-I'm Victor Delgado, and I'm one
of the owners of Taco 1986. I'm more in charge
of most things that don't go in your mouth. Joy is responsible for everything
that goes in your mouth. -[ Smooches ]
Yeah. Pretty much. -We left our homes
in Tijuana, Baha California. He came here to L.A., and I lived in New York
from 2010 to 2014. I went there
because I wanted to work at a Michelin star restaurant. I got to work
with great chefs, like Ignacio Mattos,
which is probably my... my sensei. That was the goal --
to go to New York and learn. Where my life
as a taquero developed, made an offer, you know,
like, "Hey, what's up, man?" You know,
"I want to do this in L.A." And destiny kind of
brought us together. I can do this. Boom. -Our first-ever service
open to the public was November 13, 2018. It was just taco carts
would open every night 7:00 p.m.,
I think, to, like, midnight. On the weekend, we'd stay
open later, till 3:00 a.m. And just --
cars would be driving. -That slowly, slowly,
slowly developed into opening this store. I would say the mission
has been accomplished, for sure. I have the greatest partner
in the world. I have a restaurant
in downtown L.A. And I think we're gonna open
a second store by the end of the year. So, we make our own tortillas, quesadillas, mulitas, tostadas,
vampiros, perronas. This is the power. The whole world
fits in a tortilla. Doesn't matter
if you're Peruvian, if you're from El Salvador. If you're American,
if you're Chinese, Japanese. Every culture
fits in this right here. ♪♪ It's a little campechano action. Boom. ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Speaking Spanish ] [ Smooches ] Yesterday was our first... -Outing throughout the city. -Yeah, we never get to do that. We're busy. We brought out
two of our friends. -They know restaurants
really well, so every place we went,
they had a story about it, they knew everything behind
the food, behind the chef. It enhanced our experience
knowing a little bit, you know? -It made it more delicious
for you guys. And then him and Jenn
debating what to order -- "No, we shouldn't
get this here," "No" -- that was fun to see them kind of, like,
plan what to order. 'Cause me and him,
we were just like... "Hey. Whatever." -All right, guys, I'm gonna do
a nice little intro right here. In the corner -- the red corner, right there,
the red corner -- we got probably
the greatest podcaster in Los Angeles right now,
Mr. Jordan Okun, and we got the beautiful,
marvelous Jenn Harris from the L.A. Times! -That's me.
-[ Howls ] -Hello. -How bad should I be feeling
about myself? Are you -- Are you --
It's -- It's -- -I feel great.
-Do you? -I feel nice and snug
between you two, yeah. -We got to the... -Alameda Super Club. -Supper Club. Supper Club.
-Supper Club. Okay, fine. -I just can't believe we're
going somewhere to eat right now that's known for Phoenix. No one's ever been excited
to Phoenix food before. -I flew to Phoenix
to eat his pizza twice. -This is the one guy. ♪♪ ♪♪ -I promise you'll like it. -Let me ask you -- how many times
have you given someone a taste and then they're like,
"You know what? Not for me" and they make you
walk the bottle back? -Not too often, but then,
honestly, the people reimburse us for it,
so the bottle's not really lost. -I pretend. -Oh, I taste it. -I do this. -I taste it. -Pour me a taste, too. -I taste it.
It could taste horrible. I say, "Yes, it's very good.
Pour more." -If you didn't like it,
you would say... -Yeah, I would say "Very good." ♪♪ You know this is good because the bread already comes
with olive oil on it, but then there's also
a side of butter. That's how you know
this is a serious restaurant. -Oysters. We had, like,
a little oyster party. Boom, boom, boom, boom. Like this. -Those are great.
-Those are really good. -And then we --
-And every pasta on the menu. -Oh, mon amour! -Okay, you know I'm gonna
take a photo of this pasta. -Oh, yeah. That one right there, I think
is gonna be my favorite. -But it's better. Yeah. ♪♪ This is what "family style"
should really mean. -Mmm! Oh! -That sauce is so good. -And I love to rank. -1, number 2, number 3, and number 4 right here
in the big plate. -Jordan, let's go. -1, 2... -3, 4. -No! 1, 2, 3, 4. -Mm-hmm. Honestly they were
all number 1s, you know, but we were just playing
that silly game. ♪♪ -But you live here,
so you're an Angeleno now. -Well, they say it's 10 years.
-Who says that? -It's a Jewish thing.
I don't know. -The Torah says that? -The two Jews in the car
did not say that. -Yeah, you know, Jenn's a Jew. -You're a Jew?
-Yes, I am. -She's what we call --
half Jew, half Asian. That's a Jasian. -It's a Jasian or a Jew Asian. -We're Gentiles.
-Yeah. -So, we are going to
Majordomo right now, correct? -Talk to me a little bit
about that, 'cause -- -We have no idea what that is. -So, here's the impressive thing
about Majordomo. As of recently, a lot of New York chefs
have been coming to L.A. trying to be the success
that they are in New York, and a lot of them have failed. And a lot of them have opened
in trendy neighborhoods and tried to go after trends
that they think L.A. is about. David Chang has done
the opposite. He opened in a neighborhood that
almost didn't yet exists yet. -He's at the very tip
of Chinatown. -His last few openings
in New York had not all gone, you know, great
right out the gate, and he went great
right out the gate here. Which is impressive
for a New York chef because they had not been
doing that here. -Usually, Angelenos gives
zero fucks about New York chefs. -Tacos. ♪♪ -Majordomo.
-We went to Majordomo. ♪♪ -Very, very nice staff,
very nice chef. Big shout-out
to all that kitchen. They took care of us.
Very, very, very nice of them. ♪♪ -Holy moley. -Holy moly, me, oh, my! I know the sea urchin
is from Baja California. That's where I'm from. Thank you so much.
Thank you so much. -Good. Good, good, good. -Oh, yeah. There was
a lazy Susie in there. -The lazy Susie?
Lazy Susan. -Lazy Susan? ♪♪ -I think majordomo, they definitely took it
above and beyond. And to cooking this
really impressive short rib... -Not three-,
but five star meal, I think. -You know, the CBC comes out
and a little cart, this beautiful,
big piece of meat, and he's just slicing it
in front of you, then layer it out
on the crispy rice for you. -And in such
a beautiful manner, too. Salt Bae ain't
got shit on that guy. ♪♪ -Go for it.
-I'm gonna go. ♪♪ -After they slice up
all the short rib, they take the bones, right,
and everything back. They... Process the meat,
ground it. -They ground it. -And then they stick it
back to the bone and grill it. -On the crispy rice. -And so the guy came out
with these, like, Flintstone-looking pieces
of dinosaur bones, you know, like, packed with meat,
delicious beef, you know. Yeah, big shout-out to them. ♪♪ -20? -Yeah, it's really big. -50? No! Staples is like 19. -I thought it was bigger
than the Staples. -I'm sure it is,
but what, like, double? -Might be 40. Hold on.
I'm gonna Google this shit. -You know what?
We have devices -- -You know what? We would sell
that fucking bitch out! -Not all trompos
are the same, though. -Exactly.
We can do 500-pounders. No problem. -All right.
Madison Square Garden. -And you know what, man? -Oh, it's only 20,000. -I told you!
I told you. -20,789 people.
-See, man? So you only need 10 trompos,
all right, guys? I wasn't that far off. -As successful and as busy
that restaurant was, even when we left, this restaurant we're going to
will be busier. -No!
-Yes. This is the hardest reservation
in Los Angeles. -Where we going?
-Bavel. -This is Bavel,
which was widely regarded as the best restaurant opening
of 2013 in Los Angeles -- a year in restaurant openings that was second to none
in recent history. -[ Laughs ]
-Right? -Yes, it is
a sophomore restaurant from Ori and Genevieve Menashe,
who own Bestia. ♪♪ -It's so weird. We've been wanting to go there
for the longest time. And when we walked in there,
we were fooled. Walked into this beautiful -- spectacular colors,
plants everywhere, glass, open kitchen. -They had, like,
seats with copper. Walk in there, into Babel,
they have this beautiful -- -Bavel. -Vavel. -Bavel. -Babel. -Vel. -Bavel. -There you go, yeah. [ Indistinct conversations ] ♪♪ -Strawberry shit right there. -That's what happens
when you feed L.A. correctly. They show love,
no matter where you are. -Amen to that. -Had it yesterday.
-Oh, thank you so much. -Adobada taco.
-Oh, man, thank you so much. -Bro, the most tacos
I've eaten in one day. Thank you, man. -Beautiful people. Beautiful old people,
young people, rich people... -I didn't see no poor people
there, but... [ Both laugh ] -I think we were
the only poor people in there. -We were the only poor taqueros
in there, you know? ♪♪ [ Indistinct talking ] -35! -Jordan likes to -- he's proclaiming
that's the dish of the year. We all know
he's a big shrimp guy. -Take the prawn. Take the head off. You dip the head
in the tzatziki. ♪♪ -I believe Chef Ori
wants you to eat the head first, which I tried
for the first time in my life. -You pop the whole thing,
like Chef wants you do. There you go. -And it was delicious. -I still feel the shrimp is,
like, somewhere here, you know? Boom. ♪♪ Wow, guys, this was
quite a night, if I may say. Spectacular meals
all over downtown L.A. [ Laughter ] We didn't even do drugs,
but we're high right now. Speak for your-fucking-self. [ Laughter ] -You know what? Touché. You know what I say to that?
"Douche." -Douche. -A lot of times,
I eat with people, I say, "Can this person eat
three dinners in a row?" I want you to know,
I'm proud of everybody here. Oh, my man. ♪♪ -We got back here with
Jenn Harris and Jordan Okun, you know, to keep on drinking... -Nice little bottle of rosé
to finish the night off. -And we walk in here, and there's a fucking line
out the door, you know, so... -With our schedules being
so busy at the moment, there was no time
to throw a party. We got to work.
There's no time to party. We have party
the three hours we were eating. So once we got
to the restaurant, it's like "Party's over." It's not that our staff
didn't have it, but we enjoy, you know, being here, and taking
care of our people, so... ♪♪ What do you got?
What do you got? [ Indistinct talking ] We kind of, like, hug it off and [Smooching]
"Thank you so much." -Always. Thanks, champ.
-Oh, please. My brother.
Thank you, my brother. I don't know
if there's a greatest reward, but I think you guys saw one
last night, while we were at Bavel, was a customer,
just someone eating there, came up to us,
and also our waiter, he was also like, "Hey,
I just had you guys Sunday." -It's a dream come true, man.
-No words for that. -No words, and especially
after 10 and something months. Goes to show you
that we've been putting in work. -You know, that right there,
you know, it's just, like... -Let me show you my nipples. [ Both laugh ] Mine too, dawg. [ Indistinct conversations ] -Serving the beautiful community
of L.A. Uh, where you at? Faheem? Faheem?
-Right here. -The other taco's
coming right up. [ Indistinct talking ] ♪♪ ♪♪
