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Recession Obsession: Mobile Japanese Burgers
"Hello. I Am Your Crawfish Taco, So Eat Me."
A Recession Obsession is, 1) a meal so great that it sticks in your mind long after digestion's end, and, 2) plays nice with your sensitive wallet. Is there a better place than Los Angeles to eat a wide variety of amazing food that so happens to be inexpensive? Probably not. We're as lucky as we are well fed. We last obsessed over Valley Costa Rican, and Oinkin' Tacos Downtown. Today, we obsess...
On a stretch of Pico where you’re likely to find spicy Caribbean food, or the caloric effort that is Oki-Dog, one might not expect tacos. That's why Sky’s Gourmet Tacos is a great fit. They serve up what they call: "Mexican food with a splash of soul".
The menu reads like it was created with food bloggers in mind, but having been around since 1992, that doesn’t seem to be how they roll. Sky’s serves up a unique brand of sometimes-Cajun Mexican food, featuring a selections of seasoned meats you’re probably not used to in your taco.
These soulful creole influences don’t seem intended to be labeled fusion, but rather good.
While stuffing yourself at Sky’s Gourmet Tacos can be expensive, eating a nice meal of higher-end tacos ring up a do-able $10 per person. The portions are measurable (tacos that eat like a meal, I’d say,) and the food happens to be obsessable. That’s why Sky’s Gourmet Tacos is LAist’s latest Recession Obsession.
Tilapia Taco
Taco Time
Sky’s has a big menu but my focus is in their titular gourmet tacos.
"Gourmet" is a term one rarely sees used in Los Angeles restaurant titles. However, from where I hail (Albany, New York,) it’s the kind of marketing strategy where Gourmet Mexican Food would be used to differentiate said product from Taco Bell -- which is Mexican Food (in Upstate, NY.)
Lobster tacos and crawfish tacos are the priciest at nearly $5.00 per. They're not bad splurges. Next down on the price list is mahi, salmon and tilapia, who are $3-$4 each. Then beef, chicken, carnitas and turkey are just below $3 each. While those prices can add up, you don’t have to pig out.
These tacos are hearty. Take the tilapia taco (pictured.) On a lovely corn torilla, the grilled fresh fish is both juicy and plentiful. The cole slaw like topping makes it feel more like a delicious fish sandwich. These are not pequeno taco truck tacos.
And, of course, they have more than tacos. And their vegetarian options are also quite plentiful -- so much so, that it makes me believe the owner must have a vegetarian older brother that threatened him noogies.
Photos By Caleb Bacon (Twitter) for LAist
- Sky's Gourmet Tacos | 5408 Pico Blvd | Los Angeles 90019 | (323) 932-6253
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Good food, but it made me sick. I suggest you go early in the day before sky's special sauce goes bad.
Haven't been to Sky's in forever, but it's an old time favourite of mine. Now I've got a craving, thank you LAist.
Hard not to go to Oki Dog down the street, though, because that's my personal Mecca.
Sky's is really DELICIOUS - but it totally made me sick too. It was a total bummer because i really enjoyed my crawfish burrito. I guess it's a testament to how good sky's is that I want to go back despite my last experience.
it needs to be known that both sky and taco time have AMAZING VEGAN OPTIONS! i love these places!!!