UYE-“Steppin’ Out: Taco Trek #3...The Al Pastor Tacolympics!!!!

Whoops, forgot to write the review after uploading the pics lol… vacation will do that to ya!
Thanks again to Nelson for setting this up. This was the first and only Taco UYE I’ve been able to make it to, and even though I’ve been to ¾ spots we were going to that night, I figured it would still be a fun event!
First stop (Taqueria La Casa Del Pastor). I thought it was good but not extraordinary. I tried the Al Pastor, Lengua, and Asada at all 3 stops, and everything was good just not better than the others.
Second stop (Taqueria El Pastorcito) has the BEST AL PASTOR imo! I’ve had it multiple times, and today was no different… it’s the most juicy and flavorful choice to me!
Third stop (Tacos El Buen Pastor) has the BEST LENGUA imo! I’ve had it only once or twice before, but it was just as good as I remembered! It’s so juicy and flavorful, and the consistency is great since it’s in a shredded form versus cubes. If you didn’t try it, you missed out!
Fourth stop (Art of Flavors). Amazing as always! Wasn’t hungry anymore, so just got some Spiced Hot Cocoa to go!
Hope you guys had a great time too :)

And the winner of the night was definitely the 3^rd and final taco stop «Tacos El Buen Pastor»! This was definitely a fun event shared with almost 30 Unilocalers!
For me a taco has to be good all around. Like the tortilla is probably the first thing I judge. Like a pizza, you can’t have great toppings and a blah crust, right? The tortilla is the vessel and has to be soft preferably fresh made (like Sinaloas taco truck) or greased up some so it stays soft, and «Tacos El Buen Pastor» wins for not only having the best tortilla but for the tastiest Al Pastor meat. I ordered the Ranchero so my taco was 2 regular size tortillas with melted cheese in between and topped with whole beans, all pastor, pineapple, sour cream and guacamole. The Ranchero I believe was $ 3 but well worth it.
The first stop was just okay, the meat was not bad but again THE TORTILLA was hard.
Second stop was one of my past favorites but they changed to yellow corn tortillas… not impressed… meat was still excellent.
No excuse, everyone vendor should know their tortilla business just as well as what they fill it with. I will say that all the salsa stations were awesome!
MOST of us finished the night at… you guessed it «Art of Flavor» which is always a great finale plus we seem to always have someone in our group that has not tried this place yet, so always good to see their reaction.
Awesome hanging out with everyone who came out on this taco adventure and thanks babe for another fun filled and well planned UYE!!!

Go to Nelson’s UYEs!
It’s always great to get together with wonderful Unilocalers… so it’s kind of hard to screw-​up a UYE. Nelson’s UYEs tend to go above and beyond the norm though. In the spirit of the Olympics we thoroughly judged and evaluated the three Al Pastor finalist of the Las Vegas Valley. The general consensus was clear, Tacos El Buen Pastor claimed the gold in decisive fashion. There were a few judges that favored Taqueria El Pastorcito, but not nearly enough to put them in the lead. Only the East German (yes I am aware that this country no longer exists, but it is the funniest Olympic judging reference) Judge voted for Taqueria La Casa Del Pastor… please note that this was my favorite entering the event, but they were off by at least a full point, and I will have to update my review. They clearly aren’t as good as it gets in my mind anymore and I will be forced to drive farther in the future.
If you haven’t been to a UYE before, you need to come along next time and discover what you’re missing.

The event: Battle Al Pastor
The contenders: Taqueria La Casa Del Pastor, Taqueria El Pastorcito, and Tacos El Buen Pastor (formerly Tacos El Pastorcito).
Approximately 25 – 30 Unilocalers and friends gathered at these three street taco vendors to decide which one serves up the best Al Pastor Tacos. It took three hours, empty stomaches, and dedication, but we were ready!
This was actually my very first time trying Al Pastor, so initially I didn’t have anything to compare. However, I knew after trying one after another that I would be able to just compare the three types. My approach for the evening was to focus on just the meat, so I got 1 – 2 tacos at each vendor with Pastor and the optional pineapple. If I had two tacos, I tried one plain with onions and cilantro and tried the second one with salsas. That gave me a good idea of how the pork and tortilla tasted without other flavors competing.
The verdict: Tacos El Buen Pastor wins all around in taste and preparation. Their Pastor was more flavorful, tender, and juicy. They also had the best mild salsa available. It was an easy decision for me. The moment I took a bite into my TEBP Al Pastor Taco, I already knew which one I preferred — it was that obvious. Honestly, I thought it would be unanimous, nevertheless, the majority of the group chose Tacos El Buen Pastor, so they are (un)officially the best Al Pastor on the streets!
Nelson, thanks for organizing such a fun event! I was really glad to finally attend an UYE and this did not disappoint!

As always thank you Nelson for always putting on UYEs that are well thought out and bring many people to new places they probably wouldn’t have discovered otherwise.
My take on all the stops —
Taqueria La Casa Del Pastor — they were alright. My cabeza was hella tender, but needed salt. The pastor was just ok. My horchata was creamy and spiced nicely but too sweet for my preference. Parking here is abundant, the tacos are cheap at $ 1.50 a pop.
Taqueria El Pastorcito– has been my favorite for a long time, but I was sorely disappointed with them tonight. One of the reasons why I liked them before is that they are sizeable tacos with good flavor and not greasy. It was ridiculously oily today which I don’t get as they tend to be a bit more lean and less fatty than most. Bad day? I hope so, but sucks that newbies didn’t try them at their peak. I ordered the most tacos here because I knew they were my favorite and was sorely sad about it later because of the grease in the suadero and the pasto. I do still love their cabeza here though still and that wasnt too greasy.
Tacos El Buen Pastor —
I liked their pastor quite a bit. It’s a bit more sweet but perhaps because the pineapple was cooked onto the grill top with the meat. I do like it a lot so I will be back. The lengua was tender, but the flavor was just average for me. What I didn’t like is the fucked up lot they are on. Hard to park, no street parking since its a main road and must watch for people trying to back out their cars of the little area you can park.
We went to art of flavors after… like as if I needed more rich things to go with my meat sweats and the cholesterol shakes.
Overall, very fun event and a new taco cart to stop by (El Buen Pastor) again.

DOWN FOR THE CROWN!!!
After an Al Pastor debate on Unilocal Talk Las Vegas on Who has the best Tacos Al Pastor on the streets, Three vendors kept coming up, and kept going back and forth, so the only way to find out once and for all was to bring out a gang of Unilocalers (about 33 people total) who weren’t scurred of the streets, and try out all three contenders.
Here’s how it went down according to my tastebuds…
First Stop: TAQUERIA LA CASA DEL PASTOR
These guys still are just A-​Ok for me… portions were a little skimpy and for me, the al pastor was cut too small and had the least amount of flavor compared to the other two contenders to really enjoy each bite. The pineapple was barely evident as well.
Being the cheapest vendor at $ 1.50/taco, I guess you get what you pay for and seems like people come here out of convenience.
Second Stop: TAQUERIA EL PASTORCITO
This vendor has been my favorite one for the longest time up until very recently… Tacos El Pastorcito has also been included in my two other Taco Treks and it is still a favorite among Unilocalers. Tacos are a bit more here ($ 2/​Taco) and very well worth it. Good portions, Al Pastor to pineapple ratio was good, and the meat here is leaner and has very good flavor. If you ever get a chance to go here, the Suadero (Beef Brisket) is another very tasty choice.
Third Stop: TACOS EL BUEN PASTOR (THE KINGS!!!)
*Note: it is still listed as Tacos El Pastorcito on Unilocal (after TWO years now) and more confusion has been added because another listing, TAQUERIA EL BUEN PASTOR has been added with the wrong location! the correct location is Las Vegas Blvd. and Bonanza!!! Correct name? Tacos El Buen Pastor!!! *end rant*
This place was PACKED and not in the nicest part of town, but I just had to bring Unilocalers here so they could taste and see what I’ve been talking about. Also $ 2/​Taco, TEBP serves up the tastiest Al Pastor tacos IMHO (they were cooking up a SECOND al pastor carousel when we arrived)…Generous portions, juicy, well seasoned al pastor, and I like that they mix the pineapple and al pastor together on the flat grill again before putting it in your taco. Another good option here is getting your tacos «Ranchero Style» or with melted cheese, beans, your choice of meat, and sour cream…$ 3.50 a pop, but very well worth it!
Fourth Stop: ART OF FLAVORS
After getting our fill of tacos, about 24 of us came in for a gelato fix to end the evening, and after further discussion, Tacos El Buen Pastor edged out Taqueria El Pastorcito for the win!
BIG MAHALOS:
All street taco vendors, Team Art of Flavors, and everyone who attended… Thank you for coming out, supporting local businesses, and having A BLAST! See you for MANGIA! Round 5 in April! ALOHA!!!
Shaka Meter: \uuu/​\uuu/​\uuu/​\uuu/​\uuu/​5
Unilocal 365 CHALLENGE 2014−(52÷365) «An Al Pastor King is Crowned»

When I saw this event pop up a while back, I purposely avoided trying any of the stands I had bookmarked. Somehow we ended up arriving before everyone at the first spot but it quickly became a takeover there and every stop after it! While I’m sure some of these stands get crazy busy, it was a lot of fun seeing 30+ Unilocalers invade each stand.
Stop #1 was Taqueria La Casa Del Pastor and my least favorite of the night. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t terrible… just a little lackluster compared to the other two. The portions were very small and I got a really skimpy amount of pineapple on my taco. I thought their pastor was decent but it was a bit dry. My biggest complaint for this spot was the tortilla since mine went straight from the package to the plate. Just no bueno!
Stop #2 was Taqueria El Pastorcito and my second favorite of the night. I originally planned to order only pastor at every stop, which I did, but I added a suadero taco to my order here. The suadero was really good but a tad fattier than I’m used to. I enjoyed the pastor as well but they forgot to add the pineapple I ordered and the taco was really greasy. Even so, the meat was flavorful, tender and the portion was perfect. The tortillas won me over here though. They actually grill them to a nice light brown color making them just right to compliment the meat, instead of overpower it.
Stop #3 was Tacos El Buen Pastor and was the busiest of all. Rightfully so because this is my pick for the winner of Tacolympics 2014! Or part 1 of it at least. I actually ended up eating 4 tacos at this stand alone because I liked them so much. Well, that and Deegan wouldn’t finish his haha. Their pastor was the best to me for many reasons. It was extremely tender, full of flavor and it was greasy without being too greasy. And for $ 2, they pack it on there pretty good. If I had to change anything, it’d be the tortilla. It looked like they just do a quick heat up and then serve it.
Between all 3 stands, I ended up eating 8 tacos throughout the night! All 3 were really good but I think the pastor from TEBP and a tortilla from TEP combined would make a taco that would beat out every other one in town.
A huge thanks to Nelson for setting this up and to everyone else involved. I’m already excited to hear another one is being planned for April! It was a great night and we really had a good time hanging out with everyone. Then we closed it out with AoF… it doesn’t get any better then that! See ya’ll at the next one!