Thursday, September 8, 2011

SoHo Taco Tasting

When Bill the Street Gourmet LA invites you for some tacos, how can you not go? This time it's not a purist, authentic regional Mexican food, though, but Soho Taco, a Santa Ana-based catering company serving "modern" tacos but still has traditional meats, toppings, and fresh tortillas.

Carne Asada Taco

La Descarga
Since SoHo Taco currently only has catering (according to them, a food truck will be hitting the streets in October), they and Bill had to find another venue to have the lunch. Well, Bill lives nearby and a well known regular at La Descarga, so we lucky friends not only had some tacos, but also got to see La Descarga in daylight for the first time.
Fish Taco
The catering prices for SoHo Taco starts around $10 and up, depending on your choice and number of meats, whether you want fresh tortilla, etc. The fresh tortillas did not show up on the first visit (above), but still enjoyed our unique tacos. The available toppings range from salsa roja to queso to mango salsa (which was great with the grilled mahi mahi taco). The carne asada was tender and juicy, but the mahi mahi and the grilled shrimp were definitely my favorites from this visit.

They also had a vegetable taco with fresh peppers, onions, spinach, etc that this carnivore found pretty good. The red meats are served in the taco as is for you to put your own toppings on, but the veggie, mahi mahi, and shrimp were served with creamy,seasoned mayonesa (you still put your desired toppings on).
Veggie Taco

Fresh Tortilla
Anyway, at some point they decided that they should've made fresh tortillas for our tacos instead, so they invited us back for lunch. We reconvened at La Descarga. They pressed and grilled the tortilla to order.

The fresh tortilla service (which costs extra) isn't always available - depending on the weather. Apparently, they don't come out as well when it's too hot, etc.

I tried the grilled shrimp again, which was my favorite the first time around. And yes, it's so much better with fresh tortilla! They charge extra per person for fresh tortilla, but it'll be well worth it.
Shrimp Taco

They also brought some cecina this time, that the SoHo guys had also cured themselves. The cecina are thin strips of salt-cured meat, giving it a distinct flavor.
Cecina
Chef Gabe at SoHo Taco grew up butchering meat and apparently not only knows the good cuts to use in the tacos but also how to cure them. The cecina might've replaced the grilled shrimp as my favorite.

And this time, La Descarga's Steve Livigni also made some daiquiris for us (needless to say, one of the best daiquiris you can get). What a lunch!
Daiquiri 

P1070128
SoHo Taco is OC-based, but yes, they do drive all the way to LA and San Diego to cater.

www.sohotaco.com
@sohotaco

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