nishikawa tacos

one of the many wonderful things about california is the awesome mexican food. now, before i moved here, i used to think that mexican food was taco bell. i know... but that's how naive i was. i remember in college my californian friends would talk about mexican food and how much they missed it. i would suggest taco bell. they gave me a total look of disgust. puh-leeze.

i really didn't understand until i finally had real mexican tacos in california.

one of my favorite places to take friends is the taco truck located at 510. s. fair oaks ave in pasadena. don't be fooled. there's another taco truck, but we love going to this one. ely introduced me to this place, and i go back all the time. they use two corn tortillas to make sure that it doesn't break as you take a bite. they have all kinds of flavors except vegetarian. (sorry, vegetarians... ). they have asada (beef), pollo (chicken, carnitas (pork), alpastor (marinated pork), chicharron (spicy pork), lengua (beef tongue). my usual is 1 asada and 1 alpastor. total = $2.50. if i'm really hungry, i get another alpastor. you can get it mild or spicy. i get it mild with a double shot of spicy! they topped them with chopped onions and cilantro. squeeze a lemon wedge on top of the tacos. muy delicioso!

they don't have a place to sit, but the fun of going is eating with your plate on the hood of the car. if it's raining, you can eat in the car.

this last time i went the owner let me try the chicharron and the lengua. the chicharron had a nice spicy kick, and i liked the lengua. it was very soft and tender.

so... if you visit me in LA, i will definitely take you to nishikawa tacos! but we can only go after 6pm. before 6pm, it's nishikawa auto service. after 6pm, the tacos are ready. open until midnight during the week, and 2am on weekends.