Tito's Tacos Will Make You a Better Lover, Parent & Employee, Improve Your Eyesight
Written: Jun 07 '03 (Updated Dec 08 '04)
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Pros: Tito's is the Exact Opposite of Billie-Ray Cyrus
Cons: Nothin'. Even the bad stuff is good stuff.
The Bottom Line: Recommendation: Do not have your young child call and leave messages on my answering machine saying "BRETT, WE'RE AT TITO'S AND YOU CAN'T HAVE ANY TACOS!" That's just mean.
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| Mr.Eyore's Full Review: Tito's Tacos |
If you’ve ever lived in a city for any length of time, then moved away, you know the food you crave from your former home isn’t made in four star restaurants. The good things you associate with a city you know are common, not extraordinary. If I ever move away from San Francisco, I’ll forever crave the coffee at CafĂ© Abir, the burritos at Pancho Villa, the Nick’s salad at Fly, the Albacore at Godzillas, the fried potatoes at Cha Cha Cha, and the massive Manhattans at Blondie’s. Maybe people in Philly feel this way about Pat’s Steaks, and New Yorkers may be attached to White Castle Burgers or some incredible neighborhood thin-slice pizza joint. Someone near me surely is dying right now for a four-way bowl of chili from a no-name greasy spoon in Cincinnati. Someone from Memphis would kill for a single Rendevous Rib.
From L.A., I miss a very small handful of things: The Double Bacon Burrito Dog at Pinks; The carne asada at Poquito Mas; the Arroz amarillo con Pollo at Versailles, Killer Shrimp ... and 3 tacos with cheese and a meat burrito with cheese from Tito’s. On that last one, I know I’m not alone.
Tito’s Taco’s is a big taco stand near the corner of Sepulveda and Washington Place, in Culver City, and from noon to nine, there’s a line inside and out that runs about 20 minutes from tip to tail. There’s a reason for that. Tito’s is the kind of place that can define one’s experience of growing up. It’s the sort of place that gives a city a sense of place, if that makes any sense. The kind of place that makes you smile when strangers bring it up, because it brings back a flood of sensory pleasure unrelated to just the taste of the food they have to offer. A year away, you can smell it. You can feel the cool breeze outside while you’re waiting in line after a long day in the hot sun of Santa Monica beach. It’s the sort of place that reminds you not just of the satisfaction of good food, but the satisfaction of a good day, one of a string of such days that can make a good life. And I say that in spite of the fact that the indoor eating area is dark, with a dozen tables that always seem filled. In spite of the fact that the twenty or so parking spots are always taken. In spite of the fact that the half dozen picnic tables outside are wobbly and puddled with salsa and soda. None of that stuff matters in the end.
Tito’s has a very small menu. They have tacos, with or without cheese, bean burrito, with or without, bean and meat burrito, with or without, and meat burrito, with or without. A smattering of people will order a tostada or an enchilada or a cup of beans and cheese, but more than anything else, it’s the tacos that call out.
At a buck sixty-five for a taco with cheese, Tito’s fare is hardly more expensive than Taco Bell. But it’s a different world. The taco is made with shredded beef, placed in a corn tortilla that’s fried all together, so what you get when you order one is a bubbling mass of corn meal and meat, with cool shredded iceberg lettuce and good, sharp cheddar cheese. Add a little of their watery, garlicky, tomato and onion salsa (always perfectly chilled) and a little spicy salsa verde, and it’s the perfect summer food, all crispy-cool, crunchy and refreshing.
The burritos are something else. At around $2.50, they too are a bargain in comparison to fast food Mexican. But I wouldn’t recommend eating a Tito’s burrito straight out of the window. The Tito’s meat burrito with cheese is packed with chili Colorado, brisket-meat that falls apart into tiny fibers if it hears you thinking about it, and slathered with that same delicious orange cheese. If you watch them make it, you can see that the chafing dishes are bubbling hot with grease and tomatoey broth. Let that burrito sit for a while. Take it home. Let that cheese melt, and the grease coagulate and soak into the sombrero sized flour tortilla. Let it cool down, until it’s a salty luke-warm meat-baton filled with cheese that’s just starting to harden again after it’s completely melted. It’s thing of beauty, especially in front of a football game. It will make you more manly. It will make you a better person. It will make you want to satisfy your wife, wash the car, and coach little league.
And several hours later, it will surely make you wanna poop something fierce. But at your age, that’s a good thing. So order two of those meat burritos.
My friend El Nino is a vegetarian, and I still remember about 7 years ago driving down to L.A. with her, raving about my tangible need for some Tito’s, and her making a scrunched up face at the thought of all that molten flesh. But more than that, I remember her telling me on the drive back home that she had decided to stop at Tito’s with a couple of friends and the Bean Burrito she got was about the best darn bean burrito she’d ever eaten. So the place is veeg friendly too.
And if all that other stuff weren’t enough to recommend Tito’s Tacos, they got three other things going for them. First, every order comes with a big scoopful of perfect, just cooked, salty, greasy, warm tortilla chips. Second (and even better), they always give you your change in fifty cent pieces, if they can help it. Now where do ya ever see a fifty cent piece any more? That’s some happy-making stuff. But finally, I kinda dig the fact that Tito’s draws fans from all over the city. L.A. is a pretty segregated town, which is sad, I think. But you go to Tito’s, and it seems like everyone there is coming from something good and headed back to somewhere you aren’t headed back to. Smiling Mexican families heading home from church. A raucous group of black women, sneaking away with friends in the middle of the day for lunch. Japanese and Iranian teenagers stopping off on their way home from the beach. Dad’s in pick-ups, alone, picking up a $30 box of treats for a family 20 miles away. And everyone’s happy, smiling, joking about the line, and the chaos and the lack of parking ... and how much it’s all so, so worth it.
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Tito’s Tacos
11222 Washington Place
Culver City, CA
310-391-5780
http
Recommended:
Yes
Kid Friendliness: Yes
Vegetarian Friendly: Yes
Notes, Tips or Menu Recommendations If you go there and Tito's is closed, don't be suckered into eating at Lucy's, next door. Lucy's is an abomination. Unless you're really drunk.
Best Suited For: Friends
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Epinions.com ID:
Mr.Eyore
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Reviews written: 129
Trusted by: 300 members
About Me:
I come for the pervasive sense of elitist self-importance and semi-witty expressions of faux camaraderie
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