Carnitas Los Reyes

After reading about Carnitas Los Reyes in the OC Weekly, I decided that I should try it sometime. Since I don't usually have business in that area, I didn't get around to going until a few months after I'd read the article, which turned out to be a bit of a mistake, since I'd missed out on some cheap, delicious, and filling eats.

Located in a strip mall on S. Tustin St. in Orange, the restaurant occupies an unassuming position at the southern end. From the reviews I'd imagined that it would be far grungier, but it was fairly standard inside, with about 8 or 9 small tables. To order, you go up to the side of the counter, where despite evidence to the contrary in reviews, the menu is printed in both Spanish and English. It consists of most of the standard fare, tacos, burritos, tortas, soups, etc. Whenever I go to a new taco place, I order a taco with one of each of the meat offerings available, with the exception of chicken. So today I ordered barbacoa, al pastor, carnitas, buche, lengua, carne asada, and chorizo. I didn't see it on the taco menu, but chicharron was noted as something available for burritos, so I ordered one of those too.

As for the tacos, the best one by far was the buche. Buche done right is just ridiculously tasty. Done right usually involves copious amounts of oil. The boiled version you can find at some other places is not so hot. Tacos that were also of note were the al pastor and carne asada, the latter which tastes like a saltier version of the one that can be had at Taqueria de Anda. I found the lengua, chorizo, and carnitas to be a bit too dry. The barbacoa wasn't bad, but it didn't stand out enough to me to be really recommended. The chorizo was somewhat spicy and might be liked by fans of its taste, but it's not a taste that I'm particularly enamored of. However, the original review I read in OC Weekly suggested it was the best chorizo he'd had outside of his mother's cooking, so maybe I'm in the minority.

The burrito was an absurdly large creation filled with beans, onions, cilantro, cheese and chicharron. It containts "super-delicious fatty pork crispy melty action." Perhaps you have seen the pork rinds that are sold in supermarkets and such, the Bakenets. These are to those as diamonds are to cubic zirconia. A man that would eat chicharrons daily is a man that isn't just inviting Death, but going over to Death's house and kicking him in the groin repeatedly. That being said, indulge in chicharrons at least once. Your taste buds will thank you and your stomach will complain because of the vast amounts of unctuous coating being applied to its surfaces.

The results of this meal were a very "nigul nigul" feeling (Korean for feeling like your stomach is coated with oil as above) and the absolute lack of desire for food for the next day. Eleven hours later, I was still feeling full. This is because each taco is only $1, and is about twice the size of tacos that you will find elsewhere, which I hadn't counted on in my order. Since I'm usually happy with 10 tacos elsewhere, I overordered by about 2 tacos and a burrito. If you go, the normal amount of tacos that satisfy according to other reviews I've read seem to be two or three. Please order accordingly, and place a small initial order before you order more. Your stomach will thank you. (Photos below do not show the buche taco, which was the first to go)






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