Kogi Tacos

As I'm sure you know by now, Ryan and I love tacos.  This week, we decided to support one of our favorite local businesses, Kogi Tacos.  Kogi originally started off as a small food truck and has since grown a bit of a cult following in LA.  We've been eating Kogi tacos since they first started out, so we were overjoyed when we found out they were opening up a taqueria down the street from us.

Alright, so there are a lot of options for what to order when you go to Kogi, but I have my 2 go-to's and I'll share some of my other favorites with you as well.  My personal opinion is that the tacos are better than the burritos.  Don't get me wrong, I love a good burrito, but with the tacos you just get more flavor and more of the "good stuff."  So here are my recommendations:

1. Short Rib Tacos - double caramelized Korean BBQ short rib, salsa roja, cilantro, onion & lime relish and chili soy Kogi slaw.  This taco has an amazing sweetness to the short rib, but leaves you with a bit of a spicy aftertaste.  They're absolutely rich and delicious and topped with a light, acidic slaw.  I always get a combination of these tacos and the spicy pork tacos.
2. Spicy Pork Tacos - pork belly, butt and shoulder massaged with sweet and spicy gochujang marinade and topped with Kogi slaw.  These tacos have a great mix of spice and acidity, giving you the perfect bite every time.  The depth of flavor in these tacos is amazing.  They're definitely some of the best tacos around.
   
3. Korean Spiced Fries - these fries are deliciously crispy with a beautiful spicy seasoning on the outside.  They're absolutely amazing dipped in a little ketchup.
4. Sliders - these are essentially a short rib taco between two slider buns instead of a tortilla, so of course they're bomb.  I just like the ratio of meat/slaw/carrier in the tacos vs. the sliders.  You really can't go wrong ordering these though.
5. Kimchi Carnita Fries - Carmelized kimchi, carnitas, cheese, sesame mayo, salsa roja, salsa verde, pickles, on beer battered fries.  These fries are heavy, but absolutely delicious.  Since Ryan can't eat them, I would sometimes order them and eat them for 2-3 meals.  It sounds silly, but they make some amazing fries at Kogi so topping them with this combination of flavors makes them pretty unbeatable.  I would definitely say if it's your first time here that you need to get the tacos, but that you should definitely come back and try the kimchi carnita fries at some point.

I'll be honest, this is pretty much everything I've ever ordered from Kogi.  They also have quesadillas, bowls, wings, etc. which I'm sure are good as well.  The combination of flavors in everything I've eaten at Kogi has been great.  The dishes have the perfect combination of salty, sweet, spicy and acidic, no matter what you're enjoying.  It's hard to beat that perfect combination.

One of the reasons why I'm so happy to support this business is their chef/owner Roy Choi.  If you haven't heard of him, you should definitely try looking him up.  He's always seemed like a really down-to-earth and great guy, but in this time of COVID-19, he's really stepped things up and made a difference.  He's been setting up spots around LA and partnering with local food foundations to give away free food to those in need.

Here's a photo from his instagram account on May 1st.  When I read this caption, it brought a few tears to my eyes.  If there were more people like Roy in the world, it would be a much better place.

So Roy, if you ever read this, thank you for all you do and keep up the amazing work.  For everyone else, please help support Roy and everything he's doing for our communities.  Oh, and enjoy some amazing tacos in the process.