#Strangeland podcast koreatown series

The tacos are just a bit bigger than small in size and simply adorned. We haven’t tried the asada on top of fries yet, but the woman working in the toy store across the street swears by them. Asada is another popular pick, the high quality steak and textbook char discernible through a smear of guacamole, onion and cilantro.

The Tecate-battered tilapia tacos are widespread favorites, coated in a crispy and shaggy orange ‘do with some crema, salsa Mexicana, and a squirt of lime. From left, tacos de hongos, carnitas, asada and beer-battered fish The menu at Gracias Señor isn’t insistently regional, but Barrientos does consider a handful his dishes to have more of a northern Baja bent. The owner, whose parents migrated from Guanajuato to Rosarito shortly before he was born, learned to cook from his mother and father, who ran a few taquerias in Tijuana. The yellow corn tortillas are hand-pressed padded, jagged-edged, golden and pleasingly coarse, elevating the hot tacos with immediacy and hand-to-hand soul when passed over. “They tell us they’re really grateful we’re here and that means a lot to me,” he says.īarrientos tells us his marinades and salsas are prepared daily with no pre-made ingredients or short cuts, and meats are cooked to order. Birria Story: Tacos Dorados de Birria de Res Arrive in West Adamsįrom the looks of the lines and social media shots of catered taco parties, at least, it appears Gracias Señor’s food is winning over more neighbors than not. “The people that are fans of our food stood up.” “Fortunately, it’s because of the people who are our customers and supporters that we’re still here,” he says. These sentiments built to the point where a food truck ban was being bandied about the small community. “A lot of people are conservative and just think we’re tarnishing or doing damage to the neighborhood.” “There’s a lot of resistance in the Palisades to food trucks,” Barrientos tells L.A. You’ll find it parked on Sunset Boulevard, right in front of Ralph’s, two blocks below Rick Caruso’s new shopping center, and just one block from a Chipotle. Not wanting to limit himself to a lonchera-style menu, he shortly moved Gracias Señor to its current address. Eventually, with help from his mother, he cobbled enough money again to buy the truck he still drives today.īarrientos spent a quick stint in the same Temescal Canyon location as the guy he’d purchased the vehicle from. Many disheartened months later, he summoned the courage to take another stab at starting a business.

Once he handed over his life savings, he never saw the dude again.

Barrientos had shared his dream of starting a culinary concept with the man.

#Strangeland podcast koreatown series

“The truck is allowing me to continue my education.”Īfter moving on to a series of new opportunities, he wound up giving $5,000 to a manager of his to partner up on a food truck. “Because I couldn’t go like a regular kid in the U.S., I have to work really hard to pay for school,” he says. In 2014, he was a 25-year-old DREAMer attending Santa Monica City College while working his way up the managerial chain at Pinkberry. Making it here has not been an easy road for owner Rodolfo Barrientos. But front-and-center in a wealthy white seaside community. Not in a remote parking lot or word-of-mouth backyard. But Gracias Señor’s attention to detail, personal cooking, and inspired menu thrive in one of the more unusual spots we’ve seen. We’ve eaten our fair share of tacos far from of L.A.’s beaten paths through the years. The black taqueria with the bright green avocado stenciled on its rump parks Thursdays through Tuesdays in the heart of Pacific Palisades, one of L.A’.s most insular, well-heeled Westside enclaves. Gracias Señor is a terrific taco truck drawing crowds in a deeply unexpected location for central L.A.'s taco obsessed - the Palisades.