Angelenos are so tired of newbies or, worse, people who don't even live here, bagging on Los Angeles. It's so easy to talk about the horrible traffic, the wannabe actors-bartenders, the occasional earthquake and constantly sunny days. Whatever. It takes a special person to see and love the nuances that make this place great. That
Vice article from a couple weeks ago, giving reasons why Los Angeles is the "worst place ever," really got everyone in a tizzy, though. We're not sure why this one out of the gazillion of others written hit a chord, but it did. The author hates the people, David Spade and improv, but also restaurants like
Diablo Taco for being "so pretentious it's like a joke from a really unfunny movie making fun of LA." (She wins on
Cafe Gratitude, though, which happens to be a SF import anyway.)
So in solidarity, we stopped by Diablo Taco over the weekend, and had the author actually eaten a ground bison taco with pickled banana peppers and yellow cheddar cheese, maybe they would have actually enjoyed it. It's like a good old-fashioned crispy shell taco we grew up with, only better. Granted, the restaurant's "Urban Taco Fabricator" tagline is a bit much. But the bites within are actually pretty good albeit not very traditional. Sure, there's al pastor with pineapple or tasty chile verde with roasted jalapeños taco, but there's also fried chicken with maple syrup and kale that was halfway decent. The beer list is great. The space is cool. So sue us. LA is the land of dreams, where anyone can be or cook or eat whatever they want. We'll take it.
