By Frier McCollister
Pasadena Weekly Contributing Author
IIn Might, Villas Tacos of Highland Park gained the LA Taco 2021 Taco Insanity Championship. After a number of aggressive voting rounds, the underdog prevailed by a slender margin in opposition to the extra established Tacos Don Cuco. It was a wide ranging win for Victor Villas and his crew.
Villas operated from his grandmother’s yard carport in Highland Park and served his seven-ply taco.
At present solely open from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. or on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays till they promote out, a go to is a typical Los Angeles expertise.
Round 4 p.m. on a Friday afternoon, the sidewalks and park in entrance of the Villas Tacos had been crammed with a dozen visitors ready for orders. A small line of individuals stood patiently on the north finish of the sidewalk to position their orders with Villas’ sister Lizette, who fortunately answered questions as she despatched orders to her brother and his crew of eight. Villas and his crew busily man three grills in addition to tortilla and salsa stations. A contact of exuberant depth prevails over the open kitchen within the again yard of the Villas Tacos.
On occasion a brand new group of taco fanatics hit the sidewalk. Many in Dodgers hats greet Villas effusively from the opposite aspect of the fence. Villas calls its tacos “estilo LA” or LA model. The tacos are as distinctively native and distinctive to the town because the pavement scene right here.
“There is no set model in LA,” stated Villas.
“I considered that earlier than I opened the shop. My tacos shall be true to Los Angeles, true to myself. I’m estilo Los Angeles. I’ve roots in Mexico, however I am from LA, identical to my tacos. “
Villas was born and raised in close by Atwater Village, however his roots and prolonged household embrace what he calls “Northeast” which implies Highland Park, Glassel Park and Lincoln Heights, to not point out Eagle Rock and Pasadena.
“Within the northeast alone, on this space, I wish to say that I’ve a minimum of 500 members of the family. Someplace there, ”he speculated.
Highland Park has at all times been a social nexus for the household.
“Rising up, I spent a lot of my birthdays at my grandmother’s home in Highland Park. I’d go there on New Years Eve, Thanksgiving – no matter; all main holidays. I grew up in Atwater Village however spent a whole lot of time in Highland Park. “
A pure entrepreneur, Villas staged and sponsored giant home events as a young person whereas attending Marshall Excessive College. He graduated from CSUN in 2015 with a level in enterprise administration. Whereas working in a downtown restaurant, he started formulating his plans for taco supremacy.
“Once we began Villas Tacos in 2018, we launched it within the entrance yard of my grandmother’s home in Highland Park,” he recollects. “Then we moved to York Boulevard. However this yr we’d additionally provide catering. We went to totally different bars, we confirmed up somewhere else.
“However then got here COVID. We took just a few months off and I returned to the drafting board. I stated, ‘Hey, let’s return to our roots, however as a substitute of doing one thing within the entrance yard, we might do one thing within the again.’ ”
Initially there have been no walk-ins. He developed a pre-order and pick-up system during which pre-orders had been accepted on Tuesdays at midday for pick-up home windows on weekends.
“The quickest we ever bought out on a Tuesday for the weekend was 30 seconds,” he stated. “In 30 seconds we stuffed 180 locations and had been bought out. It was round June, we began with it. ”
The method and timing of the pandemic helped construct his vociferously loyal following.
“That was fairly nice. It was a whole lot of work, but it surely was positively value it, ”he stated. “We constructed a whole lot of relationships with the entire visitors we communicated with. That helped construct the connection with all of our visitors and people relationships that had been badly wanted. “
Care and a focus form the whole expertise at Villas Tacos.
“Apart from the nice meals, one in every of my principal objectives was that the service was pretty much as good, if not higher, than the meals,” he stated.
Villas Tacos’ menu is deceptively easy and the costs are extraordinarily affordable and accessible for what’s being delivered. Common tacos are $ 3 whereas the queso tacos are $ 4. Mulitas are $ 7 and quesadillas are $ 9. The filling choices are carne asada, chorizo, hen breast, soyrizo and black beans with nopales. Recent agua frescas, served in giant 12-ounce cups, are $ 4 and function the only beverage possibility.
The tortillas are pressed on website with natural masa comprised of blue corn from Kernel of Fact Organics in Boyle Heights.
“I needed to do one thing totally different, one thing new,” stated Villas.
“So I needed to go together with the blue corn. I rolled it, but it surely paid off. It was a terrific resolution. It is a tribute to the Dodgers. Our brand can be impressed by the Dodgers. “
Once more, there aren’t any flat-top grills. The meat is turned on three Santa Maria model grills with horizontal skewers which are adjusted with hand cranks. There’s a giant grill in entrance and two smaller ones on the aspect of the yard.
“The massive one, her title is Maria, and the dual brothers are Rick and Morty,” says Villas, who named her after the favored cartoon characters. “I wish to say that they are a part of the household, in order that they get a reputation.”
The queso taco is the star right here. Every blue corn tortilla is grilled with a crispy prime of jack cheese, and the filling is topped with onion, coriander, crumbled cotija cheese, crema, and a beneficiant dollop of recent guacamole – therefore the nickname “seven layers”.
The number of recent salsas that accompany each order is especially uncommon right here. Usually, each order consists of seven to 9 cups of recent do-it-yourself salsas and aspect dishes. They vary from mango habanero to pickled hibiscus crimson onions.
Villas insists on utilizing recent, high-quality components, even when that detracts from their revenue margins.
“We concentrate on high quality as a substitute of amount,” he stated. “I’m very happy with our firm as a result of we solely use the perfect. Earlier than I bought my first taco, I stated, ‘Once I open this taco store, it isn’t about making probably the most cash or having the next. All of that can come later. It is simply being the perfect. ‘ I’m very aggressive. When you ain’t the perfect what are you then On the finish of the day, our meals speaks for itself. “
Because the accolades and a focus for Villas Tacos proceed to develop, Villas has ambitions to develop the enterprise. He expects the situation for his first stationary department to be launched in the marketplace quickly.
“It is all concerning the meals,” stated Villas, whose store was the topic of a short documentary.
“It is about hospitality. It is concerning the love we pour into our meals. It is the sensation inside that each dish that leaves the road must be as excellent as potential.
“Whenever you open this plate, you see the great thing about a taco. I’ve by no means seen a taco like this in Mexico, and I’ve by no means seen a taco like this right here. It truly is an revolutionary taco. It is one thing that I created. It is a taco that’s true to Los Angeles. “
