Loqui

Unless you live in West Hollywood (aka the dead center of LA), you live on the Eastside or you live on the Westside, and you probably don’t leave that side often. Which means if you live on the Eastside, you don’t eat much life-changing sushi. And if you live on the Westside, your Los Feliz friends still think you’ve never had a real (not $8) taco. This might have been true in the past, but not anymore - because now you have Loqui.

Loqui is a tiny spot in the Platform development, a ten-minute walk from the fast casual paradise that is Downtown Culver City. Judging by the line out the door as soon as it becomes socially acceptable to eat lunch, the Culver City working crowd is very happy to have a new option besides Tender Greens. The interior designers clearly had something like “Bond film bad guy’s house” in mind when they built Loqui, but all that concrete makes for a space that’s clean and simple, just like the menu: chicken, pork, or mushroom tacos (or “primos” as they’re known here), same choice for a molcajete (that would a rice bowl), and then there are chips and a quesadilla. The chefs make everything behind the counter where you order, so you’ll probably be tempted to get one of everything. We give you permission to do so.

photo credit: Holly Liss

The fillings at Loqui are great - shredded pork, spicy chicken, and really tasty mushrooms - but the the real reason we’ll be coming back is the tortillas. Specifically, the flour ones that they make in house. They’re thick and kind of chewy and possibly not all that traditional, but we don’t really care, we could eat these with every meal. And sure, these are $5 tacos, but they’re also bigger than your average - two makes for a decent lunch. Also, find the container labelled salsa seca, fill yourself up a cup with this dry salsa mix of nuts and spices, and sprinkle it all over everything.

It’s unfair to say that Loqui has excellent tacos for the Westside. Loqui has excellent tacos for any side. They might not be $1, they might not be coming out of a truck, and they’re definitely not served on double-layered corn tortillas, but they might just convince your Echo Park friends that there are some pretty good tacos on the west side of town.

Food Rundown

Pollo Primo

Our favorite of the tacos, these are spicy and packed with flavor. Get it on a flour tortilla. Get everything here on a flour tortilla.

Pork Primo

Also really good - shredded pork, lettuce, cotija, onions, and salsa. Get one.

Mushroom Molcajete

The fancy version of a burrito bowl. We’re all about going mushroom on these - there’s still a bit of spice, and an order comes with tortillas so you can build your own tacos.

Totopos

Chips and guac. Really good chips and guac. But also still just chips and guac.