Newest Gourmet Tacos Discovered at Azulé Taqueria

Have you ever had cactus before? Being honest, I never thought the desert plant can be edible. To make it as tacos was quite something else.

Santa Monica has evolved in recent years where it used to be a tourists attraction because of the beach along the coast line to mega shopping mecca in the heart of the downtown area. In recent years, it started to make comeback as a culinary destination as it once was back in the late 1990's where some of the finest dining would be settled in this hotbed.

One of the newest entry to formidable dining scene was a food hall enacted on the busy Third Street Promenade called Gallery Food Hall.

Azulé Taqueria is the newest venture from an established restaurant group K2, which also introduced StrFsh in the same food plaza. Located on the 2nd floor in the Gallery Food Hall, was this exciting casual fare that introduced us to many gourmet tacos.

As I promised a grilled Cactus is used as protein for a taco. Fascinating as it sounds, for me I had to get used to the big chunk, as I was never quite sure this plant can be digested. For some reason, the perception was pins on skins. Eventually I got over it and did wound up loving the fantastic flavor.

The more I pursue the menu, the more I discovered many of the tacos have some elaborated elements to their tacos components that would make a great tapas for some. A fantastic place to grab an elevated casual food and enjoy the atmosphere of a fine surroundings.

As you decided to spent time to look around the food hall, you'll discover a great balcony view overlooking the third street promenade. In a way it was a hidden oasis as I discovered not too many people had ventured out this far yet. Great for now, but will be busier once news gets out.

As I was writing this, Azulé Taqueria are having their promotional sales of Buy one get one free of their tacos until 10/16/2018. It's a great way to try out many of their fine selections.

Azulé Taqueria
1315 3rd Street Promenade
Santa Monica, CA 90401

Hawaiian Food Closer to Home at Coconut's Fish Cafe

Hawaiian food tends to stay with you even after your vacation is over.

Here's a thought, why aren't more transplants opening up more island influenced restaurants here in the southland? It would be a gold mine! ha

In front

I'm going to hear about there are few places in town and yet people will recite the same list over and over. Heck even a famous chain with the same two letters will get recited as well. Here comes the funny part: once you named it on one hand, it all becomes obvious that it's the same easy spam and eggs that get mentioned. Don't kill me, but I know people will quickly point to me about the massive headway that POKE has made in the mainland over the years.

Click on "play" to view the tables and interior

But when it's time to name a place that served seafood or moco loco, boy do we get a head scratcher because of specific this question.

By some luck, an establishment originated in Hawaii is coming over to LA to serve some of the best fish tacos and the ever popular coconut shrimps. Coconut's Fish Cafe that was started in mid 2000's in Maui quickly gain popularity with its island's signature ingredients of coconut, mango, pineapple, wasabi, and ginger that can be incorporated in part of their dishes.

With its local feel and vibe, the cute island decor with surfboard as a table top, this place has all the elements of inviting place.

The feast!

I was instructed not to eat these fish tacos with a fork, even though it was provided to me. The idea was to gobble this thing with your free hands and take it all in. I'll be straightforward honest, it took me about a good 20 minutes to finish one of these ginormous tacos. Yeah, it's hungryman sized tacos.

The famous Fish Taco

With this fish grilled to perfect and added in some of these tropical flavors like the mango, I can see how or why these fish tacos were a hit. The nicely battered coconut shrimps were a major winner as well. I especially love the tangy sauce that goes with the coconut shrimp, it was fantastic!

The Famous Coconut Shrimps

As in my question, was these well known cafe started by a transplant? Apparently, the founder was a northern California native who retired to the islands. Supposedly, I was given a story of this gent buying out a local restaurant when he found out his favorite Hawaiian restaurant was closing down, so he apparently he was learned from the closed establishment on how those ingredients worked and recreated them in his new restaurant in Maui he just bought.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Soon enough, he took it back and opened up new restaurants in Sacramento and Scottsdale, where it was also highly received as the ones in Maui. With hits on his hand, it obviously in no time get to downtown Los Angeles as well.

Fish Tacos and coconut shrimps doesn't always required a plane ticket.... it might comes to that if our urges for Hawaiian food stretch long after our return from vacation.

Coconut's Fish Cafe
809 S Hill Street
Los Angeles, CA 90014

Grand Preview: Kogi BBQ Taco Truck

A few months back, there was an interesting discussion that I never thought would lead to an absolute success. While having lunch with Pleasure Palate at an average shabu shabu joint, Jazz Cat Cafe, she shared with me on a little buzz about a private tasting event that was held the previous day at a taco truck. Not just any taco truck that slobbed a taco, but with an unique twist: Tacos infused with Korean influences.

Pleasure Palate gave me a very exclusive look at those photos and told me a little background story on how the founders were able to conceive the idea of having tacos with a little Korean flavors infused on to a cuisine that usually reserved for a portable Mexican street food vendors. 

They apparently brainstormed the idea after a few drinks one night when they thought it would be cool if they could able to find one of these post-drinking munchies somewhere in town. Then the business ventures took over when the group of friends thought it's possible to pull this off. Her review and her stories with the founder can be read here.

I did have a reservation about something like this. I'm pretty sure there are detractors out there that would gladly pointed out that they could do something like this at home easily. I'm probably one of those that would like to see how these tacos would be able to stand out against the traditional munchies that have been polarized and have been etched in the minds of every Angelenos who are used to seeing these trucks parked next to their favorite dance/music venues.

In order to track these guys down, you would have to find out where their truck would be stationed at in their website or follow them with updates from twitter. On a mundane Saturday night with nothing better to do, I was able to follow their status when I checked out the twitter updates in that they were going to be stationed in downtown LA spot, two blocks away from the Hipster's fave Wurstküche bar/restaurant (the review will come shortly).

I was thinking to myself that I was going to be the loneliest guy in a sketchy, dark street trying to get tacos. To my amazement, since Pleasure Palate's review and a big word of mouth from the previous station posts in Hollywood area, they have been able to attract legions of fans forming a snake like line leading up to the ordering window. It's a good (or bad) sign that I have to wait patiently before I can place my order. Like a huge pig I really am, I ordered every taco listed in their menu.

The big selling item that seems to get the raves were the short beef rib (bulgogi) tacos, but I have heard the spicy pork tacos were picking up the votes as the favorites as of late. Indeed those two varieties of meat are popular among Korean BBQ fans and I can vouched for their delicious popularity. It was not not surprising to see those two meat on a taco, but I was dying to check out one other item that fancied me: The Korean Tofu taco.

Short Beef Rib (left picture), Spicy Pork and Korean Chicken Taco

If there was ever something that would baffle me because of the concept and yet astound me by convincing me that I was wrong, the tofu taco would be the item to do it. In a surprising fashion, the tofu taco is my favorite among the four tacos that Kogi had offered on their menu. I honestly thought the concept of a tofu taco would required them to deep fried the item to ensure it's not too soft, but surprisingly it was not too crunchy to be stiff and not too soft either to make it a delicious item.

Korean Tofu Taco

Along with the three popular mentioned proteins, you can also get the Korean Chicken with either in a taco fashion or in a burrito format. With the burritos, they substitute the beans with potatoes, which make me a happy camper as I never really enjoyed any beans on my burritos.

Kogi (Korean translation for "meat") BBQ Taco Truck is still a work in progress as they are still trying to introduce new items or make adjustment to their menu. In the past, I have heard that they had introduced Short Beef rib sliders (which I had seen a photo) and a breakfast burrito (with egg, hashbrown, and cheese along with your choice of meat) on their limited menu lineup. 

For that evening, they introduced a Hot Dog with Kimchi sauerkraut on a toasted flat bread as a bun as part of their New Year's specials. I hope they keep the hot dog (as it was surprisingly good even if you were not drunk and needing a sober snack) and bring in the breakfast burrito back to their menu.

Kogi Hot Dog with Kimchi Sauerkraut

With ongoing menu additions being on a fast track to be added and a slew of Vegetarian options being introduced, they are putting together a menu that will satisfy a crowd in LA that is looking for an alternative that is vastly different from a boring standard. 

Getting something old that people are familiarized with and reintroducing it in a hipper fashion have been welcomed by customers of all ages. It has gotten to a point where I witnessed the taco truck was attracting crowds that is slowly transforming from a cult to being accepted by the general public.

There are two compelling reasons for chasing this truck even whether you are sober or not. One is that the ingredients are fresh when the items are being made. You'll appreciate that if you don't want your tacos to take an upchuck. Second, the tacos and burritos are very light and not heavy. Even if you are looking for munchies after pouring down a few brew at your local bar, the tacos from Kogi will fill your up without trying to be a mixologist with your stomach. Trust me, there is a reason on why some of these trucks are affectionately known as the "roach coach". Not Kogi.

You probably need to get to the assigned location early enough before an absolute certain long line will be forming. Because of a small minor law, the taco truck does need to be on the move after a given certain time limit. So make sure you follow their updates on twitter or check their website for details

As in for my original thought on the discussion, Kogi had made a believer out of me. Now I just wish they can venture down to Southeast portion of LA closer to me.

Kogi BBQ Taco Truck
Website: http://kogibbq.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/kogibbq