There's a group of bloggers, journalists and lovers of food who go around sampling various kinds of tacos. The Taco Task Force, as it's called, was set up by Mexican food expert/professional saxophonist/Rick Bayless detractor Bill Esparza and has gone on a few specialized runs around the greater Los Angeles area.
One of the runs was an ill-fated potato-taco tour, in which they stumbled out of the third restaurant and nearly refused to go to the fourth. To hear them tell it, all of the tacos they sampled were spectacularly bad. Their conclusion? No good potato tacos to be had.
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When I hear this story, I have to repress the fact that I love one of the least authentic, least healthy, least anything potato tacos in OC. Yes, dear readers, I love the potato tacos at Chronic. It's the bastard stepchild of the menu despite being far better than the fatty tacos they sell by the carload, but every time I put my order in, people in line behind me start asking what it is and putting in orders of their own.
It's just a fried tortilla shell filled with mashed potatoes (probably from a box), then fried and stuffed with cheese. I don't care that they're bad any more than I care that Taco Bell's beef filling is only 34 percent meat. I get the spiciest red salsa they have and the salt shaker and just mow through the plate. While there are better, more authentic potato tacos in town, such as Fonda la Meche, Los Chilangos or El Rincón Chilango, these are the ones I love.
Shhhh . . . don't tell the Los Angeles food cognoscenti. I'll lose food credibility.
Chronic Tacos have too many locations to list here. Visit the website at www.eatchronictacos.com.