do you think?
07:34 Oh, man.
07:36 The greatest of all time?
07:37 Mm-hmm.
07:38 I'm so sorry.
07:42 The LeBron James of meat.
07:45 No, that's really, really good.
07:48 Yeah? I'm definitely tasting a lot of those flavors we had before.
07:51 Yeah.
07:52 Like the cumin, the bay leaf.
07:53 Those cloves.
07:55 I'm getting those cloves in there.
07:56 Man, that's so good.
07:58 What's jumping out at you?
07:59 I'm going to try the beef before I give any thoughts.
08:03 This also looks serious.
08:05 Oh, man.
08:07 That queso.
08:09 Uh-huh.
08:11 So, let me make an obvious observation.
08:15 With the queso, with the cheese, it's really like just 10x'ing the flavor.
08:22 And that's not to say that things without cheese aren't also flavorful.
08:26 But maybe it's just my preference, but the cheese is supercharged.
08:32 All that meat flavor.
08:34 All that delicious consomme in there.
08:36 Really good, like, chewy, stringy texture to it as well.
08:39 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
08:40 A bit of a cheese pull when you bite into that.
08:41 I think I'm also leaning more towards the fried tortillas.
08:45 So, when I've seen burrito tacos online before,
08:47 what I've seen them do is take some of the consomme,
08:52 put it on the grill, and then kind of fry the tacos in that.
08:56 I think especially when you have quite a lot of moisture, obviously, going on here,
09:01 between the very tender meat, all of the consomme, salsas, everything else you might want to add.
09:06 I think these hold up quite well.
09:08 Yeah, yeah. It holds everything in together.
09:11 And also, it's like a welcome texture change to the somewhat soupiness of the burrito.
09:19 Did you notice much difference between the goat and the beef here?
09:22 You know, I did. The goat's, like, really jumping out at me.
09:25 I mean, I do really enjoy beef, obviously, but at both places, it's like, yeah, goat.
09:30 I need more goat. Right?
09:32 It's really good.
09:33 I like, texturally, because these ones are both very shredded.
09:37 Yeah.
09:38 They've clearly been slow-cooked for, like, a long time.
09:39 Yes.
09:40 Texture-wise, not too much difference.
09:41 Flavor-wise, there is definitely a difference.
09:43 I like the beef. It's very rich, steaky flavor.
09:47 What if you had to pick? Are you a beef guy or a goat guy?
09:49 Yeah, I mean, the more goat I have, I think, like, the more my brain is connecting the dots with lamb.
09:54 Lamb's not quite as popular in the U.S., right?
09:56 No.
09:57 No. It's, like, fairly commonly eaten in the U.K., so.
10:00 I mean, we're just, we're a beef country. We're a beef and chicken country.
10:03 What about the beef?
10:04 Goat and lamb got edged out.
10:05 Mm-hmm.
10:06 So.
10:08 Right.
10:09 Why don't you try this? I want to make it perfectly clear.
10:11 This is probably a Los Angeles thing.
10:14 Sure.
10:15 I don't want anyone watching this to think, like, oh, they do that all the time.
10:18 This is not common.
10:20 You know, they've gotten a lot of attention for it.
10:22 Yep.
10:23 So I thought I would go ahead and get it, and we can try it.
10:26 It looks great.
10:28 I mean, looking at it, it kind of seems like a no-brainer.
10:30 Yeah, I mean, it's a consomme with meats and there's still some noodles in there.
10:33 Yeah, we got a little bit of a burrito ramen.
10:37 So I'm going to go ahead and jump in here first.
10:40 I will follow along shortly.
10:44 Wow, that's very good, actually.
10:45 I'm going to wait a bit.
10:46 You're happy immediately.
10:47 I mean, we were sipping on the consomme.
10:48 I don't know if that's a no-no or not, but the fact of just having the consomme with the meat in it,
10:52 I mean, I could absolutely just have that as a snack with a spoon and not throw noodles in it.
10:56 And.
10:57 Right?
10:59 Mm-hmm.
11:00 Mm-hmm.
11:01 That's just good, man.
11:03 I don't know how much of this I could eat.
11:05 Yeah, I will say, generous portion.
11:08 Very generous portion.
11:10 The price is nice at all these places, to be honest.
11:13 But that was like, what, 12 bucks?
11:14 And that is more than enough for a dinner.
11:16 Yeah, 12 bucks.
11:17 I can easily split that with someone.
11:19 Mm-hmm.
11:20 I mean, to me, it makes sense.
11:21 Like, noodles are something that obviously take on the flavor of whatever they're in.
11:25 Yep.
11:26 So if you have this very brothy, delicious, rich, savory, beefy juice.
11:31 Sure.
11:32 Why not just chuck some noodles in there, man?
11:34 To me, that's great.
11:35 Dude, I would love to stay here and keep eating.
11:38 But I think the next spot.
11:41 Ready to go?
11:42 Ready to go.
11:43 All right, slow down.
11:44 We got like three more spots to go.
11:46 We do this every time.
11:47 Mm-hmm.
11:48 Los Angeles.
11:50 LA.
11:51 So we're heading to Highland Park.
11:53 Yeah, heading to Highland Park.
11:54 Okay.
11:55 Burrito Las Bamas.
11:57 It's going to be in a convenience store, so we want to get a sort of like bottle of water or a granola bar.
12:01 Yeah.
12:02 Before we hit the road.
12:03 All right.
12:04 Let's go.
12:05 Hold on.
12:07 Thank you.
12:08 It's quite a fancy little grocery store, you know?
12:11 Yeah, it's nice.
12:12 I was expecting more like a Occy way type of situation.
12:15 No, no, no.
12:16 That's not nice.
12:17 No, yeah.
12:18 All right, man. Here we go.
12:20 I'm at the back of the store.
12:21 Yeah, and it's going to be two of the burrito burritos.
12:23 Okay.
12:24 Yes, please. Okay, great.
12:25 Thank you.
12:26 Okay, now I want to point out the obvious.
12:30 This is not a taco.
12:31 Yes.
12:32 But it is technically burrito, although in this type burrito form.
12:36 Yes.
12:37 And I wanted to go here because Burritos Los Bamos is another Michelin Bib Gourmand winner.
12:42 Another Bibby G.
12:43 Yeah, another Bibby G.
12:44 You know, this location, they have so many, right?
12:46 Now, obviously, we're in this specific location that's in this very nice grocery store,
12:49 but it is another chain that is growing rapidly here in Los Angeles,
12:54 and I think we're about to find out why.
12:56 Yeah.
12:57 This doesn't look like many burritos I've had before.
12:58 It's very narrow.
12:59 It looks almost more like a rolled up crepe pancake type thing.
13:02 Sure.
13:03 I like this because the burrito that we've had so far has obviously been quite messy.
13:05 It's very juicy, a lot of toppings to worry about, whereas this neat little burrito package.
13:10 A neat little burrito package.
13:12 Yes, exactly.
13:13 Who doesn't like things wrapped up in a neat little package?
13:15 All right, ready to dive in?
13:16 It wouldn't be an LA shoot without being right on a road with loud trucks.
13:25 So here we go.
13:26 I'm dipping in this thing.
13:27 Going straight for a dip.
13:28 Yeah.
13:29 Cheers, my man.
13:35 Wow.
13:36 Don't let the size fool you, man.
13:43 This packs a lot of flavor.
13:44 Wow, this is so good.
13:46 Oh my goodness.
13:48 Super juicy as well.
13:51 I'm like shocked that--
13:53 There it is.
13:54 Yeah, there you go.
13:55 I sprung a leak.
13:56 Sprung a leak.
13:57 I'm shocked that mine hasn't yet.
13:58 You can see it's all pooling up at the bottom.
13:59 I mean, sorry.
14:00 Straight on my hand.
14:01 Yeah, you're fine.
14:02 Oh man, this is so fantastic.
14:04 Yeah, I'm killing this.
14:05 Really painful.
14:06 Oh God, I got to go on the other end.
14:07 Yeah, don't let the size fool you.
14:13 This thing is packed with flavor, packed with juice, packed with consommé.
14:16 I'm glad your wife talked you out of the white shirt this morning.
14:19 She's like, "You're not leaving the house wearing a white shirt."
14:24 We compromised, I put this over it.
14:25 She was 100% right.
14:27 On to the next place.
14:28 Sweet.
14:29 On the way.
14:30 Sounds great.
14:31 All right.
14:32 Made a quick stop off to get some beverages.
14:35 Should have taken a few seconds, but we were there for a few minutes.
14:37 What happened?
14:38 Your whole country is terrible at making tea.
14:40 That's what happened.
14:41 How's the tea?
14:42 It's fine.
14:43 It's okay.
14:44 So what do you think of this crazy LA traffic?
14:48 It's living up to the expectations.
14:50 I heard of the traffic, and it's fine.
14:52 I feel like I'm getting the full LA experience, you know,
14:54 going from one taqueria to another in a car in traffic.
14:58 Having terrible tea made by baristas that don't want to be there.
15:02 I'll drink to that.
15:04 Now we're at Teddy's Red Tacos, somewhere in Echo Park, I believe.
15:11 Teddy's is great because it started off as a small cart,
15:14 and now they have like 11 locations.
15:16 Now when Teddy first started, he was also driving an Uber,
15:18 and he'd have the ingredients to his tacos in the trunk,
15:20 and when people in his car would be like, "Hey, what's that smell?"
15:23 He'd pull over, sell them some tacos.
15:25 That's amazing.
15:26 I don't know if that's necessarily true.
15:28 It sounds true.
15:29 11 locations later, they've got to be that good.
15:31 You can't argue with those results.
15:33 Exactly.
15:34 This place has a more extensive menu than a lot of the other places we're going to today.
15:37 Also, they're doing beef, not goat.
15:38 Okay, interesting.
15:39 I've enjoyed the goat so far, so I'm kind of sad about that,
15:42 but like I say, I think beef is maybe more easy to come by, a bit more familiar.
15:46 So I'm intrigued to see how they are doing it, and if they're doing it well.
15:49 All right, let's get some more burrito.
15:52 So forgive my posture right now, but my body is just like leaning into this.
15:56 I'm folding over.
15:57 How good does this look? Oh, my God.
15:59 These look absurdly good.
16:00 Yeah, the color on these, some of the most visual tacos we've had today.
16:04 Red tacos.
16:05 And Fabrious, that's saying something because they're all like visually pretty striking.
16:08 A crispier tortilla. These are beef.
16:11 Look at that. Oh, it's juicy just in there.
16:15 Juicy as hell.
16:16 Look at the consomme.
16:17 Again, crispy tacos, leading me to think they're kind of being like fried on the outside.
16:22 I'm just going to get rid of some of this grease.
16:24 Are we double dipping?
16:25 Let's double dip.
16:26 Oh, yeah.
16:27 Oh, careful now.
16:28 Oh, man.
16:29 This looks so good.
16:31 Dipping in there. You got it?
16:33 Weirdly intimate double dip moment there.
16:35 I got to put this down. It's getting weird.
16:37 All right, man. Here we go.
16:40 These look unreal.
16:42 Uh-oh.
16:45 I think we're in trouble.
16:46 Because these are...
16:49 Oh, man.
16:50 These are pretty close to perfect.
16:51 So these ones come pre-salted. Got a nice bit of heat to it. Good flavor.
16:55 Some of the beefiest beef we've had so far, I would say.
16:59 That consomme.
17:02 That's legit, man.
17:04 Can I get a spoon? I'm going in for just the consomme.
17:06 Have a little slap.
17:07 That might be the most flavorful consomme we've had today.
17:12 That is ridiculous.
17:13 That is so fantastic.
17:15 I'm going to share your spoon.
17:16 Yeah, go for it. That's fine.
17:17 It's weird and gross.
17:18 Oh, man. Look at the amount of beef that's in here as well.
17:20 Yes, sir.
17:21 I feel like sometimes in the consomme cup, you're just...
17:25 Look at this.
17:26 A little dip.
17:27 I feel like sometimes in the consomme cup, you're just getting the sauce
17:31 and the beef is reserved for, you know, the tacos.
17:34 But here, it's like a cup full of beef.
17:36 Dude, do what I'm doing.
17:41 Yeah, a little dip and go.
17:45 I think you're right.
17:46 I think that might be the most flavorful consomme that we've had so far.
17:49 Salty, beefy.
17:52 This doesn't feel like too heavy or too rich, which is really impressive too.
17:57 Look at this.
17:58 This has so much meat in it.
18:00 That's like 50% beef.
18:02 I feel like...
18:03 You're adding beef.
18:05 This is what they put in the taco, but let's just put in a little more.
18:08 Oh, yeah.
18:09 With the juice.
18:11 Oh, goodness.
18:14 This might ruin me.
18:15 Oh, man.
18:21 There's so much flavor in this.
18:25 It's staggering.
18:26 It's so fantastic.
18:27 I'm going to get me one of those.
18:28 I need a big, bad, beefy bite.
18:31 I can't think of anything I've had in London that's as flavorful as this.
18:36 So I feel like I'm watching you have a flavor experience right now
18:39 that maybe you haven't had before, coming from the UK.
18:43 Don't drip on mine.
18:44 Right?
18:46 What do you think?
18:48 I'm struggling to argue with you as much as I want to.
18:52 That's right, my man.
18:54 I do think you can be overly critical of UK food.
18:57 However, I think in the UK, maybe it's more common for food to not have quite so many herbs, spices, seasonings, meats going on.
19:05 It's a little bit more simple, well done, well executed, well balanced, but simple.
19:10 Whereas this is like, there's just so much going on in my mouth right now.
19:14 Truly a mouth party.
19:16 Yeah, it really is.
19:17 Flavor explosion.
19:19 You know, I'm coming around the shredded beef.
19:21 I know the goat is more traditional and the goat is very good.
19:24 Something about this, maybe it's also their salsa or whatever.
19:27 Wow, all these together, so fantastic.
19:29 I think what sets this one apart is the richness and the flavor of the consomme.
19:37 And with the tortillas that have been somewhat put in an oil, where they're crispy enough to be hard, but still flimsy enough to fold.
19:45 We did go to a place earlier that had cheese.
19:47 That was the first one we had with cheese.
19:49 I think we both responded positively to that because the cheese really enhanced the flavor and obviously cheese is incredible.
19:54 This burrito experience, that as you can see is cheeseless, is even more flavorful.
19:59 We could have gotten it with cheese.
20:00 We could have still gotten it with cheese.
20:02 You can imagine that with cheese?
20:03 I'm just on the ground right now, convulsing.
20:07 Too much flavor to unplug me from the Matrix.
20:11 I really want to keep eating this.
20:14 It's really fantastic.
20:15 It's really good.
20:16 Right?
20:17 Yeah.
20:18 But, I've got one more spike.
20:19 I've got room for one more?
20:20 One more?
20:21 Uno mas?
20:22 Uno mas, por favor.
20:23 Vamanos.
20:24 Si.
20:25 I don't know about you, but I go with some burrito.
20:29 Burrito San Marcos.
20:31 Alright, last stop of the day and it is a fantastic one.
20:35 We are at Burrito San Marcos.
20:37 We are in the Van Nuys area and this is actually their brick and mortar spot.
20:42 They have, I think, two or three trucks all throughout Los Angeles.
20:46 And I'm excited to bring you here because this has been one of my favorite spots for years.
20:51 I feel like, again, if you've got Burrito in the name, you've got to be looking at it, man.
20:55 They know what they're doing here.
20:56 Another thing I think we've discovered after doing food tours for about a year and a half now is
21:01 whenever the logo is the animal that we're going to be eating, you know it's going to be good.
21:05 Right?
21:06 Absolutely.
21:07 That has never steered us wrong yet.
21:08 Exactly.
21:09 How are you holding up?
21:10 Yeah, not too bad.
21:11 Definitely got room for one or two more burrito tacos.
21:13 So, I definitely want to do the tacos.
21:15 They do beef here, no goat.
21:16 And I want to get, obviously, the consomme.
21:18 I'm going to get the cheesy, beefy ones.
21:20 Oh my god.
21:21 It's fantastic.
21:22 This place rules.
21:23 Sounds great, man.
21:24 Alright?
21:26 So, as you can see, these are cheesier tacos.
21:29 Maybe the cheesiest ones we've had.
21:31 Maybe.
21:32 All day.
21:33 And the consomme, oh yeah.
21:34 Yeah.
21:35 It is a meaty, meaty consomme.
21:37 Look at that again.
21:38 Look at that chunk.
21:39 Right?
21:40 Look at this falling apart in here, which is awesome.
21:42 So, you get meat on meat for this one.
21:43 Look at that, man.
21:44 That's insane.
21:45 I know, right?
21:46 How crazy is that?
21:47 Man, I've got to say, yeah, visually these look amazing.
21:50 The color that they've got on the actual tortillas.
21:53 So inviting.
21:55 Similar to, I guess, like Teddy's, where they have the really, like, they dip it in the sauce and then fry it.
22:00 So, they go so beautiful, golden brown.
22:02 I'm going to do a dip here, ready?
22:04 Hot.
22:06 Hot.
22:07 Yes, sir.
22:09 And I'm going for a bite.
22:10 Here we go.
22:15 I'm going to do a little bit of sauce on this one as well.
22:18 So.
22:22 That's right.
22:24 All right, all right.
22:25 Jesus.
22:27 Incredibly flavorful meat, incredibly flavorful cheese, and incredibly flavorful tortillas, dipping in pure consomme flavor.
22:34 So, this is what we were saying before, just an explosion of flavors, a level of flavor that maybe you're not used to having.
22:41 I'm getting used to it fast.
22:43 I'm going to like, have a look at the color.
22:45 The color of this consomme is amazing.
22:47 Yeah.
22:48 There's been a bit of variety, I think, throughout the day.
22:50 Some of them have gone for a sort of more red approach, some of them have been a bit more dark brown, like a beef minestrone type of vibe.
22:58 This one leans on the more red side.
23:00 And I think I'm getting maybe the strongest, like, chili flavor today.
23:04 Not necessarily spice, but just, like, the flavor of the chilies that I'm using clearly.
23:09 I quite like how with these ones, they actually don't dress them for you.
23:12 It's very much just like, we're going to give you the cheese and the meat.
23:14 Yeah.
23:15 If you want the toppings, have them yourself.
23:16 Are you going to do it?
23:17 I'm going to do it, yeah.
23:18 I guess I should have, yeah.
23:19 I don't know why I didn't.
23:20 Cilantro.
23:21 To be honest, I mean, like, what I really want is the consomme.
23:27 If you do it right, you kind of get a little bit more meat on there, see?
23:31 Yeah, you pick up, like, bonus meat when you dip.
23:34 Oh, my God.
23:36 The consomme spoon approach, slightly more controlled.
23:40 I'm getting a little too excited.
23:43 I should have done that instead.
23:44 Oh, man, so good.
23:46 I feel like half the fun of building a taco seems like it's just, like, making a mess.
23:49 Yeah.
23:50 I'm here for it.
23:51 These are dangerously good.
23:55 The crisp on the taco might be the best we've had so far.
23:59 The way the cheese is, like, caramelized on the outside as well.
24:02 Yeah, like, it's kind of, like, closed up for you, right?
24:05 Oof.
24:06 We've been eating all day.
24:07 Yeah.
24:08 But still, I mean, I could, you know, want to.
24:10 I'm still putting this one away at least.
24:12 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
24:13 Mm, mm, mm.
24:15 Oh, man.
24:16 All right.
24:17 I think coming out here, I was slightly worried that burrito tacos were just kind of, like, a gimmicky Internet thing.
24:25 No.
24:26 And that, like, you know, actual people from Mexico weren't making and eating them.
24:29 No.
24:30 That they were just kind of being done for that dipping hook shot.
24:33 There is a visual element to it, but I mean.
24:35 There is.
24:36 But the taste is very, very much there as well.
24:38 Yeah, yeah.
24:39 Yeah.
24:40 Not a gimmick.
24:41 Delicious.
24:42 No, not at all.
24:43 I think this is one of my favorite spots here.
24:44 It's one of my favorite spots.
24:45 Mm, mm.
24:46 And I think that you enjoyed it as well.
24:47 Very much so.
24:48 We do have a decision to make, but I think we're going to head out and go over our final thoughts for the day.
24:52 Okay.
24:53 All right.
24:54 Do you like the Airbnb?
25:01 This is really nice.
25:02 You guys got a pool?
25:03 I want a pool.
25:04 But you didn't want to come stay with us.
25:05 Nope.
25:06 Anyway.
25:07 No, why would I stay?
25:08 I live here.
25:09 All right, we went to five fantastic barria experiences here in Los Angeles.
25:17 Let's go down the list.
25:19 Starting off, we went to Barria El Jaliscense.
25:22 Absolutely fantastic.
25:24 Started the day off there.
25:25 Now, they are very high contenders on best barria in Los Angeles.
25:29 Showing up there right away, we could tell they take absolute fantastic care of their food.
25:35 Now, that style was giving it to us on a plate and using the tortillas to pick up the meat, put the toppings on it.
25:41 We did not do that any other place.
25:43 I don't know if that's unique just to them or a style that a lot of people aren't doing, but a little more involved than other places.
25:49 And I thought it was absolutely fantastic.
25:50 The flavors in that goat, amazing.
25:52 What did you think?
25:53 I really like that place.
25:54 I think it's testament to it that it's only open one day of the week.
25:58 We started the day there like 9 a.m. and a queue was forming already by the time we got there, which was wild.
26:04 They have a reputation and they live up to it.
26:07 I have to say, I think if we were just deciding this episode on the tastiest meat filling,
26:13 I think the goat from Jaliscense might have been the best meat I had today.
26:19 The goat was the goat?
26:21 It might actually be the goat of goats.
26:23 Wow, very nice.
26:24 It was fantastic, incredibly flavorful.
26:26 Other factors in my final decision, but we'll get to that.
26:29 Okay.
26:30 Next up we went to?
26:31 After that we went to Tacos y Burritos La Unica.
26:34 Absolutely fantastic.
26:35 It was the first time we had the queso in the tacos with consomme.
26:39 Also, we got a burrito ramen, which to be honest was pretty fantastic.
26:43 Yeah, I like that place.
26:44 Very comprehensive menu.
26:46 I thought the tortillas there particularly were actually quite tasty.
26:48 And I also like how they do beef and they do goat, so you can kind of pick and choose based on your preferences.
26:53 That was really good.
26:54 I also thought the consomme there was great.
26:56 Very like meaty.
26:57 I could almost just drink a cup of that like a sort of miso soup alongside my meal.
27:01 It was fantastic.
27:02 I do want to say we did have the option to put the meat in the consomme, and I just chose not to because we have these meaty tacos.
27:08 But as we saw from a lot of other places, having the meat in the consomme actually kicked it up a notch.
27:13 So just saying, that was an option there.
27:15 Sure.
27:16 After that we had Burritos La Palma that was in the La Trapicana in Highland Park.
27:20 We did have some issues with the non-crispy, non-grilled tortillas being a little flimsy and falling apart.
27:27 But that one specifically, that burrito, that was just locked in there.
27:30 Yes, it's a burrito, not a taco.
27:32 I wanted to check it out anyway because it is a burrito, and I'm so glad we did.
27:35 That was so fantastic.
27:37 Yeah, very different to the others that we tried.
27:39 Might not be my favorite kind of based on that.
27:41 I think it's just like a slightly unfair comparison.
27:43 But great to see the other things you can do with video.
27:46 Really, really enjoyed it.
27:47 Flavors there were great.
27:48 So moist.
27:49 Juices just pouring out of that thing.
27:51 Juices pouring out of that thing.
27:54 Dude, Teddy's Red Tacos, come on.
27:57 My man, holding it down.
27:59 The tortillas, full of flavor.
28:02 The meat, full of flavor.
28:04 The consomme, full of flavor.
28:06 As I said before, it was just flavor on flavor on flavor.
28:09 Yeah.
28:10 Flavor overload, if I may say.
28:12 Almost, yeah.
28:13 Difficult to balance that many flavors, that many intense flavors.
28:17 But they did a really, really great job.
28:19 That was such a good mouthful.
28:20 I think a few of the places that we went today do that thing where they dip the tortilla in the consomme and then fry it.
28:25 I think that was kind of one of the ones where it came through the most.
28:28 I think in terms of the flavor that it imparted onto the tortilla,
28:32 and also the crunch that you were getting as well when it was grilled and sealed up together.
28:36 Really, really delicious.
28:37 Last, and certainly not least, we ended the day at Beria, San Marcos, and Red Nuts.
28:43 And man, oh man, the queso tacos, the consomme, everything.
28:49 And after a day of eating Beria, to roll up to that place, and that be the fifth taco spot we were at,
28:57 and I could not stop eating, could not stop stuffing my face,
29:01 is a testament to how absolutely amazing that place is, still, after all these years.
29:06 I think for me that took a lot of the elements of the other ones that I'd really liked,
29:11 and kind of combined them into one.
29:13 Interesting.
29:14 I think, again, they kind of had those crispy, flavorful tortillas that had been finished on the grill,
29:19 similar to Teddy's, for example.
29:21 That, for me, really makes it, because you get that texture contrast,
29:24 the sort of structural integrity that it provides as well.
29:27 Excellent.
29:28 That broth as well, just sensational.
29:29 The amount of meat that you pack in there.
29:31 I know, I know.
29:32 Bonus meat for your meat.
29:33 If you get that scoop just right, you're getting all that delicious consomme flavor,
29:37 and more meat on there, come on.
29:39 I mean, other places do it similarly to them, but I would argue they're doing it fantastically.
29:46 I would say they do it the best.
29:49 So, are you saying that Burrito San Marcos was your favorite today?
29:53 Indeed I am.
29:54 There were elements from other ones that I think were excellent,
29:57 and individually might have won out, but as a total package, and end product,
30:01 I think for me San Marcos was the best.
30:03 Wow.
30:04 Well, I have to say, I 100% agree with you.
30:07 I love going there. I wish I could go there more often.
30:09 The other spots we went to today, all A's, all heavy hitters, all fantastic.
30:15 It's about Burrito San Marcos, man.
30:16 I don't know what he's doing, I don't know what they're doing with that consomme,
30:18 I don't know what he's slow cooking that meat in, but just it edges it up a little bit higher.
30:22 It's the last one that we went to of the day.
30:24 I think some people might think there's recency bias there, but I think it's actually the opposite.
30:28 Yeah.
30:29 Because we've been eating tacos all day.
30:30 Yeah.
30:31 I'm very full. I was kind of full before we even showed up there.
30:33 Yeah.
30:34 You're not exactly looking forward to that first bite,
30:35 but then you take it, mind-blowing, delicious.
30:38 Yeah, anything that you can eat that takes your mind off of your pain.
30:42 Yeah.
30:43 Very good. Very good.
30:45 I feel like if I had to describe this show's competitive edge,
30:49 we are the only show, to my understanding on YouTube,
30:52 that fuses foodie culture and Pokemon enthusiasm.
30:56 I don't know what that overlap is, where that Venn diagram is,
30:59 but we got 100% of that market, I feel.