That same day I finished the Hyper Orochon Level 2 in Orochon restaurant, I ate some authentic Mexican sobe and tacos sold on the streets of East Los Angeles [Hispanics, more specifically Mexican-Americans are the major ethnicity group in that city]. This tacos are not the usual Taco Bell tacos with the hard or soft shell. They use sobe tortilla, smaller in size compared to the Guerilla brand tortillas, real meat straight from the butcher instead of the greasy beef.
I’ve watched carefully on how the upbeat cooks prepare each tacos from scratch, because not only was I willing to learn and imitate it myself at home, I was a little health conscious because they were operating their taco stands without a proper handgloves. Just kidding.
As it was near my turn to order the meal, I saw a variety of meats on the frying pan along with unchopped jalepenos and peeled onions. Two types of beef, chicken, pig’s intenstines, pork, sausage, and cow tongue (might have been), spicy carrots, two types of spicy sauce, guacamole, horchatas, the three tables had no space to lay more items.
Since I was a newbie, I ordered the same menu as the previous customer, the carne asada. But I actually wanted to order two carne asada along with one of each meat but the chef misunderstood my finger-pointing selections and forgot a few.
One chef was responsible with the tortillas and the meat, He gets two half-sliced lime and squeeze the juice on the top of the frying pan. Then immediately lays down four tortillas on top of the lime juice to get it soaked as it also get warmed up by the heat. He also cuts different meats and spreads it across the frying board, separating the different meats in its own section. The aroma just increased my mouth-water level. It just made the line waiting that much better and boy was the line long but fast moving.
The second cook asks if you want to eat here or to go. The cook grabs the sobe tortilla with the meat placed laid inside, and again with his bare hands. I understood why gloves were not worn. It would actually be inconvenient and may make more mess wearing the gloves during work. Maybe not. The tacos were then wrapped in foils, placed inside the plastic bag with the sauces, chopped cilantro/onion mix, and a bag of sliced cucumbers.
The third cook collects the money and your drink orders. A dollar for each taco and a cup of the rice drink is a buck too.
The taco stands open up usually Friday to Sunday evening and closes at a different time depending on the customer traffic. These taco stands are only to be found in the County of Los Angeles, LA City because other cities don’t want to give permits for taco stands. And if you’re around Los Angeles and can’t find a taco stand in the streets, try Mexican restaurants. And wherever you go, make sure the building interior [check for the letter grades assigned by the LA Health Department], cooks, cashiers looks appealing and deemed clean, especially your tacos!
After surprising my stomach with a full day of calorie and sodium intensive meals, it was not easy on me the day after. Give it a try, you won’t be disappointed.
