Tuesday, July 23, 2024

How L.A. Reached Peak Taco

Other cities have taco addictions, but in Los Angeles " with far more Mexican restaurants than any other county in the U.S. " taco culture is on perpetual overdrive. There's a soft-shell crab taco for $26 at the clubby Arts District roof bar Cha Cha Cha and a $24 caviar taco at Nobu Los Angeles, but also $2 paper-plate tacos just outside your favorite neighborhood gay bar, and everything in between. The city has given birth to Korean tacos, Black tacos, vegan tacos, halal tacos, kosher tacos, alongside an explosion in regional tacos from the farthest corners of Mexico, making L.A. arguably the most taco-diverse city in the world. In Los Angeles, the taco is our avatar. It is who we are. How did we get here?

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In 1962, Glen W. Bell Jr. founded Taco Bell " the first U.S. taco chain to go national " in Downey, after copying the hard-shelled taco he loved by Lucia Rodriguez from Mitla Cafe in San Bernardino.

Then, an L.A. immigrant decided to enter the chat. In my view, Raul Martinez Sr. is the history-shaping Californian whose invention of the taco truck was the first step in the citywide quest to achieve taco nirvana.

Comments

Que sabroso! Thanks for posting.

#1 | Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 2024-07-23 03:04 PM

My favorite song about tacos, take me back to my frat days:

www.youtube.com

#2 | Posted by NerfHerder at 2024-07-23 06:07 PM

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