Carmen and I at first got lost, which is something I do most every time I head into the big, vague hipster zone in between Griffith Park and Dodger Stadium. Yuca\u2019s presence was highlighted by a crowd on the sidewalk in front of it. A shack-like taco stand in a parking lot, Yuca\u2019s may be the smallest occupied building I have ever seen, exclusive of security guard and toll-taker huts. It\u2019s in the same genre as the locksmith booths you sometimes see in strip mall parking lots. You can see it in the picture \u2013 the kitchen of Yuca\u2019s is about 6\u2019 by 6\u2019, with a canopy to north over an indoor-outdoor-hybrid dining area, and a ramshackle awning over the sidewalk to the west. The signs on the roof match the footprint of the building and effectively extend its presence upward. It\u2019s a fantastically humble space. Even though Yuca\u2019s is anchored to the pavement, its kitchen is much smaller than that found on a typical taco truck.<\/p>\n
I had one each of the four tacos on offering \u2013 the carne asada at $2.25, and the carnitas, machaca (shredded beef), and cochinita pibil tacos at $2.00 each. We didn\u2019t wait long. Our order was put in \u201cfor here\u201d, which meant that the foil-wrapped tacos were served on a paper plate rather than in a paper bag. The indoor-outdoor-hybrid dining zone being occupied, we found two extra chairs and set ourselves up in the driveway south of Yuca\u2019s in front of an upturned milk crate. On such a fine-weathered day, it doesn\u2019t get much better than this. I saw a Buick up close as it drove by!<\/p>\n
I opened and ate the tacos one at a time, which is why I have employed a high-tech, Andy-Warhol-like photo collage created digitally from four separate photos of tacos. The plate felt heavy. The tortillas are oversized and thick. Unusually, all the tacos at Yuca\u2019s employ an unspicy pico de gallo-style salsa made with tomato chunks \u2013 maybe this fact has something to do with tomatoes being a staple of the Yucatecan cuisine (the name \u201cYuca\u2019s\u201d refers to the Yucat\u00e1n). Carmen saw a bottle of the fine XXX El Yucateco Habanero hot sauce, which I was too lazy to fetch, but that would have picked up the pace.<\/p>\n
I started with the carne asada taco. The meat looked great, a nice dark brown. It tastes great too, with just the right steaky tooth resistance, and modest seasoning that lets the steakiness through. The quantity of steak was decent, and would have filled a normal-sized tortilla, but the large, thick tortillas here rather overwhelmed the contents. This makes for a filling, carbo-loading taco, but the ratios are not right for maximum enjoyment \u2013 imagine the displeasure of taking a big bite of a raw corn tortilla, because that\u2019s kind of what you get competing with the meaty goodness.<\/p>\n
Next I ate the carnitas taco. Shreddy carnitas was tasty, porky, with good flavor and texture. Again competing with the meat I encountered the unusual aspect of the tomato salsa and the tortilla-mouth of excessive tortilla. This pattern was repeated again and again with the cochinita pibil, and then the machaca. Carmen and I observed that the three shredded meat tacos all have a similar look (refer to photograph #1) and similar texture.<\/p>\n
The tastes of the meats were distinctive, although Carmen was particularly disappointed by their relative blandness and similarity. She liked Yuca\u2019s less than I did. The pibil had a good moistness and a slight flavor of cola that I have recognized in cochinita pibil before but don\u2019t know to what it can be attributed. We missed the citrus-pickled onions with which pibil has been served elsewhere. The machaca was tasty \u2013 it\u2019s righteous, tender, moist shredded beef, and how can you go wrong? But it\u2019s not remarkable, was in places too soft from long cooking, and was not up to the same high level as the other three meat choices.<\/p>\n
The built infrastructure of this stretch of Hillhurst looks like a working-class Los Angeles neighborhood, but it was occupied by many hipsters and rich people with nice cars. Despite this setback, and despite the \u201cbest taco\u201d hype, I did enjoy experiencing the tiny building, the dining in a driveway, and a very filling lunch at Yuca\u2019s.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/tacos.architectureburger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/39tacoA.jpg\" "\\"39")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/tacos.architectureburger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/39tacoB.jpg\" "\\"39")
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