Korean Tacos: Flying Pig, New York Gal Bie, TNB BBQ (Los Angeles, CA)

Flying Pig's Duck Taco

Korean tacos have finally made it to the East Coast. In the past year or so, Korilla BBQ, Kimchi Taco Truck and Big D's Taco Truck all began rolling through the streets of Manhattan, while the Korean BBQ cart set up shop in Midtown. To see how NYC's versions compare to their West Coast counterparts, I went to find these delights in their motherland: Los Angeles, home to Kogi, the most famous Korean taco truck of them all (actually now a fleet of trucks).

Korean taco trucks are everywhere in parts of LA. You can't walk a few blocks without running into one in Santa Monica, it seems, especially on a beautiful, warm, sunny Saturday afternoon. They congregate near the farmer's market on Arizona Ave., where they draw in both locals shopping for produce and tourists wandering in from the Third Street Promenade. After an appetizer of a delicious Luna oyster from the Carlesbad Aquafarm stand, some juicy citrus segments from another stand and a few miles of walking, I was ready to get serious about lunch. Fortuitously, I wandered east on Arizona, where it wasn't long before I spotted a truck the color of a Barbie convertible....

Flying Pig: Duck, Spicy Pork Tacos; Pork Belly Bun

Flying Pig is pretty much impossible to miss. Aside from its rather garish color, there will probably be a large throng of people in front of it, if this recent Saturday afternoon was any indication. That's a good thing, though: You really don't want to miss it.

Flying Pig is so much more than a food truck. It's an incredible collision of high and low, fast and slow, the brain child of Joe Kim and James Seitz, two graduates of Le Cordon Bleu's Pasadena outpost, the California School of Culinary Arts. It's not entirely accurate to call FP's tacos Korean tacos, either. Kim and Seitz describe their food as combining "Asian and Pacific Rim flavors with French technique" and there are identifiably Vietnamese, Thai and Chinese influences, in addition to Korean. But all attempts at classification aside, the food is [insert emphasis word of choice]-ing delicious. If it were in NYC, I'm fairly certain I'd eat there every day.

I tried two tacos and a bao. In retrospect, I'm kicking myself for not ordering every item on the menu, including the crispy tofu tacos, which were recently featured in Food & Wine.

The tamarind duck confit taco with pickled red beets, toasted almonds, radish sprouts, mandarin orange, and tamarind gravy (pictured at the top of this post) was quite simply remarkable. The shredded duck meat was extremely tender and fragrant, with a great balance of flavors. Garnishes were very well thought out. Pickled beets, finely diced added a  lightly acidic and sweet note, and a little bit of textural contrast. Radish sprouts were distinctly peppery, a beautiful addition that helped cut the sweetness of the other components. I worried that the mandarin oranges might overwhelm the other flavors, but all the ingredients really came together nicely. My only nitpick, if I had to make one criticism, would be that the almonds could have been (longer?) toasted to really bring out their aroma. (5/5)

Flying Pig's Spicy Pork Taco

I also ordered the spicy pork marinated pork shoulder taco with green papaya, black sesame seeds, cilantro cream, and "death sauce" so I could compare it to the other pork tacos we tried this trip. It was not as good as the duck taco (I frankly can't imagine a better taco than the duck taco, though, so it was a hard act to follow), but it was head and shoulders better than every other pork taco I tried on this trip. The meat, neatly cubed and braised to the point that it practically melted on the tongue, tasted strongly of what I think were ancho chilis and paprika. Green papaya and (very non-Korean) cilantro added wonderful vegetal notes and helped cut the richness of the meat. Corn tortillas were, again, slightly crisp, soft and fragrant. I didn't get that much from the cilantro cream, flavorwise, but it did help temper the heat. The very light sprinkling of black sesame seeds was attractive, but did not add much in terms of flavor or texture. (4/5)

Flying Pig's Pork Belly Bao

My final item from Flying Pig was the the braised pork belly bun with red onion escabeche and pickled sesame cucumber. The steamed bao bun was etherially fluffy and soft, and tasted like it was fresh from the steamer. The pork belly was slightly dry, but impeccably tender and beautifully flavored. The texture reminded me a bit of jangjorim, a beef dish that's often served as part of an array of Korean panchan, and I don't think the dryness is accidental or a result of poor execution (unlike some scathing Chowhound critics). The gently acidic red onion escabeche and pickled sesame cucumber did add some pleasant moisture to the dish. (4/5)

In general, I really appreciate Flying Pig's attention to detail. All the corn tortillas on the tacos (petite four-inchers) were perfectly griddled until there were the faintest traces of brown spots on the bottom, which brought out the scent of corn. And the ratio of filling to tortilla, while generous, was not overwhelming as it was at some other taco stands. The folks who work the truck were wonderful -- sincerely friendly with a great sense of humor. And though tacos were a little more expensive than at other taco trucks, you're paying for the quality of the ingredients. For me, that's very much worth it.

New York Gal Bie: Spicy Pork Taco

New York Gal Bie's Spicy Pork Taco

Unlike at Flying Pig, the corn tortillas on this spicy pork taco were not griddled or grilled long enough to bring out their corny fragrance. And though I am not one to run from fat or grease (I'm more likely to run towards it, actually :), this pork was an overly fatty cut for my tastes, given the thick cut and the preparation. The fat was tough and not enjoyable to eat in large quantities. On the plus side, it did help the meats stay very juicy and the meat was beautifully marinated, very nicely flavored and very tender. Construction was conventional: Meat was on the bottom, topped with shredded romaine lettuce, julienned red radish and a bit of yellow and white shredded cheese, which I won't try to identify more specifically.

I noticed that both New York Gal Bie and TNB BBQ top their tacos with shredded cheese. I'm not sure the combination of cheese with Korean-style marinated meats (or kimchi or shrimp) really works for me. The cheese really only serves to muddle the flavors.

All in all, this was an enjoyable taco to eat for this New Yorker, though I'm sure it doesn't rank among the better tacos trucks in LA. (3/5)

TNB BBQ: Spicy Pork, Beef, Chicken and Shrimp Tacos

TNB's Beef, Spicy Pork and Chicken Tacos

The day before, also on Arizona Ave, Justin and I stumbled across the TNB BBQ truck after aborted attempts to lunch at Gloria's Cafe in Culver City (closed for kitchen renovations) and Musha (closed for lunch). I was so excited to finally eat that I ordered almost every taco on the menu: the spicy pork, beef, chicken and shrimp tacos. (The only one we left out was the tofu.)

As at the other trucks, each taco was served with a double layer of small, 4" corn tortillas, which like NY Gal Bie's versions, were not griddled for long. At TNB, however, the construction was unconventional: Rather than bedding the taco with meat, there was a base layer of nicely crunchy shredded cabbage and romaine lettuce, which was then topped with your selected protein; a layer of their secret sauce (which is lightly sweet and tastes like it includes banana and pineapple, among other things); optional kimchi (yes, please!); and a light sprinkling of white and yellow shredded cheese. The problem with this construction was that though it was more aesthetic and you could see the meat overflowing from the taco, it was too top heavy to be structurally stable. Of the three taco trucks I tried, this was the messiest and most unwieldy to eat.

The kimchi was a mild, "fresh" kimchi, which hadn't been left to ferment. I love my kimchi ass-kickingly pungent, but for the purposes of crowd appeal, I understand why TNB serves it mild. They also marinate the hell out of their meats. These are of good quality for a taco truck, but if you're a Korean bbq snob, you would probably be disappointed that the heavy marination obscured the natural flavors of meat: You can't deduce much about its freshness. The spicy pork taco (basically dweji bulgogi) was not very spicy and a bit too sweet, but the meat was fairly tender. (2.5/5) The beef in the beef taco (basically a bulgogi) was again a bit too sweet for my tastes, though tender. There were a few pieces of gristle, which I don't personally get worked up about, but be forewarned if that kind of thing does bother you. (2.5/5) The chicken taco and shrimp taco included very moist and juicy proteins, which were laudably not in the least bit overcooked. The chicken was nicely marinated; shrimp had no hint of fishiness. (3/5)

My criticism of the tacos from TNB, generally, is that they were much too busy with far too many competing ingredients indiscriminately thrown together. Flavors were muddled. The sweet sauce was not necessary and though it distinguishes TNB from the many other taco trucks on the streets of LA, it was overwhelming in combination with the already sweet marinated meats and frankly clashed with the kimchi. There was too much moisture in the tacos from the sauce and kimchi, together, which made the tacos messy and difficult to eat: Liquid dribbled out the other end of the taco with each bite. Cheese was wholly unnecessary. If I were to redesign the tacos, I'd include only the vegetables, meat and kimchi.
 
Again, I have to admit that for a New Yorker who doesn't have much taco truck selection -- much less Korean taco truck selection -- at home, TNB's tacos were enjoyable to eat. I'm sure this truck would draw crowds in Midtown Manhattan. But in LA, it's probably forgettable.

I didn't have a chance to try Kogi or Calbi, sadly. I'm saving them for my next trip.

Flying Pig: Locaton Varies (https://twitter.com/FlyingPigTruck)

New York Gal Bie: Locaton Varies (found on Arizona Ave. / 4th St., Santa Monica, Saturday 12 p.m.)

TNB BBQ: Locaton Varies (http://foursquare.com/venue/3867306)