El Abajeno ~ Culver City

I hate being a noob.  Especially when it comes to experiencing new restaurants I'm not familiar with.  There's awkwardness, ignorance and plain out tomfoolery when it comes to simple things such as standing in the right line to ordering your meal correctly.  I'm sure some of you, or at least the two of you who are reading this, can attest.  You just gotta swallow your pride and jump into the unknown, and hope you come out the other side a better person, or in my most recent case, walk out with a full stomach and a wallet that's not empty.  

EL ABAJENO

This family owned and operated mexican joint has been pushing out authenticity since 1969.  I'd like to say they are one of three really close, really great mexican joints, literally a stones throw apart.  Two doors down from Abajeno is Taqueria Sanchez, across the street is Tacomiendo.  With El Abajeno, my latest conquest, I finally put all pieces together to form the "Triforce of Culver City Mexican joints".  Yeah, I said it.  And you heard it here first.  

What I ordered is not what I received, but I'll leave that for the end of this review.  I ended up with three huge pollo taquitos, a carne asada taco and a stack of chips.  

I was amazed to find that they only had 3 choices of meat for tacos:  asada, lengua and chicharron.  Amazed because this place is a mexican counter/deli with a HUGE menu. 

Anyways, my taco had its ups and downs.  The carne itself had a really good grilled/charred flavor with the meat being chewy yet very tender and juicy.  The downside was the tortillas were starchy, like store bought... I ended up taking off the second and used only the one.  The tipping point was my expectation of the tortillas to lose heat quick, from experience, but they kept heat long enough for my last bite to be nice and hot, lending this taco a thumbs up.  

Through many Yelp recommendations, I opted for some taquitos.  To my chagrin, what I get is this.   

I'm fuckin gringo apparently, because I was expecting rolled, crunchy taquitos, not this soft lookin open tamale thing.  

When I took my first bite, I was blown away.  The tortilla was the quite the opposite of my taco.  It was two very soft, almost melt in your mouth, homemade soft corn tortillas.  The pollo was properly stewed with long hours of heat that came apart with the softest of pull, the avacado added another layer of flavor and texture and topped with mexican cheese, oh man!  These flavors married so well, it was like taking a bite outta butter.  Melty, chewy, fall apart deliciousness that it's no wonder so many people on Yelp put up reviews soley on this one item.  

I'm definitely a fan of this place, despite my first time performance.  Here's the story, I walk in and notice a huge menu.  I couldn't even tell if they had tacos, the menu was so big.  I ask chica if I can get a carnitas taco, she says no, but they have taquitos and it comes in pollo and carnitas.  So I order three carnitas taquitos, expecting the crunchy rolled, but what I get is three HUGE pollo taquitos.  And my total cost of my meal, 3 taquitos 1 carne taco and 1 medium drink?  $14.60.  Right when the cashier said that number, I literally almost doubled over.  hahah, yeah, I'm broke and I haven't had a meal cost that much since I ate dinner with my parents,  and they paid.

For the carne asada taco.

For the taquitos.

Tacos ~ 1.99  Taquitos ~ 2.95 for carnitas; 3.15 for pollo/asada/lengua.

El Abajeno ~ 4515 Inglewood Blvd. Culver City, CA  90230

Taco Plus ~ Santa Monica

I found out about this westside favorite from a taco informant over at Yelp.com.  I read the reviews, checked the menu and was a bit wary about the quality of taco.  First off, the front sign says, "Taco Plus.... Fresh All The Time."  Uh oh, is this another westside, "fresh-mex" taco joint?  I've encountered a couple and more often than not, left less than happy.  Second, tacos cost $2.35.  That just makes me shake my head.  Will this trip be worth it?

I took my chances anyways...

Taco Plus

First off, parking here can be a BITCH.  But of course it is, you're in the Westside during lunch time.  Note for you taco hunters, if at first you can't find parking in the centre, park across the street at the Smart and Final lot, behind Santa Monica Blvd.  

But if you're blessed by God like me...you get hooked up like this during gnar lunch time periods...

*Jeep always in the crucial.

The inside is very small, only 3 or 4 tables that seat 4 and a back bar area with 4 stools.  I could tell this place was for the locals who have time on their hands, or people who work in the area who get their meals to go.  

Remember the "Fresh All The Time," logo out front?  Well, let me tell you, right when I walked in I noticed a glass container with food sitting in heat pans.  I didn't really mind seeing rice and beans, etc... in there, but what did bug me was seeing cut up asada, pastor and carnitas sitting in this heat box.  Fresh all the time, huh??

While ordering, I noticed a big grill right behind chica with pollo, asada, fish and various other goodness being grilled fresh.  Now that's the business!!  I was just hoping they weren't gonna give me the bumbaclat sitting in the heat box.  

My fears were realized once I saw poncho getting my tacos ready.  Whats worse, before homeboy even got there, I saw a coworker of his pouring water all over the meats!  What is this shit?  Are you really pouring water all over the meat in hopes of slowing down the drying process.  

"Fuck," is all I can say.  I have a feeling my meat is gonna be really dry.  Fuck it.  I'm gonna it eat.

Before I begin, I want to address something that did impress me about this place.  Their salsa bar was definitely a "plus."  They have everything you could need, two rojas, a mild verde, cilantro, pico de gallo, radishes, limes and even green onions.  Check out my set up...good looking aint it?

Anyways, the tacos are very big.  Much bigger than your normal taqueria...hence, the $2.35 charge.  The really load it with plenty of the meat.  But one downside, is the tortillas were not very good.  They tasted like store bought Guerrero brand that I'm not a fan of.  Their super starchy and do not keep heat very well.  My first bite, I expected some warmth, but no, none at all.  It was like eating straight up room temperture tortillas...terrible.

*Pastor

First thing I notice is the flavor.  It was undeniably pastor, but I'm not a fan of their marinade.  Very unremarkable, with the "heat pan" pastor being dry.  I did appreciate the crispy edges, but not at the cost of dry meat.  Also, the salsa they put on top tasted like nothing.  It was like having water that didn't help the already crappy tortilla.  By the end, the inner tortilla was soggy and on the point of breaking.  

*Asada

Hmmm, I'm kinda on the fence with this one.  While the meat was dry and lacked any sort of mexican flavor, it was very lean and grilled properly with a nice stand alone beefy flavor.  Like the pastor, it had charred crispy edges that tasted great, just the meat was soo dry, and once again, the crap salsa they put on top didn't help.  A good thing was I was able to take it off and put on their "very hot" salsa, which wasn't really that hot, and I'm no fire eater.  

It would be a stretch calling this place "authentic."  Shoot, it's probably authentic to the masses here on the Westside who are transplants from the Midwest, where their idea of a "Mexican Restaurant" would be Cabo Cantina.  It would be better to describe this place as a "watered down" version of Mexican food.  The sad part is, it's a literal description as well.  Really Taco Plus?  Did you really just pour water all over the meats in that case?  And "fresh all the time," my ass.  

Tacos ~ $2.39

Taco Plus ~ 1525 S. Bundy Dr.  Santa Monica, CA  90025  (310) 207.0793