Under $10: OUR Taco (My Taco; Highland Park)
By Bertha - Wednesday August 19th 2009 |
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My Taco: 6300 York Blvd #4, Highland Park, Ca 90042
Here at Losanjealous, we tackle the hardest of hard-hitting issues. Serious earth shattering, globally conscious shit like, does Diet Dr. Pepper REALLY taste like regular Dr. Pepper? And whether or not ‘My Taco’ is “authentic” or “white people” Mexican food (see comments here – ed).
To truly put the matter to rest we first have to dissect what “authentic” and what “white people” encompasses. Naturally, I take authentic to mean a representation of something that is in close proximity to the original inception. Whereas what “white people” means is a matter worthy of some graduate school dissertation. That being said, I will naively conclude, for the purpose of this analysis that “white people” refers to the watering down, or commercialization of whathaveyou: in this case Mexican food. (Not that there is anything necessarily and automatically wrong with that as I will explore later.)
‘My Taco’ is one of my favorite neighborhood haunts. The décor is a cross between the set of some silly telenovela and pee wee’s playhouse with Frida-like chotchkies hanging all over the walls. The restaurant is always clean and well-ventilated: a great place to escape the heat and enjoy your meal. The staff is friendly; the menu is vast and affordable. I don’t remember where I first read about ‘My Taco’, I do however remember a reviewer raving about steak fries, which mystified me and filled me with intrigue. But much to my chagrin the steak fries were nothing more than thick crispy fries covered with carne asada, sour cream, guacamole and cheese. Not necessarily a Mexican delicacy, but more of a delicious hybrid of America conception, likes deep dish pizza. My initial disappointment was put at bay when I dug deep and attacked my mountain of cheese steak fries ($5.99) definitely a dish you may consider sharing, or not.
{authentic steak fries ;o) }
Since that first day I’ve ordered several things from the menu, usually restricting myself to the basics, quesadillas ($2.75), tortas ($4.75), and potato tacos ($1.49). But this time in an effort to delve deep into the issue of “authentic” food, I ordered the house specialty, BARBACOA DE BORREGO/marinated lamb ($5.99 small). I only remember eating this particular dish as a kid when the families got together for a quinceanera or Christmas, stuff like that. I was a little apprehensive, but when the plate came to the table, there could be nothing unauthentic about it. The slow cooked meat was tender and full of flavor, served with a cup of consomme, and corn tortillas. The fixin’s come on the pate, but you can get more from the condiment station. No question in my mind that I will be ordering this dish again.
(Barbacoa de Borrego)
So, is MY TACO white people food or authentic Mexican food? 1.) Does it really matter? And 2.) Who really cares! It’s delicious, why are we so hesitant to welcome food evolutions? The important thing to remember is that in the depths of kitchen we will probably find some Mexican cook, and how can we begin to say that he is not adding authentic flair to the dishes? I’ll tell you what is white people Mexican food, meat marinated in pasta sauce and basil stuffed in a cold tortilla, but what did I expect when I ordered a burrito in Germany!?!
P.S. I ordered a large horchata ($2.25) @ ‘My Taco’ and it was perfect sweet!
It’s obviously authentic, it’s right there on the sign!
I have to agree with el chavo here. Nothing says white people food more than the words Authentic Mexican Grill. It’s not as bad as Authentic Fresh Mexican Grill. But the sign might as well say..Come on in whitey!
(sigh) Just so I have all my facts straight:
This ridiculous debate began with an argument about the alleged lack of salt in the food, and now faced with a beautiful plate of barbacoa, it’s shifted to the frontage of the building. Did I miss anything? Count me wholly in camp #2 in the above post. If MyTaco does in fact manage to bring in more business by writing the word “authentic” in their signage (something any person might be hard-pressed to quantify), I fail to see how that’s hurting anyone. (wait for a fontwatch post about that script, though – entirely separate yet tangentially related topic)
That barbacoa looks great Bertha!
LOL,i “love” when places bill themselves as “famous” and they have been open for a short period of time. i always wonder, “according to whom”? Wanna hear something side-splitting? This dude asked me where a Chronic Tacos was, he claims they are the best ever. I checked out the website and was confronted by a chihuahua wearing a SANTOS mask. now thats authentic!
Yeah, I don’t know. I’ve definitely seen Mexican-as-hell places in Eastlos and therabouts with the word “authentic” in, um, Spanish on the sign.
chronic tacos aren’t so bad!! they have really good horchata too mmm~mm!
this place is owned by mexican americans, and caters mostly to mexican americans. what does authentic mean to them? i would not eat at this place if it were in d.f., but i would in highland park!
ps. english is such a white person’s language. this place should be called taco mio.
just saw that Hadley @ LA Taco covered this joint quite thoroughly a few months back. he, too, was not tripped up by the signage, and seemed to find the borrego delicious.
i dont understand when “gabachos” try 2 cook mexican food i say there no real mexican food until a real mexican cooks it