Always go with medium rare. I think with a lotta these places, it’s also time dependent? Did you go when they just opened? I was there around 8 pmish, so they were already well into dinner service 
1 Like
My previous visit was on the later side, though this time I was there at 6:00 PM. Only one or two other customers at that time. Two guys working instead of three, but it didn’t feel rushed at all. I do like those blue corn tortillas. One of the salsas had a nice cinnamon note.
1 Like
Got the arrachera quesadilla and the ribeye tacos. Both were delicious. The ribeye tacos were a little bit on the salty side, but masked well with the homemade, carefully-crafted salsa - some of which were the best I’ve ever had. The salsa macha in particular was a tour de force. Below: my ribeye being grilled on the street.
11 Likes
Agree, that salsa macha is great.
3 Likes
Happened to be cruising through Hollywood at rush hour (more like crawling but you know) and realized I was going to be nearby so I made a little detour.
Awesome tacos! Got 3 arrachera (they did not have suadero, chorizo, or pork belly) and an adobada cachetada. No visible trompo but still enjoyed the adobaba, but the arrachera stole the show. Rich and juicy, gently smoky, super salty. Good tortillas, and the salsas were great.
Very reminiscent of Los cholos, though I think I liked everything better here. If only Asadero LA offered grilled Anaheim Chiles too…
6 Likes
They sold out last night sometime between 8 and 9pm. This is the first time I’ve seen them claim to be sold out. I wonder if the Infatuation review is driving a lot more people there. Fwiw, I drove by about a week ago and Guelaguetza was still, as usual, much busier than Asadero.
5 Likes
6 Likes
Pretty good article! Tangential complaint: I cannot wait until we move beyond ‘viral’ as essential adjective (and as a cultural touchstone but that’s a different story). I get why editors lean on it but I think it’s so reductive.
7 Likes
yes, the descriptor “viral” almost has an immediately negative connotation to me. I get that it’s about a cultural phenomenon, but my first reaction is skepticism of whether it would be something I like. while the media means well at times, they also do a disservice to some places by using lazy terms like this (or elsewhere, propping up expectations too high).
9 Likes
Yeah if I didn’t already know and like Asadero LA I would likely skip this article and write it off - the casino chef to viral taco pipeline doesn’t sound promising to me.
Whereas a pitch like ‘former Mirate chef cooking high-quality steak for asada tacos à la his Sonora hometown’ or whatever is catnip.
7 Likes
Don’t get me started on “buzzy” or “vibey”
4 Likes
Bill Esparza and @matthewkang discuss Asadero on today’s Taqueando. I haven’t had a chance to listen, but based on what Bill shared in IG stories, it seems like he’s not the biggest fan.
5 Likes
take a listen and let me know what you think!
1 Like
Not to go all Erik M, but as I listen to the Pod (and if I’m not mistaken) this board was onto Asadero, whatever you think about it, before Infatuation and other food media.
It doesn’t really matter, and I’m glad local businesses are supported, but sometimes I wonder how much food media is scaffolded, unattributed, onto the discoveries and assessments of FTC.
*Also I’m pretty sure his thesis about influencers perverting the concept is off chronologically. I haven’t been since the infatuation, but when I went in the early days with no line Asadero had corn and flour and various non grilled, non steaks meats.
8 Likes
Takeaway from pod is bill esparaza off base or does he have a point? He seems to be punching down for no reason
3 Likes
He has a point the concept is a little muddled or not purely Sonoran. But philosophically I’m not sure hybridization is per se bad, though he comes pretty close to that.
Execution, unsurprisingly, seems to have gone downhill with popularity. Original appeal for me was various cuts of steak, cooked to order. If they’re running out of salsas and overcooking meat, as per his report, what’s the point?
I find Bill a little high handed and selective but he argues well and is quite knowledgeable.
8 Likes
jfc, AI writing is an absolute plague, it’s fucking everywhere now, drives me insane.
8 Likes
yep I just saw like an entire website of a restaurant (a high-end one!) that used AI for copy and some photos. I plugged in Asadero’s into an AI detector and it sems the middle section is most likely written by AI while the first and last third are human-written.
2 Likes
Completely agree, Asadero in all its different iterations was around quite a while and discussed here before it got blown up elsewhere. And it was so good.
Sadly, my latest visit a couple weeks ago was also downhill alert territory. Ruben wasn’t there, a couple of there great salsas weren’t there, they didn’t even have the blue corn tortillas, just flour. Arrachera lacked smoke. Glad to see he seems to be aware and addressing it.
3 Likes