After an overdue trip to see the mother-in-law in Idyllwild we turned our wheels east and drove to LA. We checked into the Biltmore hotel downtown, dumped our bags and headed for Silverlake. That’s when the fun commenced. First stop was Intelligentcia, where I had the best macchiato I’ve ever had. We took our seats outside to enjoy the warm air and people watch. The Silver Lake neighborhood kinda reminds me of pockets of the Lower East Side and Williamsburg. Everyone around us looked like a musician, skateboarder or bartender. LA hipsters are decidedly more scruffy and grungy than their NYC counterparts, with just as many tattoos. The weather was remarkable but then it freaked me out every time I saw a Christmas tree because T-shirt wearing climates and xmas trees just don’t mix.

After checking out the brilliant “Index” exhibition (an overview of conceptual art in California) at the temporary MOCA downtown we continued to meander downtown and happened across a Mexican-heavy neighborhood, complete with street food and all. We saw countless mobile setups selling the same thing, a curious take on the hot dog, served with Mexican pickles and jalapenos.

We didn’t try the border hot dogs but we did have some of the best tacos I’ve ever had at Mai Super Tacos. Talk about a cheap shack. The place inspired me to move to LA and open our own little low-overhead, low-budget eatery except I’d have a few wines to go with. Fast food and natural wine, hell if the Japanese can do it, so can we! I digress. We ordered up carne asada and chile verde (though not sure we actually got the latter because it came in the form of a tender stewed chicken taco). Rather than dole out tacos with toppings on, she passed us our paper plates and we got to help ourselves to the buffet of accroutements made up of pickled carrots (fierce and crunchy), salsa, hot sauce and more. We devoured our tacos in minutes and Jim broke out in a serious sweat.