Nate Silver on NYC/LA Tacos

Epicurean Exploits - Food and Recipes
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is this supposed to be controversial?

I think not…

Yeah, I’m from LA and if we know anything, it’s tacos… or more specifically Mexican Food.

I don’t think many of us claim to have equal or superior pizza to NY… That would be silly. As it would be equally silly to say the same about tacos in NY.


I love it when I travel to the Midwest and while having lunch with a client they suggest I try the tacos or Burritos.

“Oh Joel, you’ll love it, this place makes the best Mexican food”… I just shake my head and politely decline.

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I don’t think it controversial (if anything, Silver overestimates the NYC median). I just enjoy the way he analyzes stuff, including politics, baseball, and taquerias. Nate Silver is a huge pick-up for Grantland.

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Sounds like it’s time for an LA - Chicago Mexican food Cagematch.

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he’s not doing grantland. He’s doing his own thing for ESPN that’s like grantland but it’s based out of the east coast. It’s called FiveThirtyEight. He has a Bill Simmons like role for it.

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You are correct; I miswrote, Silver is moving fivethirtyeight from the NYT to ESPN. I look forward to more sports and popular culture stuff from Silver.

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Yeah the LA tacos kill NYC. Ditto Chicago. There would obviously be a better contest if one took the top dozen tacos from each city. New York would probably include some place that has $5 each tacos. Chicago has some pretty decent Mexican food. The Bayless empire really pulls up their top end.

They also have all sorts of not-really-mexican places doing tacos. I had a good one at Big & Little’s last week. But make some composite rating that includes quality, price and availability and it’s ridiculous to compare anywhere to LA for mexican food. It’s usually done by denizens of other places who don’t realize how many friggin places there are here to get good Mexican food. Especially with the advent of the trucks. San Diego actually has some really good Mexican fare, but it just isn’t as big as LA, with as many really cheap spots.

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The problem we have is guys from LA come here and don’t know where to find good tacos. :slight_smile:

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I thought the cooking talent from Mexico was concentrated mostly in French restaurants in NYC.

-Al

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A few weeks ago, my son’s friend was in town from Vancouver and I took them to a little hole in the wall in Norwalk for Tacos and Cocteles de Camaron. My son and I have been there a million times.

His friend got out of the car and while walking up he said, “I don’t think we should be here, we might get shot”.

We just busted up laughing… “if you want good Mexican food, you go to the hood”. Heck, Norwalk isn’t even bad…

I remember when my dad used to drive over to Compton for catfish. I called him crazy when I was young and he used to look at me puzzled and say “Well, where else am I going to go for the good stuff?”

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Comparing SD to LA in the most simplest of ways, I see it like this. LA rules tacos, SD rules burritos

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I probably have not found the best tacos. But I’ve been to Chicago at least 15 times in the last 7-8 years and traveled some different areas. I see it largely as a product of demographics. Mexican food/tacos is going to generally track the Mexican population. Why would a Mexican want to live in a place that is gloomy and frigid for 1/3 of the year, as far as possible from their country of origin? :slight_smile: I’m partly joking, but the population is much more extensive here. There are 3 million or so Mexicans in LA county. Can there be 1/4 that in Chciago/Cook? In actuality I think there has a been a very large influx into Chicago over the past 10-12 years. Not surprisingly there is WAY more Mexican food than pre 2000. But the emergence of the culture and opening of restaurants (which takes some cash and is less likely to be done by new immigrants) takes time.

I think that there are just far fewer Mexican spots in Chicago AND they are concentrated in certain pockets. Maybe Pilsen or Little Village. There are certainly areas of high density here, but the Mexican restaurants, taco stands, or taco trucks are to be found everywhere here. I’m not sure where you live/work but it seems like one is much more likely to be able to find a great (and cheap) Mexican meal in their regular travels here. It kind of defeats the purpose to have to travel 15 minutes to get a $6 taco plate. Again that’s mostly a product of having such a huge Mexican population here for 50+ years.

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Tacos are OK. I don’t think many Mexican restaurants in Chicago rest their laurels on their tacos (Big Star and a couple of other gringo joints (some of which make excellent tacos) as the exception).

Any restaurant that serves burritos is automatically disqualified as a quality Mexican restaurant in my view. That’s US stuff.

My favorite restaurants here are know for the birrea, posole, tamales, moles, etc. Putting aside the top flight Mexican (Bayless, Salpicon, Mextico, etc.), which I think can match up with the best Mexican retaurants anywhere in the country. the local Mexican food in this town is very soulful.

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I agree…LA has great little hole in the wall taco places…the rest of the dining scene…not so much… [stirthepothal.gif]

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damn. you obviously don’t eat much Asian food [snort.gif]

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LA and its environs kicks our ass on Asian

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Quite a view indeed, and one that is not correct either.

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yep. It’s a regional cuisine for some Northern Mexico towns. BUt I understand what David is saying, how Americans think of burritos did start in America. Just like half the food you see in Panda Express started at Panda Express and not China

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Ok ok…Mexican AND Asian…now the rest of the dining scene…not so much… [stirthepothal.gif]

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Last I read, it is unclear whether they started in California or Ciudad Juarez. Granted that they are eaten in Norther Mexico now, but my Mexican friends (who are principally from Puebla, Oaxaca and Mexico D.F.) are unwilling to concede that they are Mexican food (particularly the overstuffed monstrosities that are sold here)