Is it possible to live in a city for over 20years and practically know nothing about it? How was it possible for me to only recently found out about all these street tacos wonderness in my own backyard (even if the backyard is about an hour drive away)? I guess I know why. I didn’t REALLY get into everything food until I moved to NYC and started this blog. I didn’t REALLY appreciate awesome authentic tacos until I became obsessed with the trucks at Red Hook. And I didn’t REALLY get into the street food scene until this whole street food wave that took over 2009. But then still I wasn’t able to grasp just how many street taco vendors are in Highland Park, Eagle Rock, Boyle Heights and etc… Not until I came upon Dylan Ho’s post about street tacos in LA. And after watching Dan Delaney taco crawling with Dylan, I wanted to go street taco crawling as well and actually pondered about asking Dylan as my tour guide. But decided not to, seem so out of the blue and he probably either ignore my email or say no. Then I thought about, hey I can just write down the locations of all the taco stands he blogged about and have my own little taco tour! And two things really set this tour into stone were Jonathan Gold, from LA Weekly, writing about Antojitos Carmen and Breed Street Scene in Boyle Heights and included their Twitter accounts. The second thing was my friend Sandy wanted to have a street taco tour as well and actually lives near to most of the vendors.

I’ve done many food tours before small and big so I wasn’t expecting any different from this taco tour. It was like okay, let’s go get some tacos. I wasn’t prepare massive this whole thing was and I still don’t. I thought the 2 nights that I went pretty much covered most of the vendors but then on Yelp and a closer look at Dylan’s blog, proved that there were many many more.

Anyways let’s start this frakkin epic journey and I do mean E P I C.

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What is the one important thing that you need to have to keep you going in your job? Dominic, owner of Don Chow Tacos, said fun. You definitely need to love and be having fun at your job. Especially when you’re running on a 2 hour sleep. I was surprised to find out from Dominic that he and Lawrence, the other half of Don Chow Tacos, still have their day time job. Dominic works in the IT department while Lawrence runs the family business. It’s also why they only do 3 nights a week from 10pm to 2am. With that kind of schedule you REALLY need to love what you do. I bow down to these guys. It’s what I call ultimate foodie passion. “I just love to eat” said Dominic. And I thank you and Lawrence for that because I can’t get that bbq pork taco out of my head!! Ugh! Want one now.
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Habana Outpost in Fort Greene is the kind of place that seems to bring together groups of people that wouldn’t normally be frequenting the same places. On a recent weekday evening we shared the outdoor seating with young couples, hipsters, and families with their young children. I think there’s something about the eco-friendly/sustainability ethic combined with the festive atmosphere that draws lots of different people. Or maybe it’s just the excellent frozen mojitos.

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On one normal March Sunday, Steph and I walked down Court St. After missing the Ikea shuttle and the B61 we decided to just snack around in Boerum Hill and Carroll Gardens. After snacking our way down Court St. we walked over to Smith St. We noticed, on the corner of Sackett St., there was a sign that said “EMPANADA.” I was definitely intrigued because I love empanadas and I usually get my empanada fix at the Red Hook ball fields. So to find a street vendor selling empanadas in winter, yes please! She also had tamales and tacos on the menu. Sadly we didn’t get anything from her that day and I didn’t get a chance to visit the empanada lady till much later. It had been so long that I totally forgotten about her until one day, there was a street fair on Smith St., I found her again. So the next day I was determined to get my ass out of the apartment to see if the empanada lady was there. Though just to make sure she was on Sackett St, I consulted the internet and found many people said she was on Degraw St. Okay, I left my apartment, feeling lucky about it. As I approached Degraw St., I noticed nothing but a sad looking lamp post. Boohooo no empanada lady sign but just to make sure I walked down to Sackett. And….

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Recently my 2 of my friends made the move from San Francisco to Los Angeles. They had settled into the dreaded “Valley” of Los Angeles. When every Angelinos talk or think about the “Valley”, they have a disgusted tone of voice, “eewww the Valley?” Personally I have never been to the Valley nor do I know where the Valley is. When I googled map my friends’ address, it told me it would take 1.2hours. Greeeeaaat. So the next day, I gave myself enough time for the trek and off I went to this magical Valley place. Well 5.5hours later, I was tired, sleepy and hungry. What I nor my friends realized were that we would be sitting on a patio drinking sangria and having some good Mexican food at Hugo’s in Studio City.
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AKA “The Day I Ate Too Much”

Two weekends ago Donny and I met up at Red Hook with our friend Steph. What followed is a pretty good example of what happens to me when I let my food obsessions get the better of me — and by the end of the day I was in an uncomfortable food coma. If you judge me, dear reader, do not judge me too harshly, for I have paid a heavy price for my gluttony.

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