Taco Chino

Perhaps—no, definitely—inspired by the success of L.A.’s Kogi, the Korean owner of this strip mall Mexican storefront recently decided to add both a “Korean taco” and a “kimchi taco” to the menu. It was enough to get Andrew Zimmern to stop by while in town, but anyone who’s actually queued up at one of Kogi’s madly successful taco trucks will be sorely disappointed here. The Korean taco carries none of the expected flavors of soy sauce, red pepper paste or sesame oil. Instead, it’s essentially the same chicken or beef from the traditional taco but with sauteed bell peppers and onions inexplicably mixed in. Even the owner’s housemade kimchi can’t save the basic-at-best al pastor it’s tossed with, proving that a concept is nothing without execution.