Tacos: Make them at home or order from Sonoratown, Guerrilla Tacos

In honor of Cinco de Mayo next week, KCRW’s Evan Kleiman explains how to make tacos at home. If cooking isn’t your thing, she also recommends where to get some of the best tacos in LA. Taquerias across town are offering takeout and delivery to stay afloat during the pandemic.

Homemade taco tips:

Putting together a taco can be simple, Kleiman says. “If you have a tortilla and you put stuff in it, and you fold it over and you tilt your head to eat it, it’s a taco.”

Leftovers make great taco fillings too. But no matter what you put in them, texture is important. Kleiman recommends topping tacos off with chopped cabbage.

As for the tortillas, she recommends picking some up from local taco spots around LA.

Recommended LA taquerias:

Sonoratown (downtown LA)

Known for its flour tortillas, Sonoratown sells tortillas by the dozen to customers. They also offer a “Chivi Party,” which features small burritos. You can get these burritos as vegan, based on poblano chiles.

Good Food: Defending champion Sonoratown aims for tortilla perfection (Aug 2019)

Guerrilla Tacos (downtown LA)

This Arts District-based restaurant is selling “emergency taco kits.” The largest ones are filled with enough ingredients to make 60 tacos. A kit comes with five pounds of roasted chicken and carne asada, 30 eggs, a pint of both red and green salsa, tortillas, chopped onions and cilantro. They even throw in a roll of toilet paper.

Guerilla Tacos also offers 16 oz bottles of premade margarita and pina colada kits.

Carnitas El Momo (Boyle Heights)

Carnitas (crispy, slow roasted pork) is a popular taco meat, and they’re selling it by the pound here.

Tacos 1986 (Beverly Grove, Westwood, downtown LA)

You can buy a taco platter with a pound of one of these four proteins: carne asada, pollo asado, adobado or mushroom. If you can’t decide, you can mix and match your proteins. The platter also comes with a dozen handmade corn tortillas, onion and cilantro. Or you can order tacos a la carte.

Petty Cash (Beverly Grove)

You have a choice of protein, along with Kernel of Truth Organics blue corn tortillas and either pinquito beans or vegetarian black beans. You also get rice, crispy tortilla chips, salsa, chopped onions and cilantro.