Taínos LA

🇵🇷 PUERTO RICO
📍 9020 Owensmouth Avenue, Canoga Park, San Fernando Valley
🅿️ Parking lot for pickup customers
🥤 No Alcohol

EDITOR'S NOTE: This location is a shared commercial kitchen space (ghost kitchen). Orders are placed online for pickup or delivery.

The question of the husband and wife team that run the brand new Taínos LA ghost kitchen at the northern edge of Canoga Park is the question of many other relocated New Yorkers that have chosen a life in Southern California: "Where in the hell is the Puerto Rican food?" While there is one excellent choice in Cypress, and a couple other less excellent options sprinkled around town, there is far from an abundance of the cuisine from this distinct island.

At the beginning of December the new pickup and delivery kitchen quietly opened up in the same spot that Natureal Foods originally started, but word began spreading quickly through the city's small Puerto Rican community with videos on Instagram and TikTok showing very excited eaters. In this corner of the Valley there is really nothing like it, so anyone can really get behind the success of Taínos LA, created by a chef from Puerto Rico and her husband who came to Los Angeles about ten years ago after twenty years in New York City.

Despite the name of the kitchen, which refers to the indigenous peoples that once flourished on the island and many surrounding neighbors in the Caribbean, the menu here is a representation of the modern pork, beef, rice, and plantain-heavy Puerto Rican diet, foods that were introduced after colonization. They first started showcasing their cooking to friends and other connections in the San Fernando Valley, and this business is the next step in the process of reaching more people with a food that remains quite rare in the region.

Each main entree is large and filling enough for two people, but Taínos LA also offers a good range of tasty fried goodies to supplement meals with here like empanadillas ($4 to $5 each, above) that can be stuffed with chicken (as seen above), beef, or even pizza, a kids favorite that you will see all over Puerto Rico. While you might be tempted to call this an empanada, that is a completely different dish on the island.

The second fried starter that was sampled was the alcapurria ($5, above), a ground beef fritter that is unique because the dough surrounding the meat is made with yucca, plantain, and a bit of pepper. This can be enjoyed with the house mayo but is even better with a kick from their delicious pepper vinegar sauce that comes with any order.

For folks that have grown up and spent their entire lives in Los Angeles or other places without much Caribbean representation, the most unique dish to try from Taínos LA is probably their mofongo, which can be paired with shrimp, skirt steak, or roasted pork shoulder. The shrimp gives you the opportunity to enjoy their lovely garlic sauce and simultaneously ruin the day of anyone you have a conversation with after eating it.

The mofongo y camarones al ajillo ($22.99, above) is pretty much a show-stopper, pounded green plantains are joined with more garlic, salt, olive oil, and stock and fried before being paired with the meat of your choice. In restaurants you will sometimes see this served in decorative wooden pilones, the vessel used to mash the plantains and other ingredients.

If you are in the mood for pork, like Puerto Ricans always seem to be, you can choose it with your mofongo or as a plate with an order of pernil con arroz y gandules ($15, below). Thick, fatty cuts of the pork shoulder are overlaid on arroz y gandules, rice that has been simmering with a tomato-y sofrito, more pork, and pigeon peas. If you do not order a dish that comes with this very Puerto Rican rice preparation, grab a side of it from the vendor with your order.

The beef stew known as carne guisa ($14, above) is the island's version of a hearty meat and potatoes meal, and comes with plenty of gravy and a side of white rice. Big, thick cubes of beef take most of the volume of the container, which holds a deceptively large amount of the stew. The potatoes and carrots are cooked perfectly, and the seasoning will take you straight back to wherever you enjoyed your first Puerto Rican home-cooked meals.

The same can be said about the asopao de pollo ($14, below), a chicken and rice soup full of the flavors of the island. Whether with chicken or shrimp, this soup might be found on the weekly specials section of their menu, so grab it if it is available. The liquid of the soup itself almost fully soaks into the rice, creating a thick flavor bomb in each bite, but even adding some water at home when warming it back up did not take away from the enjoyment.

You can and should make sure there are plantains in your order, and they have plenty of ways to make that happen. The simplest of these options are orders of tostones ($4, above) and amarillos ($3, below), savory and sweet versions respectively. As indicated by the price, these are on the small side, so order multiples if you desire a full plate of either.

With nothing in the order instilling any feelings of disappointment, Taínos LA is obviously a big upgrade for Los Angeles. It will be great to see if their business takes off enough that they can move into a full restaurant and become a permanent fixture in the city. Fingers are crossed.

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