Home made corn tortillas are great, but a true pain in the ass (at least in my opinion). First, while you can make decent corn tortillas from masa harina, they pale in comparison to tortillas made from fresh masa. If you live somewhere where you can get fresh masa (as I do), I suspect you can also find fresh corn tortillas for sale. Surely, there must be a tortilleria somewhere around you, if you live in Southern California. Around here, all the local Mexican markets have tortillas wrapped in waxed paper, still warm from being griddled, and freshly delivered every day. At 40 cents per dozen, it’s not worth the time and effort, in my opinion, to make your own.
Still, to be perfectly honest, they are slightly different. Homemade tortillas are a bit thicker, less uniform, and more “pancake”-y than the manufactured ones I’ve gotten.
I’d look around the local Mexican markets and see if any of them sell freshly made corn tortillas.
Oh sure. But even the fresh tortillas at Vallarta pale in comparison to the beauties I got downtown. Trust me, if you’d had them, you’d just know. I actually rode a sweet taco high all day. Probably I can start poking around the hole in the wall carnicerias, but the Mexican food isn’t as good in my area as it is in LA proper.
**butler **- I’m sorry to hear of your taco woes. When my sister was living in upstate NY, our Grandma had to send her tortillas and hot sauce - from Colorado. If that’s not desperation, I don’t know what is.
Incidentally I used to have a wild fantasy about opening a taco stand in England, becoming fabulously wealthy and famous in the process. Hey, it’s a fantasy.
guizot, I will have to check out that article. That sounds like an awesome concept.
Yeah, I know that opinions are pretty polarized about La Superica. I always just order the Alambres de Filete, which are pretty killer, although the now defunct Las Delicias out in Goleta had better ones, but no freshly made tortillas. Part of the problem is that this place is so overhyped, it can’t possibly live up to the expectations (I believe Sunset Magazine rated it the best taco stand on the West Coast). Also the firiggen’ long line and the insurmountable wait tend to add to the disappointment.
My favorite taco stand in town is El Zarape on San Andres (adobada to die for). Googling shows me an El Bahio at 129 N. Milpas Street. Maybe I’ll try it tomorrow for lunch! In L.A., that stand next to the Vermont/Santa Monica Red Line metro station is my favorite. $1 tacos 24 hours a day with a killer salsa bar. Sometimes, they have FREE frijoles! I guess that would be Freejoles.
Thick tortillas are such a disappointment. One of the (few) things I miss about living in Tucson is the availability of awesome tortillas. There was a place near downtown that I would go to get tortillas by the dozen… they came folded up in a plastic bag and were each about 24" across. They were so thin you could literally read through them. I tried it. It worked. They made the best burritos and chimichangas… but I haven’t seen anything like that since I left Arizona And I certainly could never make something like that myself–hell I don’t even have a cooking surface that big
Would you then please tell that to my girlfriend (una chilanga). Maybe then I could do less of the cooking.
It’s called “El Gran Burrito,” and it is indeed open 24 hours. I’ve gone there with gratitute at three AM more than once.
It’s actually not an article, but a radio recording. Go to TAL and then go to the September 4, 1998 broadcast, and you can hear it. (His name is Jonathan Gold.)
Do you mean they disappoint because they are thick, or that thick tortiallas are just not done well often enough?
Because they are thick. I just don’t care for bready tortillas. Especially for things like burritos, I far prefer a lot of layers of really thin tortilla. The kind that I am specifically thinking about have ZERO “fluffiness” to them. They’re thin and translucent and oh so very good.
Yeah, those sound like flour tortillas to me–I’ve never seen a corn tortilla that large.
Personally, for me I don’t like the super thin tortillas. I usually double up corn tortillas for tacos (as every Mexican joint seems to do in town) and my corn tortillas are no bigger than 8" in diameter. On the rare occasion I do make my own corn tortillas from fresh masa, there’s no need to double them up.
Flour tortillas. The conversation seemed to have gone in the “burrito” direction so I figured it was fair game. And I agree–phyllo wouldn’t work for a burrito or chimichanga. What I’m “looking for” is another source for the kind of tortillas I used to buy all the time when I lived in Arizona. Fat chance in the Atlanta suburbs, unfortunately.
Yesterday, it being a Friday during Lent, we had quesadillas de masa, some filled with strips of roasted chile poblano and requesón, others with sauted mushrooms, dried chile, tomato and onion. Served with a salsa made from tomate verde and roasted dried chile de arbol.
My wife used Maseca brand harina. And added warm water until the consistency felt just right. Kind of like a soft putty, they have to be flexible (tener correa in Spanish) so they don’t break up when folded. The griddle temp was the same as when you make pancakes.
Sorry to bump (and continue a hijack, but this is my thread, dammit!), but I took a roadtrip with my husband and nephew up to Santa Barbara today. I sampled both El Bajio and La Super Rica.
El Bajio was good but overpriced; I paid nearly thirty dollars for six tacos, a horchata, and two diet Cokes (in a can). I get the same thing at my local taqueria plus two burritos for about twenty, and the Cokes are 44 oz., not a can, with all you can eat chips and cukes. Tacos were $2.99 a pop and there was an eight-dollar (!) quesadilla advertised as well, with no meat to substantiate the price. I’ll admit that SB rents are probably driving the price a fair amount. The tacos were good, but the asada was a little fatty and I thought they were a little overwrought what with the guac and sour cream. Good tacos should stand on their own. The tortillas were OK - standard Vallarta corn tortillas, probably made that day, but not fantastic.
La Super Rica was good, the tortillas vastly superior and the salsa roja fantastic. I almost missed it except I noticed a little place on Milpas as I was driving by with a line out the door, and since El Bajio had left me still a bit peckish, I had a taco and a beer. The import beer was a whole dollar less than at El Bajio, and the tacos $2.30 rather than $2.99 a pop. Still not as cheap as Sammy’s (my local place) or as good as El Parian (the taqueria that launched this thread) but not bad.
All in all, a pretty successful day for tacos. At least I know I won’t starve in Santa Barbara. And I got a bunch of oranges and strawberries in Fillmore, too.
Did you know, Royal Ruin, that the only banana farm in the U.S. is somewhere on the road between LA and San’a Barbara? It’s easy to miss.
And how much did you pay for those oranges and strawberries, considering that 75% of those in the San Juaquin Valley died in the cold spell last month?
Anyway, Mexican food in general in CA is a weird crap shoot. You can go to a taco stand a half mile from the border with Mexico, and get the worst taco you’ve ever tasted. At the same time, you can get a really great burrito in the Mission in San Francisco. It all depends on where you happen to eat (and what you like to eat).
And as for seafood in Puerto Nuevo in Baja? Forget it. It’s become a tourist trap. There are family-run places not too far away that serve better for much less.
Most Mexican food–especially that which you find at a typical restaurant in Southern California–is not that complicated. It’s either “okay” or just boring. But then you sometimes come across a place that really puts in the effort. (Their carane asada is actually asada.) In LA, Burrito King; in SF, La Cumbre; in San Diego, some of the Roberto’s/Alberto’s (depends on which one).
Most of Mexican cooking is simple, and either really good or fair-to-middling. Now mole, that’s a whole 'nother thread.
Upon re-reading this thread, I think you are assuming that the Trojans actually interact with the community surrounding their campus. Probably the farthest they go is to that mall on Jefferson, just north of the USC campus. I have to admit that they have some great food there. But you’ll never see a Trojan at one of those Southern-fried chicken/Chinese food/doughnut places on Adams. Or even at that place on Adams and Vermont, across from the Ralphs.
They get their kudos at the school, but not their real education.
1 dollar for five pounds of navel oranges, same for lemons, which I am preserving today. Tangelos were $.59/lb. so I grabbed a few. The berries were expensive at $2.50/pint, but delicious.
At least one Trojan acquaintance of mine seems to know his Pico eateries pretty well; I thought I scooped him on El Parian but he already knew about it. Ah well. At least I have a good food buddy. Except during that special week in winter!
And I certainly could never make something like that myself–hell I don’t even have a cooking surface that big 
And I got a bunch of oranges and strawberries in Fillmore, too. 
Tangelos were $.59/lb. so I grabbed a few. The berries were expensive at $2.50/pint, but delicious.