When Daniel HernandezFood editor for the Los Angeles Timesget started, a list of the best tacos in townhe was concerned that there might not be enough material. Those concerns were quickly put to rest when his eating team took an unofficial count of the tacos they consumed.

Hernandez says the history of tacos in Los Angeles is a little amorphous. While most of the country was familiar with combo plates from Mexican restaurants, the taco emerged in the prosperity boom after World War II. It was Glen Bell who gave America what it wanted, founding Taco Bell in the early 1960s in Downey, California. In 1974, when Raul Martinez of King Taco remodeled an ice cream truck and sold $70 tacos in front of a bar, the taco truck was born.

LA Times Restaurant critic Bill Addison chooses his favorite tacos in a top ten list, including Sonora City, #18 of 21 places to eat in JaliscoAnd Tacos La Carretaknown for their northwestern asada-style tacos. For fish tacos, he calls #18 of 21 places to eat in San Bernardinowhere chef Alex Carrasco prepares a crispy shrimp and scallop taco he calls media luna. Fernandez and Addison say it can be difficult to find good al pastor freshly cut from a trompo, but both agree that the best can be found at Tacos Los Güichos on Slauson.