Munchies: Mexicali Taco & Co.

For the second ever Munchies episode shot in LA we chose the gentlemen from Mexicali Taco & Co., Esdras Ochoa and Javier Fragrosso. We wanted to do an episode on Mexicali because we stopped there after a shoot a few months back and were blown away by how good the food was without a whiff of pretension. Take one bite of their shrimp tacos or the carne asada Vampiro and you are transported to a new level of tacqueria consciousness where there is no going back to greasy meat and subpar tortillas.

The Mexicali crew decided to take us on a wildly varied food tour around LA. The first stop was supposed to be at Daily Dose Cafe, they were closed, so we just headed to the Park's Finest. We have never filmed at a Filipino restaurant before, let alone a Filipino BBQ spot. Johnny, the owner, tried to do us in by unloading every imaginable dish, with highlights being the BBQ tritip with horseradish cream sauce and the traditional coconut beef. After saying our goodbyes we headed west to Beverly Hills to the country's only kosher Mexican restaurant owned by the country's only hockey-playing Japanese-Mexican gourmet chef, Katsuji Tanabe. Here we had carnita tacos, the "McKosher" burger, and fried chicken and waffles. Chef Tanabe braises beef in duck fat to mimic the taste and texture of pork, which gives his clientele an idea of the flavor profile of the original dish. These guys were is such a serious food coma when we got back to Mexicali, that it took all they had to whip up more food and eat it for our greedy camera. Enjoy!

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