Guisados — Restaurant in Los Angeles

LA Taco stands used to range from taco bell to TJ authenticity and I used to think I'd never find the one and in the last few years I consistently come back to Guisados and El Chato. El Chato is for non Guisados hours.

San Diego has always had a more consistent taco base quality than OC and LA and when the food truck game came about it really brought to light the "taco shop's" need to step their game up, which they have. LA didn't have to focus on the Baja style either.

Your tortilla's must be fresh corn, that four stuff is Texas Mexican. Your meats must be lean and well marinated. If you can't cook on fire grill for char and mesquite smokiness and are using a flat top you better make up for it somehow.

Well this place has all of it. Fresh, bright and crisp salsa's with varying heat I'd say to almost specifically match each taco, but that might be too far.

Bistek is the beef to get, tender, flavorful. Of the chicken the mole poblano is the way to go as it's a deep rich mold flavor and used on a taco like this is pretty unique considering I had salsa on to as well. Hongos con cilantro is a rocket of flavor for those not willing to eat so much cheese to feed their vegetarian Mexican cravings. With summer in swing the calabacitas are fresh, though sometimes overcooked. Fish taco has tons of char grilled flavor and goes well with all the sauces. Chicarron to me was bland. I prefer a vinegar based garlic strong flavor, but non of the sauces really brought that out except the habanero. Tinga de pollo to me was a little bland and that brought me to my next idea.

Curry taco. Be it Japanese, Thai, Indian and your choice in complementing protein and you got magic.

Service is good, they get busy and they know what's up with such a simple menu. Each dish takes quite a bit of time to prepare which is why they don't' do so many. Don't be a gringo and ask for a burrito, LA is about their taco's.

It's a pretty nice location, I can see why they have 1 other and a 3rd on the way. It's popular and not just amongst the locals, they are drawing crowds from all over. Their hours are pretty weak though, 8 on weekdays. And 5 on Sunday with 10:30 opening I kind of want them to do late night and breakfast. Their taco's are good enough to get 5 in my book.

Try the Armando Palmero (Jamaica and limon). The hibiscus sings with the lemon and to me is better than the Arnold Palmer. The Ronald Palmer is sweet tea vodka and lemonade.

Protip: Get 2 samplers if your hungry and splitting so you can try almost...

So I finally made it to the much talked about Guisados last week. We had to wait for a while to get a table, but I’d say it was worth the time. We ordered the sampler platter which has 6 tacos, and they were all yummy. The chorizo taco was to die for, but if you don’t like pork, boy, are you in for some serious sifting through the menu to find items without pork in it. The salsa roja was amazing. The quesadilla was lip-smackingly good and I will definitely come back for more. Drooool…

I read some reviews that the tortillas were too thick, but that is only to be expected because they are handmade. Anyway I didn’t think that they were too thick, for me it was just right, but I do like some bite in my food lol.

The reason why their meat tastes so different is because they stew it for hours instead of the usuall grilling. So as you can expect, the meat is tender and melts in your mouth.

If you are feeling adventurous, do try the habanero puree sauce. I must warn you though that this isn’t for the faint-hearted. You will have flames coming out of your mouth I swear. The horchata is easily the best I’ve had in my life, and trust me I’ve tucked into quite a few tacos in my life.

It is an amazing combination really – the handmade tortillas which have a distinct flavor, their melt in the mouth meat and a hundred different sauces. If you are a taco lover, you must try this place. Drop in after a Dodgers game and you won’t regret it. A good game and good food – ahhh :)

I will definitely be...

Thank you Guisados for opening up a DTLA location! My friend LG lives in the building above Guisados so it was very convenient for her to meet me here for lunch. Parking in DTLA is always a hassle but there are plenty of paid parking lots nearby. The line was not too long when we went and it moved fairly quickly. They have indoor seating as well as outside "patio" seating in the "hallway" area shared with the other stores. Since my friend had her baby stroller with her we opted to sit in the patio area.

I got the following: -- CAMARONES TACO: Fajita-style shrimp, onions and bell peppers served with a mild chipotle sour cream. I love shrimp tacos so I got two of these, but I ordered it without the chipotle sauce because I learned from previous experiences that I am too weaksauce to handle that sauce. It was pretty good even without the sauce! -- PESCADO TACO: Grilled white fish, served atop black beans. Topped with cabbage, avocado/ cilantro cream, chile arbol, and pico de gallo. It's a classic. Have to order at least one of these, right?

While DTLA has plenty of restaurants, I like knowing that Guisados is an option for me in this area. It's clean and airy and the staff are pretty nice. Definitely a solid option, especially if you are...