New restrictions imposed on LA's taco trucks ignited protests among the residents. "There are at least two distinct populations that visit the taco truck, there are the native Angelenos, and then there's the kind of hipster population who think it's cool," said one resident. "The love for tacos is definitely what's connecting us," said another. lat
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what would l.a. be without the taco truck? i would not want to imagine it.
thanks dread...
no, thank you orhan for posting. spread the word!
it's not cool for the restaurants
i think we can live without these taco trucks (or they can just move every hour or whatever - come ON!)
Free,
Are you saying the taco trucks are not cool for restaurants?
Or the taco trucks are the restaurants you are reffering to?
If the first, you my sir are an idiot!
Street food is god.
again the man trying to fight down free enterprise - wasn't there something similar about the hot dogs recently?
Im sorry but LA's tacos are not all that. The meat is bad quality. Come to Chicago for real mexican food with quality ingrediants.
Jack...
A agree. The taqueria(s) i have been to when i visit my friends in Chi-town always leav eme feeling like i have died and gone to Mexico!
Hah, that's funny Klompus - since my favorite burrito joint in Tucson is now closed, I have to say that IMO the best Mexican restaurant in the world is now in Indianapolis - La Piedad! It's family-run by people from the Mexican town of, yes, La Piedad.
It's a happy world for me when amazing authentic Mexican food can be had in any state in the country. Viva (vive?) the diversity melting pot!
nothing better than being hungover, stuck in traffic behind a taco truck
Its the midwestern farms - closer to market here. Plus LA isnt the only place with a ton of Mexicans.
Although Chi Town banned push carts in the downtown area. They are relegated to the ethnic neighborhoods - out of sight from the tourists. I personlly think its better for the tourism and image of the city to keep the trucks. Especially in LA. Its a unique identifier of place, gives it character. Although they got to get better meat in LA.
i love street carts, street cart vendors and, in most cases, street cart food.
research has shown that street carts (of all kinds - food, art, merchandise) typically increase the traffic and retail income of adjacent businesses (even if they could be construed as competitors). Raising this argument against street carts demonstrates ignorance of the fact that they are an economic contributor to the contemporary metropolis.
Orhan, i attended a small discussion/presentation recently with Margaret Crawford and a guy named Sean Basinski that directs the street vendor project. Sean and his organization are fighting for the rights of the 10-12,000 licensed and unlicensed street vendors in the 5 boroughs:
The Street Vendor Project works to correct the social and economic injustice faced by these hardworking entrepreneurs. Reaching out to vendors on the street, we hold clinics to educate vendors about their legal rights. Working to support a local vendors’ rights movement, we organize vendors to participate in the political process that determines their fate. Finally, we engage in systemic advocacy to help policy makers and the public understand the important role street vendors play in the life of our city.
...
i'll engage klompor's tangent...
while i've never been to LA and therefore can't judge the quality of the local street tacos, the Mexican food in the 26th street neighborhood in downtown Chicago is by far the best i have eaten (with one exception - my Mexican grandmother's cooking...although 26th street fare is pretty much on par with hers...i hope she doesn't read archinect)...
*klompus
We love to eat here - and we have the fat to prove it
eat at your own risk
out of thousands of mexican food establishments, there are many great and there are many bad ones in los angeles.
the fact is though, we have thousands of them all over the city in almost every corner and trucks are just part of them.
i personally like campos burritos that everybody downtalks, their carnitas and chile colorado burritos are good.
i am not a big taco eater. i like tamales at gallegos and so on.
there is a room for everybody with millions of customers. street life and commerce is a very vital part of the urban culture that must be supported. the city's position about having the trucks restricted is just a heavy handed way to approach an urban culture with suburban mentality. those methods are so outmoted for la's urban culture and it is about time the people at the helm to accept the less than spic and span streets and city life and work with it.
i hated new york, when guilliani became the mayor and tried to kill the street culture in the name of racist public safety policies.
getting back to food, city should concentrate on health and hygenic conditions of the street food vending.
and yeah it would be good to get some good beef and pork from mid-west, but cabeza meat is hard to tell.;.)
or lengua
si!
se puede!
good mexican food can be difficult to find anywhere, regardless of whether it's served on a plate or in a box. mexican food in NYC is mediocre at best (no, barrio chino is NOT good). LA does have some amazing places to eat, both stationary and mobile. if the trucks are serving food that does not suck, leave them to it. if their food is shit, then maybe they should start serving soft serve instead.
living in venice beach for about 8 years, i thoroughly enjoyed the taco trucks and the grocery trucks from the neighborhood. the taco trucks in NYC are fairly miserable, but still better than most of the restaurants that serve rich white people "mexican" food.
does the tamale guy still do late nights at the short stop? that is one awesome dude!
also, the burrito/tamale/taco cart in new haven is pretty decent, in case there are any yalies that have not gotten in the queue yet.
best mexican food is in southwest detroit...end of discussion
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