ESDRAS OCHOA: We're going to
my buddy Katsuji's place.
It's called Mexikosher.
KATSUJI TANABE: Welcome to
Mexikosher Fun Food Factory.
He's from Mexico City.
Oh, the kosher police.
We [INAUDIBLE]
a lot of kosher restaurants,
So eventually he saw
opportunity for Mexican
kosher food.
ESDRAS OCHOA: I mean you saw,
this guy's a clown.
JAVIER FREGOSO: We're
opposite, man.
ESDRAS OCHOA: So because of
food, man, we actually got
along very, very well.
And we actually hang out like,
outside of work, a lot.
Looks like you guys going to
open some chips from Mexicali.
I was thinking for Placencia.
My name is Esdras Ochoa and my
partner is Javier Fregoso.
And we're co-owners of Mexicali
Taco and Company.
It's the stuff we grew up with,
from our childhood.
So the time we left Mexicali,
Imperial Valley, Calexico to
come to LA--
flame broiled meats, corn
tortillas, flour tortillas and
crazy salsa bar.
We just want to show it off to
anybody that's not aware of
Northern Mexican food.
JAVIER FREGOSO: I'm actually
marinating the meat we use,
which carne asada.
And we do this every morning.
We have to just get it ready.
So salt, pepper, and this
special sauce that we make so
by the time 11 comes by, we
have to start grilling it.
It's just exactly how they
do it in Mexicali.
Here in LA, you won't really
find this like, asada--
like real asada, very much.
ESDRAS OCHOA: Coming for myself,
to LA and I had a lot
of friends that were
non-Mexican, and I would love
to take them to my hometown,
like for the weekends.
Show them what Mexicali
was all about.
I call it pork sashimi.
You got to cut it super-thin.
JAVIER FREGOSO: He told me,
dude, there's no good tacos
here in LA.
We should start doing
some baja style.
ESDRAS OCHOA: Just like any
other businessman, it's got to
start from the beginning, man,
JAVIER FREGOSO: We bought a
truck and then we saved up
some money.
We bought a grill-- like a
commercial grill, you know,
those that you barbecue
like in your backyard.
We found this spot and we said,
hey, you know what?
Let's set up here.
ESDRAS OCHOA: And after we did,
you know, we started with
a truck and a grill.
We always had that dream of
like, one day having a brick
and mortar.
It all came along when one of
our favorite customers was
like, you know I love
your stuff.
I'm a big fan.
And you know, we could
go together.
When this guy came up to us,
I thought, I dig this guy.
He's the one that can take
us to the next level.
Sure enough, man, here we are.
This is our body, Paul Yoo.
This is our number one fan.
When we were on the streets of
First and Beaudry, this guy
lives like 45 minutes away.
And he would drive to our
taco stand two to
three times a week.
PAUL YOO: I ate their tacos, and
I was like, wow, this is
really good.
I called my friends like, I
don't know where you are.
But come back in this
parking lot.
This place is good.
And that kind of started.
I came back the next week.
And it was almost like a week,
I brought different friends
from the westside.
JAVIER FREGOSO: At
the beginning we
didn't have many customers.
Until Paul Yoo came
by and saw us.
We wish we had one.
ESDRAS OCHOA: We'd probably
still be there, man.
Stop number one.
First we want to check out our
buddy Sarkis at Daily Dose.
JAVIER FREGOSO: We wanted to
go to Daily Dose because he
has good food, like
really good good.
And it's healthy.
The drinks that he has,
they are really
tasty and really different.
So we want to go there,
try it out so you guys
can see it and stuff.
ESDRAS OCHOA: Whoa, whoa
whoa, what's going on?
That's awesome.
[SPANISH].
-What's your business?
ESDRAS OCHOA: Sergio.
He killed the shop,
just for us, man.
Thanks, man, Sarkis.
JAVIER FREGOSO: I guess he was
too busy, he flaked on us.
ESDRAS OCHOA: Man, we were
excited about the farmer,
organic stuff.
He flaked on us, man.
I'm sorry.
-That's OK.
Where to next?
PAUL YOO: Park's finest, it's
kind of on the outskirts of
downtown also in Echo Park.
Pretty close to where we
are in our restaurant.
ESDRAS OCHOA: Those
guys are bros.
We kind of started kind of
around the same time, you
know, slinging festivals and
catering and stuff like that.
They've been hustling like us,
too, and now they got the
brick and mortar about
a year ago.
JAVIER FREGOSO: He came out
like, glad you guys are here.
He sit down with us.
He brought us a bunch of food.
Johnny was, he was really
friendly and really helpful.
He had some good stuff.
They really put a piece of their
childhood memory, the
stuff they grew up with
into their food.
ESDRAS OCHOA: Coconut beef,
it was delicious.
It was something different
I'd never had before.
JAVIER FREGOSO: He brought us
some brisket, it was like a
rib, like a huge rib.
ESDRAS OCHOA: And he was saying
how he grew up with a
lot of Central Americans,
Mexicans, and they used a lot
of crema on their
food, you know?
That cream he pulled out, it was
kind of like a horseradish
with crema.
And it was kind of like
a sauce to go along
with the short rib.
That's good stuff, man.
JAVIER FREGOSO: Thank
you guys.
John, see ya.
ESDRAS OCHOA: Now we have
lunch for tomorrow.
And then last but not least,
we went Mexikosher.
Katsuji, that's his place.
As he says, the only
Mexican kosher
restaurant in the states.
He saw an opportunity
for that business.
And he took on it.
JAVIER FREGOSO: He's
the man right here.
ESDRAS OCHOA: We met up at
a party, I would say
about a year ago.
He said, you guys are
with the Mexicali?
And I was like, yeah,
we are, what's up?
He was like, we have a taqueria,
too, in Beverly
Hills called Mexikosher.
And I actually like your
food, he said.
Oh, that's cool, man, thanks.
No, you guys are doing
a good job.
It's just that you burn
the meat too much.
We're always like smack
talking, you know?
JAVIER FREGOSO: So what
do we give it,
like, a couple minutes?
A minute or so?
-About two minutes.
JAVIER FREGOSO: About
two minutes.
We're building a McKosher, which
is basically a Big Mac.
And we got their chicken
and waffles.
We also tacos, man.
ESDRAS OCHOA: They're not
Mexicali tacos of course.
But they're great tacos,
good stuff.
JAVIER FREGOSO: After Mexikosher
we just head back
here to Mexicali.
PAUL YOO: What do you guys
feel like eating?
ESDRAS OCHOA: Because we haven't
eaten anything all
night, right?
JAVIER FREGOSO: When we got back
here, it was pretty late.
We were full, we were tired.
These guys were working hard to
get the place closed and we
started cooking again.
ESDRAS OCHOA: When we started at
First and Beaudry, we used
to stay until like 3:00,
4:00 in the morning.
I remember one time we were
trying to pick up, and the sun
was coming up, man.
Eventually we started getting
known for our food, and as we
started just getting massive
rushes, we were like, dude, we
don't need to stay that late.
It's the best thing, we can
leave by midnight and do OK.
JAVIER FREGOSO: Here's the
vampiro salsa, eh.
Here the secret is.
We made a [INAUDIBLE]
taco.
And then we had Eddie
and Paul try it out.
And then we--
Esdras, me, we had a bite
of basically the
best tacos in LA.
It's who we are, pretty much.
This is who we are, Mexicali.
ESDRAS OCHOA: If I want to say
what my dream is 10 years from
now, I want to have
a franchise.
I want to be like the In-N-Out
burger of tacos you know?
Family-owned, have them
throughout Southern
California, Northern California,
expand to
different states.
So the dream lives on.
