Midtown Lunch

I kind of hate Twitter.  I use it (you can follow me @midtownlunchLA) but I still hate it.  Mostly because it’s just a jealousy feed.  I check it constantly, and all I see are things I wish I was eating from places I wish I was at. Case in point… Jazzfest. After a whole week of reading about crawfish bread and crawfish monica and fried crawfish po’boys I am a very jealous boy.  So on Friday I decided to seek out a little bit of Jazzfest in Los Angeles.  Sadly, Harold & Belle’s is too  pricey for Midtown Lunch purposes… and I could have gone to the Gumbo Pot in the Farmer’s Market- but once I heard that Sky’s Tacos on Pico served a crawfish taco (!?!), I was kind of sold.

If you’ve ever been to Sky’s Tacos, you know the drill.  It’s “Mexican” food with a Caribbean Twist, and they’ve been around forever.  (Like most good restaurants in the city it had the requisite “Guru” review hanging on the wall… this one from the late 90s.)

The chicken and beef tacos were both good, served over two corn tortillas and topped with lettuce, tomato, cheese, and “Sky’s Sassy Sauce” the sweet topping that turns what would be otherwise ordinary tacos into “tacos with a Carribean twist”. $2.95 is easier to swallow because they’re so big, and for $3.79 you can get a taco + beans and rice.  But we weren’t there for the chicken and the beef.  We were there for the crawfish.

At $5.49 it’s a bit pricey (understatement of the year!), but I love it too much to be bothered.  The tortilla had been dipped in chile, giving it an orange sheen, and the crawfish came topped with that “sassy” sauce.  The cheese was kind of strange, I guess… but it didn’t detract. (Does it ever?)  Sweet and spicy, on the greasiest tortilla of all time, it was nothing like anything I’d ever eaten in New Orleans… but totally satisfying and enjoyable. The only negative (besides being one of the oiliest tacos I’ve ever eaten) was the fact that it only came on one tortilla- which by the way, never had a chance.  They’ll give you a second, you just have to ask.  (And I highly recommend doing just that.)

Mission accomplished, but I could leave without trying their carnitas- which I kind of loved.  Big chunks of meat, and tender fat, it only comes with pico de gallo (no “sassy” sauce on this one) which is nice because the peppery spice of the meat really shined through.  It was super flavorful, almost like a jerk rub, and despite looking pretty Mexican it tasted anything but.  Sadly it also only came on one tortilla (see above), and it was pretty greasy.  (Not that I notice those kinds of things, but these are greasy even for me.)

All in all I was a big fan of this Pico mainstay.  Unique tacos (pre Kogi!?!), heavy on the grease, sweet and spicy sauce, and they have crawfish.  What more could you want?  Oh, right.  Well, hopefully next year I’ll be able to make it to Jazzfest.  In the meantime, it’s crawfish tacos for me.

THE +

• I can’t get enough of fusion tacos… and I love the sweet and spicy Caribbean flavors of these guys
• Sky’s is an L.A. institution.  All of the new school trucks are just copying them!
• I like their sweet and “sassy” sauce.  Something to differentiate from the standard Mexican taco
• Big chunks of identifiable meat is always a good thing
• They’re lemonade is awesome
• They’re expensive but really big.  Two is surprisingly enough

THE –

• I know this place has been around forever, but I’m kind of sick of the fusion taco. Can we please put an end to this? Seriously…
• No joke, these are the greasiest tacos I’ve ever eaten
• You’ve got to ask for a 2nd tortilla on the carnitas and crawfish tacos?
• I refuse to eat tacos that are over $2.50
• Shredded American (?) cheese on tacos?  No thanks
• Did I mention the grease?

Sky’s Gourmet Tacos, 408 W. Pico Boulevard (btw Fairfax and LaBrea), 323-932-6253