El Tarasco

★★★★☆

El Tarasco is a small local Mexican fast food chain in the South Bay area. Their newest location, on Artesia in Redondo Beach, has turned out to be a great spot for takeout, almost on par with El Amigo. (And they’re open later!) I usually get one of their enchiladas. Last time I picked up from there I noticed they have a chile relleno burrito*, which I’m going to have to try next time! (Though I’ll have to ask whether they use peanuts in their mole or something else. I’m sure I can substitute another kind of sauce, though.)

One of these days I’ll actually eat at the restaurant: they built a patio as big as the indoor space, and the entire front wall rolls up when the weather’s good, so even if you’re inside, you might as well be outside. (I pay a lot more attention to ventilation these days than I did before 2020.)

I’ve been to a couple of their other locations. The downtown El Segundo one used to be a go-to spot for work lunches, but I’m rarely in the area these days. The original is a takeout window on the front of a tiny building on Rosecrans in Manhattan Beach that looks like the kind of Minecraft shelter you build the first day in a new world. They also have locations in Hermosa Beach (on Pier, also with a good-sized patio), south Redondo (on PCH), Westchester (on Sepulveda) and Hawthorne (on Imperial Highway somewhere). I thought they had one in Lawndale too, but on looking it up, that restaurant appears to be completely unrelated.