The Vitals: the spot: Carnitas El Momo 2411 Fairmount St, Los Angeles, CA 90033 the eats: Carnitas tacos the bucks: $2.50 a taco the full nelson: Carnitas so juicy and full of pure porcine flavor that you don’t need salsa . . . When it comes to great tacos, you can reinvent the wheel but you sure don’t have to. Case in point: Carnitas El Momo in the historic Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles. Masters of simmering pork in ...

The Vitals: the spot: Dave’s Hot Chicken 970 N. Western Ave Los Angeles CA + locations throughout the city  the eats: Chicken Tenders and Chicken Sliders + fries the bucks: $11-$13 for a combo the full nelson: A delicious gut buster on multiple levels Nashville Hot Chicken ain’t just a Nashville thing anymore. Take it from a guy who has been to Nashville and done the deed, you can now find spicy as Hell fried chicken in Austin, Chicago, NYC ...

The Vitals: the spot: The Goat Mafia 625 N. Alvarado St Los Angeles CA  the eats: Goat tacos(birria and cabrito) the bucks: $2 the full nelson: goat tacos dressed like they were served at a top tier restaurant. And for $2 a pop. Tacos can be delicious in so many ways. They can be authentic street renditions that make you feel like Anthony Bourdain traipsing through Mexico City. They can be horribly Americanized, served in a crunchy shell filled with ...

The Vitals: the spot: Everson Royce Bar 1936 E. 7th St. LA CA 90021 the eats: Single Burger the bucks: $10 the full nelson: a delectably simple statement on a burger that much like LA will take all your money and leave you wanting more And this is the moment when Bang for your Burger Buck jumps the shark.

The Vitals: the spot: Night + Market 2533 Lincoln Blvd Venice CA 90291 the eats: Pretty much whatever you want on the menu – GET THE CLAMS!!! the bucks: Plan on spending about $35 a head on food the full nelson: A hyped Thai spot that satisfies with an respectable level of Bang for your Thai Food Buck It’s not every night that you get to dine with the likes of Sterling K. Brown and Slash(framed pic) but in Los ...

The Vitals: the spot: Birrieria Gonzalez multiple locations in Los Angeles, tested and approved in Compton CA the eats: everything, tacos de birria de res, dorado tacos, mulitas, basically whatever you feel with birria de res the bucks: $2 a taco and the tacos are fat(for LA street tacos), plan on spending $7-$10 to be stuffed the full nelson: my first run at birria de res and it lived up to the hype

There is a movement happening in Texas to declare tacos the official state food. I see a good case for that, although brisket is a strong contender as well. In California, I think making the taco the official state food would be nothing short of a slam dunk. Sure, Southern California is the birthplace of the fast food burger and up in San Francisco, a whole style of burrito awaits you. Still, North or South, big city or quiet surf ...

It is a daunting task, trying to anoint one taqueria that serves the best burrito in San Francisco. It’s almost a mission meant to end in defeat when one thinks of the sheer volume of celebrated taquerias in the famous Mission district alone. Even as I posted a teaser on Instagram about my San Francisco Burrito Quest, suggestions started to come in from Oakland . . . and the East Bay is its own beast, worthy of a separate “best ...

Ahh, San Diego. German for a . . . well, we all know how that line from Anchorman goes, so no need to rehash it on the interwebs for the millionth time. Instead I’ll just jump into the Cheap Eats scene in San Diego while fondly looking back at one of the most fun episodes of Cheap Eats we have ever done. Yes there were Ferrari rides that included doing donuts with a donut making guru. Oh and this was ...

Home to the summer residences of Oprah Winfrey, Tom Cruise, Steven Spielberg, and Julia-Louis Dreyfus(just to name a few), and boasting an average home price around $1.3  million, you probably wouldn’t expect the word “cheap” to be thrown around too often in Santa Barbara. One could even say Santa Barbara is Hollywood’s Shangri-La. But can this gorgeous beach town also double as an oasis of Cheap Eats?  Well, you just might be surprised at the deals to be had. I ...