Recap: Taqueando Taco Festival ’19

TACOS

When Taqueando was announced we immediately knew it was going to be a hit. Bill Esparza clearly knew what he had with Tacolandia was great and Taqueando proved to be greater. Having attended both, each in their first year, there were notable upgrades. The venue was great, the vendors were prompt, and the crowd was big as expected. It’s not easy to pull off an inaugural festival of any kind, but Taqueando made it look easy.

We have to applaud the festival organizers, Bill Esparza, and all the sponsors for creating such a unique experience. Having every single one of the vendors all together in one place was a sight to see. And while plenty of them were from California, various vendors came from different regions of the world. But while vendors were slanging tacos, sponsors we also handing out samples. One of our favorites— AGUALUCHA an authentic Agua Fresca.

Aside from Agua Fresca’s one of the bigger sponsors, Tecate provided ice cold beers throughout the day, and no, they weren’t free. If you can’t get on board with beer + tacos then I’m not sure why you’ve read this far. No, but seriously it’s hard not to have called this event perfect. And while I’m sure it was far from perfect, next year can…only get better? The festival has already teased us with ticket sales early next year and we can’t wait.

As you can imagine, there were some long lines. Especially at most taco vendors that were from Los Angeles. Tacos 1986 stood tall in the line department having one of the longest, but that didn’t slow their pace. If you’ve seen them in action, there’s no surprise as to why they were awarded the best taco’s in Los Angeles and at the Taqueando. But while one might surpass the rest, the show must go on. Going into the festival I really had no expectations. You always know what your ‘favorite’ or ‘go-to’ tacos are, but I wanted to be non biased, and really explore all the different flavors. Cause if one this is true, it’s that one taco can look the same, but two can never ever taste the same. And that’s one of the beauties of this festival, they all look and taste widely different than the next. Some tacos were made with blue tortillas, others with flour. Certain vendors offered salsa for their tacos, many were good without it. What’s great about Taqueando is that you can be your own judge and find your own (new) favorite taco. It’s truly one of the few festivals where the experience fit the bill.

If there’s one thing I’d recommend for anyone who wants to go next year— pace yourself. It’s easy to come to any festival hungry and ready to eat everything. And yeah you might think, tacos? I could eat 20 of those, easy! Truth is, I tried to eat as many as I possibly could. Not just for the hell of it, but because I genuinely wanted to try every vendor. While that was impossible (at least for me) I was able to eat a whopping 15 tacos. Some were good, others were great, and a few were not quite to expectations. But all 15 that I picked up were completely ate and none thrown away. I say that cause I know it’s easy for anyone to take a bite and say— ehhh, next! At the end of the day, it’s food being wasted and I hope for the next one people are more conscious about wasting food.

So lets get down to it, what was our favorite? Like most of the attendees and judges, I thought Tacos 1986 was well deserving of their Taqueando trophy. But while that may be true, we had a few favorites that are highlighted below. Peep the list below and tell us what you think. If you were at the festival let us know which were your favorites.