Casa Diaz news

So my post on the Yuca's / Casa Diaz merger started completely one sided: more Yuca's. Then the next week I went to eat lunch at Casa Diaz three times. (Yes that is too much I know I know.) I couldn't help myself. The food was too good. And the prospect of eating food that was about to go on the food blog extinction list was too enticing.

I feel like I owe Casa Diaz an apology for not having eaten there earlier. The first time I ate lunch I got the pork duo: carnitas and al pastor.



The four tacos on a plate was pretty impressive.



Each taco came with an avocado sauce and some firey salsa roja and some springs of cilantro. They were delicious. The meat was quality and the flavor was rich. The sauces added to the experience for sure. But I prefer the four alarm fire of a roja-only presentation like at La Estrella.



I subsequently tried (but did not photograph) the chicken mole burrito was my favorite item at the restaurant. Amazing complexity of flavor with a rich cinnamon-cumin spice aftertaste> I've never eaten a burrito so fast.



Good news taco hunters: the merger between Yuca's and Casa Diaz is truly a merger. There will be Yuca's tacos on the menu but there will remain Casa Diaz food too. I saw one of the owners of Yuca's at the restaurant when I was there the third time, so the changeover is happening fast. But I talked to an employee that has been there for some time and she reassured me that the mole burrito was going no where. That, in fact, much of the menu will remain the same. Thank the taco (and burrito) gods. Yuca's and Casa Diaz are both treasures. I look forward to seeing how the evolution occurs. My only advice: ditch the "Yuca's Hollywood" name unless Arnold and Bruce Willis are investors!

Revised July 7, 2007

I went to Casa Diaz / Yuca's on Hollywood the other day and gone are the Al Pastor tacos (RIP) and in their place are the Pibil tacos which are good (and for now) cheaper than Yuca's. I told them replacing one with the other is a mistake and the worker who has been there for a few years just smiled. Certainly the Pibil is great. But Casa Diaz had great Al Pastor. It's a shame. But sometimes "Progress" leaves a few things behind. Such is Los Angeles.