I Tried The Best Street Food In America

America has always gotten credit for two things fast food and fine dining. But in between those two worlds there's something that doesn't seem to get any credit: street food. Everywhere else in the world street food is a way of life, but here in America I think it's often underappreciated and overlooked. Often times the best food in the world isn't served on white tablecloths, it's served from carts, trucks and Tiny Family -run stalls. And today I'm going to uncover what America truly has to offer. So we asked you the audience, which cities have the best street food in America? After thousands of responses we have our top four: New York, Los Angeles, Portland, and Austin Texas. I'm going to the streets of every single one of these cities but I'm not going in blind. In each city I've got a local street food expert to guide me through their top five must-try spots and by the end we'll have our answer. The city with the highest-rated street food average wins the title of best street food city in America, starting with New York City. Everyone knows the New York food scene is insane. I ate the food from 20 plus countries in a single day here. and that's why I Enlisted the help of Julian moo AKA Muber eats, one of New York City's most respected street food connoisseurs and he's going to show us his top five New York City spots, starting with uh grills on the sidewalk? We're Irie jerk. I will say this is one of those things where if you're walking on the side of the street and you smelled what we're smelling you got to at least ask yourself should I? And the short answer is yeah cheers. Succulent fall off the bone. The spice levels are wonderful. It's a little sweet. It's seasoned perfectly. Salt levels perfect, texture super moist, zero dryness present. I've had jerk chicken it's a little too overs and I don't mean spicy I mean like they mask the flavor of the chicken this you're getting that like nice chicken fat flavor and it's perfectly balanced with the smokiness there's the sweetness of the sauce on there and there is that jerk chicken spice that you want in there but it's not too overwhelming I've had smoked chicken at barbecue restaurants in Texas that had less flavor and less smoke than this chicken right here and it's cooked in a barrel on the side of the street this is extraordinary really good I would travel out to eat this I would come travel all the way out to come sit on the side of the road and eat this texture if it's all Leg it's a 95 flavor I'm going to give it a 92 out of 10 I mean this is like crazy thank you oh my god unbelievable you got to come to Texas yo you have to invite me I never been yeah we'll take you the barbecue guys you need to show them a couple lessons I'm ready I'm going to be back I'm bringing my wife moving on an incredibly strong start for New York City proof that NYC street food is not only served from a food truck or a cart like our next spot belian llama party there's no dining in it's just a window on the street P.S I've never had believing in food and I'm pumped to see how it Stacks up so we're at probably it's fine just a gun two shots fired it's all good three shots fired oh it's fireworks it's fireworks please help we are at probably my favorite place in all of New York City it's Bolivian llama party they specialize in Bolivian food what we have right in front of us is the beef saltena it's a mix of a soup dumpling and an empanada wow look at this beautiful dough toasted in the bottom it's braided by hand I mean I love it the ideal way to eat it take a small bite out of here let some of that air out you take a little sip of the inside and then you pour a little bit of the hot yaha inside wow this is really something this is kind of perfect for this weather too by the way it's freezing out here we have this like hot juicy sort of like beef stew in the center it's spiced nicely the sweetness of the crust it's got some crunch there's some softness there's some chew from the beef little Pops from the peas It's like a god tier like Michelin level Hot Pocket I've never heard that before absolutely delicious texture of the pastry I've had a lot of different types of pastries that are similar to that texture on the inside I would bring that sore down just slightly cuz I wish the beef were a little more tender it's pretty chewy but you know maybe that's the vibe it just kind of is a weird contrast so I would give it a flat eight for texture flavor the spices the garlic the onion all the things that were in there were just exactly where I wanted to be it just felt like I was eating a grandma food in the best way possible that's a 7.5 out of 10 for flavor didn't blow my mind but it's still a strong score moving on we're in Midtown right now we got Halal Guys but why are we at Halal Guys this is one of if not the OG street foods of New York City it's crazy cuz they franchised they like started in the street and they got out of the streets and went big time most of these places now have run because Hal guys has walked so it better be good one thing I I know a lot of people are going to say this Halal is not a type of food it's a way of slaughtering animals and that is true but in New York City it is a thing that people say I'm going to the halal cart on the corner is this one of the best still it's a New York Street Food icon that's why it's in here but there's a surprise which we'll get to after we try this this is the OG the Halal mixed platter chicken and beef over rice white sauce hot sauce one of the things I love about Halal Guys I'm shocked at how much they've expanded and how well they've maintained just the quality of everything the texture the rice isn't overcooked it's chewy the salt levels are good and it's fatty like it's it's just like rich and juicy and the meat is seasoned perfectly with salt it's a little spicy from the hot sauce I mean this is great T is a nine and I'm not going to them for this but their paa has always not been that good just give me straight up H will you can just let but everything else is lovely flaver an 8.8 I don't like giving franchises love but Halal Guys always delivers somehow some way we do have something to say we can't finalize this because we have another one there's a competitor on the block now we're at the surprise location of Dell some people are saying that like Halal Guys has falling off and these are the new ones is that right this is the Halal darling right now it is 25° fah and people are waiting in a line for cart food so this is lamb and chicken I'm going to try get a little bit of everything spicy rice too that's a big difference I got to be real with you guys slightly less good in my opinion because it's not seasoned as well it's not spicy at all there's no spice at all in there this one's missing a little flavor to me the other one was more flavorful it was more fatty so you're saying that this line we should see in front of Hal guys instead or split 50/50 I think it should be split 50/50 this seems like a personal preference thing personally it's not seasoned as well with salt I don't taste any lamb the lamb is not that flavorful I thought the beef was more flavorful than both of these combined the chicken is under seasoned try both pick your favorite I don't give a they're both delicious but I'm going to give this one to Halal Guys that's the one we'll enter in the competition wow shout out to them on to the next thanks to the video where we ate around the world in 24 hours I've had some of Queen's most famous street food so I guess Julian had a little curveball for me we're in a parking lot where are we we're here at Rockstar tick in for palal Korean Fried Chicken it is hot Korean sweet chili sauc wing spice level two out of what I think out of two oh so max this is the spiciest SAU that you have they br it to order everything is made fresh everything is handmade homemade that's hard work these are Sauced beautiful this is exactly how I would sauce mine coated it's got breading on every square inch as it should be oh yeah super super super tender almost falls off the bone and the sauce is not too sweet which I really appreciate yeah it has a little bit of that kick that you really want I would take it spicier honestly the spice level is good for the average Joe if you were to come here and get a two out of two I think most people can handle this spice but it's just enough heat to keep it exciting first thing I got to say is the chicken not even considering the breading was unbelievably succulent perfectly cooked the crispiness I like my wings crunchier usually I don't think I've had wings with that thin of a crust from a Korean Wing texture I'll go with the seven chicken flavor was super apparent it was very chicken Ford I like that the sauce didn't overpower the chicken flavor flavor a seven as well New York City going strong but with three huge cities to come tend to get a boost from the final spot Steinway Halal where we not only got this charcoal grilled chicken but two kinds of rice two soups and a salad so all of this is like what like 30 40 bucks $15 wow look I tried everything with how cold it was outside it did kind of hit emotionally but the main event chicken I got to be honest bit dry heavily UND seasoned in my opinion the meal itself from a value perspective is incredible but texture and flavor really just kind of fell flat for me just slightly above mid with a 5.5 on flavor and texture sitting at around 5.5 is that a terrible score I would count that as mid we still have some insanely high scores making Julian's top spots hard to beat but we're moving on to the place that I reside Austin Texas we now move on to a new co-host to represent Austin the David Douglas a prolific Austin food reviewer a buddy of mine who also appeared on our which country has the best breakfast video listen Austin is a special place to me and I know it's in good hands with his help we are starting with high expectations here the potato Barbo breakfast taco at Michelin bib gormand Las Santa barbacha looking good they didn't skimp on beauty and it's loaded the up and this is always how it comes by the way that's busting I don't how long you've lived in Austin but I've been in Austin for the better part of 6 to 7 years roughly the barbacco is succulent it's fatty the creaminess from the avocado plays well the tortillas are so fragrant like when you lift this up to your mouth the first thing you get before you even bite it is the smell it's almost floral so nice shoe on the tortilla is great I have always felt the breakfast taco was a bit overrated and I think that if you really want a good experience you got to go to a place like this I love it I mean texture wise such a simple thing tortilla egg cheese meat avocado and it's getting an 87 it's a crazy high number flavor the Barbara Kaa by itself that's like a 9 and5 I do wish there was a little salt on the Avo to help bring it together flavor I'm going with a seven this is easily the highest best breakfast taco I've ever had in Austin that's what I like to hear I'm very competitive and I'm giving Austin the best chance so I want to see these types of scores every place on that's my hope that's my dream let's make that dream a reality moving on welcome to kg barbecue holy dude they loaded us up I have always wanted to go here I just want to be really clear the line is always so long and for obvious reasons I'm glad that they're hooking us up today though holy they don't mess around here I'm half Middle Eastern and the flavors here are what I grew up with but with Texas Barbecue Cooking style so the ribs are made the same way you'd make Texas style ribs they have a pomagranate glaze pomegranates on top Zar dusted mac and cheese look look look look look at this look at this the chef grew up in Egypt when he visited here he fell in love with Texas barbecue years later he's here the James Beard nominated barbecue spot crushing it those are the most balanced ribs ever they're not too sweet they're not too salty they're like a little spicy the zatar comes in for some fragrance mac and cheese fire cooked nicely shells are nice the sumac pickled onions crazy and the rice is fragrant it's cooked nicely welcome to the culture brother lamb bacon ribs right here oh my God they're so juicy Loosey take a little this chimmy Cherry put that right there that is phenomenal that is one of the best bites of lamb I think in the city anything you badly associated with lamb is replaced with fat and flavor it's not gy it's just Smoky salty delicious melts in your mouth super succulent look at this juicy lamb chop whatever there soic in this lamb from as a God said this is so perfectly seasoned with salt and just flavor and smoke and it's juicy this feels like the marriage of Texas and Egyptian food together putting on a sauce would be wonderful but it's so good on it own it doesn't need it you never get barbecue that's balanced like this where you have a little bit of everything overall experience for texture was incredible but it did fall just a bit because the sliced brisket was not great I'm not going to lie David said it was an off day but I'm still going with a strong nine there's so many options here I think it still deserves that I mean it's a Onslaught a flavor spices sweet sour tart salty fatty acidic I mean what the else is there you could possibly want in one meal what would have already been a nine I'm going to give a 9.3 out of 10 on Flavor we might have a winner on our hands but there's only one way to find out moving on we are at desata what I think is the most addicting Taco in Austin we've done a breakfast taco but the taco scene in Austin is so developed you really need to experience both and discata does things differently they actually cook their tacos in one giant stew that are made out of discs and they render out five different types of neat this is beautiful Cheers Cheers wa dude what the why haven't I been here I didn't know that Austin did tacos like this yes I've been shoting on Austin's tacos scene for way too long I'm from Los Angeles I think the best tacos in America do not come from Texas I think they come from Los Angeles that said this is blurring that line pretty aggressively for me the meat is phenomenal it's perfectly fatty perfectly seasoned with salt the flavor is wonderful it's just what I want it's a little bit of sweet salty spicy this pickled habanero when I put all that on there I got a little scared and it's all nice and balanced out with that really finely chopped p uh pineapple I almost said P Cola I can't pick apart what is or isn't wrong with it because it's kind of all there honestly texture 9 free there was Zero dryness it wasn't too fatty I've had tacos that weren't dry but were almost too fatty these were very balanced I'm going give flavor 92 very good delicioso I might say I cringed myself out on that one all right we were driving here I looked at the map and it said you are headed to cocky juicy we're being told that it might be ey I think it's cocky I could be wrong I've never seen Fried Chicken like this a corn Masa flour dredge and a wakan chili sauce this is either going to be way too much or a game changer we take a drumstick we take our lime we give it a we squeeze take a bite wo that really is cocky juicy and then this is where I go right into the housemade queso the queso I like it's a very naughty bite this is naughty but the queso kind of Mellows out some of the spices cuz they're does this is like drunk food but it's so good it's Rich it's fatty perfectly crispy it's spicy it's sweet it's salted nice ooh it is spicy wow so I prepared a little surprise for us what goes well with fried chicken oh wow sparkling wine dude you're a naughty boy he's been toing this around all day for this fried chicken and champagne or sparkling wine is one of the greatest combinations in human existence it's dare I say finger looking good let's talk about the texture the cook on the chicken perfect it was very juicy no dryness present the crunch was perfect I didn't want any more I didn't want any less I like that it was a firm stiff crackly crunch that's how I make mine personally love the addition of that sort of like Flavor paste on the outside if you will seems like they're dunking in Nashville hot oil I'll give it a 92 cuz I have had better textured Fried Chicken but not by much flavor unexpected it's sweet it's spicy it's salty it's garlicky it's fragrant might be one of the best fried chickens I've had I mean it's also a 91 I would say on Flavor Austin rolling after four spots but the final spot needs a 12 or higher to take the lead against New York City and our gu's choice could be a little risky street food with sushi hand rolls cheers after trying all three rolls my Top Choice with the hamuro I love Hamachi it was wonderfully seasoned the crispy shallots the whiskey ponzu you know the flavor was really an 8.5 now let's talk about texture as I was chewing I started to realize something I think this was just a simple mistake and it happens from time to time I honestly don't even blame them maybe they had a rough day but the rice was undercooked and crunchy and sometimes that happens I wouldn't hold it against them and I absolutely will be going back but I've got to say that really hurts my score here so I'm giving the texture a flat five which is still pretty high considering the rice is the most important part when it comes to eating sushi that's going to happen sometimes I won the perfect day in Austin Texas for Joshua Weissman and I couldn't get Perfection but I got as close as I could and I hope we put up a good fight against those bigger batter cities oh man Austin SLE average takes a big hit with that last score unfortunately but it's still in the lead as we head to Portland Oregon it's a city I've never been to but supposedly the food is great we'll see about that our Portland guide is Mike th a longtime food writer former J beard judge food festival founder and let's be honest General Portland Food expert he's starting us off with Korean food at one of Portland's most iconic and longest running carts Kim Jong gillin now originally we were going to try the gby beam box that you see here but Midway through the owner Han surprised me with a Korean inspired hot dog that he thinks will steal the show oh dude it's bread holy dude in the sauce in here wow if somebody was like what is Korean Aman that would be it I'm sorry Vic but this like totally demolishes any Chicago dog that's ever exist I never ever want to see a white hot dog bun ever again after trying this cuz the baguette is like somehow like crispy but the crispness is so thin and the inside is so soft and fluffy it just it doesn't fall apart it's just nice but then also that BonChon daon and then this creamy sort of like acidic a little bit sweet with a little bit of spicy Umami sauce in there brings it all together it's like glazed spam when you take spam and you put a little goddamn sweet soy glaze on that this is giving that Vibe but new way I get the texture of solid like nine which is so weird giving that to a hot dog but it's like the sourcing of the bread so much better than any hot dog bun you'll ever have because it's not even a hot dog bun he's using a bon me bun I mean it's genius the crunch from the bonchan at the bottom and then that soft like almost juicy pickled mango on top I don't know that a hot dog could be better than that score for flavor I think a solid nine as well two n anything above a seven I'm usually bewildered but right now I'm I don't know how we're going to find a number one here moving on we are at the Midtown beer garden specifically what we're trying here is Bing me which is the only place in Portland that really specializes in Northern Chinese style Jang Bing these in particular it's like a super crispy thin crepe filled with egg kind of a nice spicy sauce a crunchy wanton cracker that you know you can literally hear people bite into from across the room I heard him cutting into it yeah literally freezing out here I was warming my hands up probably I don't know 10 to 15 ft away from the cart and I heard a crunch and I turned and it was that man yeah we have two types you have the sort of classic one that everyone kind of raises about the most that's the roasted duck and then this one here is the Chinese sausage two of my favorite things oh yeah I want to rewind to when we went to New York we got Jang Bing in New York this is way better than that one there's a perfect amount of duck in here it's super fatty and Rich within that you've got this nice refreshing crunchy cucumber and it's seasoned beautifully you've got the Chinese sausage cheers which one's your favorite I kind of like the sausage cuz it has the same kind of sweetness as the duck but it's a little more salty I think it just sort of works the palette a little more it gets you the extra saltiness to get the rest of the way there and the fattiness from the Chinese sausage and look how thinly cut it is it's so thin and almost like melts on your tongue you got a little bit of spiciness from it too it's sweet it's like almost caramelized in a way I've had both easily the Chinese sausage one is the Hallmark one to me I'm going to give the rating to this texture solid 9.3 flavor 9.1 Jang Bing wow one of the top scores of the entire journey I should probably go before I eat this whole thing moving on we're in the Knob Hill food cart pod in Northwest port we're here for bajala which is one of the newer food carts that we're trying today they're known for seafood Centric Baja style Mexican food and we tried three total tacos here first sturgeon which was a bit odd I got to be honest not expecting that then the fried shrimp but our final Taco was by far my favorite we're also doing the ganador which is flow tortilla with really really nice cheese fresh vegetables and cooked in a lot of butter oh my god dude this is way better than I thought it was going to be we had a taco very similar to this V I don't know if you remember this was when I almost shot in Mexico City and we had a taco that was very similar to this with cheese quesadilla a little bit of butter I think maybe that was their inspiration of it being like a Baja inspired one I don't know this is 10 times better than that it's salty get a little bit of a crispy skirt of cheese around the taco the texture is wonderful because you got all this vegetable and like you've got some fresh tomato with perfectly cooked shrimp and then little pieces of pablano that are charred and nicely softened but still They're Not So Soft that they're gooey this like Takes the Cake this is something special so this is what I'm going to rate texture the butter adds this unbelievable crispiness to the outside of the tortilla while remaining that elastic chew then there's all those different textures the fresh tomato it's juicy it's cheesy it's got a little bit of toothsomes from the shrimp so texture I'm going to give a solid 8.9 out of 10 flavor often times when you see tomato in a taco like this the first thing that happens is you lose salt because the Tomato then dissolves the salt and dilutes the intensity of flavor that's not happening here the seasoning is throughout flavor of the shrimp is fresh it's not fishy it's Oceanic it's got brightness I think this is also a nine Baja what's going on bring the Baja to make me go baa moving on we are here at the Little America food cart pot and we are at a Korean Fried Chicken Place specifically called frybaby owned by Sunny hatch this is like his rookie Endeavor was Fred baby that's the first thing he ever did and immediately is the most talked about food card in the city of Portland Oregon we tried two items the classic go Jong wings and the snow cheese Wings little unusual but supposedly they say mac and cheese meets chicken wing and it's one of the most talked about street food dishes in all of Portland yeah I mean it looks almost like an unfinished gem it feels like if you ran this through a polisher what would spit out is possibly a chicken wing shaped diamond they also gave us a dime bag of what they call Korean Sparkle it's like brahen powder love that so they were nice enough smart enough and kind enough to give us what I like to call condoms for eating their gloves here we go the snow cheese this giant monstrosity where do I even begin wow wo it's good right dude what the TR a little Sparkle in there with wings one of the hard things about it is you kind of get like a wet crunch yeah this is a really nice dry crisp crunch that immediately hits you and I don't know what the they did like you can see the separation of the seasoning and the chicken so the seasoning form like a crispy barrier that is substantial I'm not picking up tons of cheese notes I'm picking up a subtle toasted parmesan flavor and I really like it and then if you use a little bit of the Korean Sparkle you add a little bit of omami a little bit of salt a little MSG in there that's really hitting I will say like if I were to have one critique I wish there was like a touch more salt before I go any further let's try the go Jang oh dude come on this is another Portland versus New York situation Korean Fried Chicken in New York in the freezing cold we're in the freezing cold again but this time in Portland we have two great goliaths in the Fried Chicken world and the question is who had the better Korean fried chicken to me by far the one in the lead is Portland it's got more depth of flavor it's got that rich pepper go Jong flavor this is like how I would make mine I hate that I'm comparing it to the way that I make mine but if I were to rate one of these I'm honestly going to go with the original one I hate to be a bit of an outlier I know everybody's saying that the cheese one is their favorite the cheese one is delicious and I will come back for that I think it's a unique offering but if we go to the Classic this is a banger texture nine easy this has been sitting here with the sauce in the cold if it were my wings they would have been soggy by now the fact that they're still Crunchies I think speaks volumes to them flavor it's got all the flavors that I want I almost wish there was just a hint more saltiness like maybe a little bit of soy sauce flavor flat eight which is strong Portland our Korean Wing champion and through four spots Portland is killing it but our next spot Matt's barbecue tacos listen taking a Texan for barbecue and Tacos that's a risky Behavior here's the real question this spot could backfire and completely ruin Portland's average and thus kick them out from even winning mats needs to score 13.5 or higher to hold Portland's current lead and two tacos will decide that the brisket breakfast taco and the barbecue porkbelly Taco what makes this really special is they make their own flower tortillas I will say a lot of the places even in Austin don't make their own tortillas so they've got a leg up immediately first bite the promise is there and they delivered first of all this brisket is cooked really nicely it is Cho brisket which I should say kind of gives a a little bit of a leg up shop brisket is the easiest to make good because you're tossing with barbecue sauce and you're chopping the lean with the fatty so you can hide all the imperfections with all the fatty cuts that said I got a big chunk leine in that and it was moist it was tender it did not have a steaky chew but one the first thing I noticed was that nice Smoky flavor the eggs are cooked nicely they're not like super rubbery they're nice and tender it's like flaky almost you can see there's a little air pockets going on in there and I like that that's adding the density of this taco and it creates a formidable base to hold all this meat and also by the way potatoes are really good wow I'm like nervous almost unbelievable the importance of this is picking the right cut of belly it's not too fatty it's got the perfect ratio of meat and fat it's really hard to find pork belly like that it's almost got a bacony cure to it I don't know if you feel that way yeah totally I'm going to vote for the breakfast taco as my favorite of the two this is a top 10 breakfast taco firstly it's the homemade tortilla but more importantly the eggs were actually properly seasoned with salt this stands that a solid eight for texture and eight for flavor but Austin chefs more specifically the ones serving breakfast tacos please hear me out it's time to step it up guys if you make breakfast tacos in Austin step it up you got to show these guys up I got to say I had much better of an impression than I expected from Portland not that I thought it would be bad but it exceeded my expectations which means it's now in the lead after conquering two of America's top Street Food Cities except there's one more missing that we have to see and that is where I was born Los Angeles it's a city celebrated for its street food but it's faced troubling times devastating wildfires in early 2025 that left unimaginable destruction behind and as an LA native witnessing this was heartbreaking to say the least it's one thing to see it on the news it's another thing to see it in person but even in tragedy food is at the heart of this city chefs line Cooks street food vendors restaurants despite being part of such a vulnerable industry are among the first to step up feeding those in need without hesitation today we're joined by memo Torres of La Taco a James Beard award-winning publication that not only shares the best taco spots but also covers the true Community behind the beauty of food during the fires they were on the front lines amplifying the stories of the tragedy the recovery and the taco vendors who turned their food stands into relief stations one of those taco vendors on the front lines is our first stop today Marisco's halisco arguably LA's most famous taco truck thanks to honestly a very simple creation just a shrimp taco how good is it going to be really this is one of the most addictive tacos you can get in that and it always hits it's always the same and never disappoints I always say oh seafood tacos are underrated right cuz a lot of people don't order them and I always try to push people to order a little bit more seafood tacos just try them if anyone were to start here you would never want to order a meat Taco again this is Bonkers like phenomenal I've had over 1,000 tacos in La there's very few I crave and I run back to this is one of them there's so many things going on the first thing I noticed is like the temperature youve got this like really beautifully like hot on the inside a little bit warm on the outside and then that cold refreshing salsa on top the cold refreshing avocado it plays really well together temperature I don't even think it's been a topic of conversation until now this is the first time that we're talking about it in the whole video texture is unbelievable by applying this sort of like a little bit more moist a little bit more wet salsa it calms down the crunch without losing the crunch you now have a little bit of chew and then of course the inside is just like this luscious moist ooey gooey I don't even know what the is in there to be honest with you but it tastes nobody knows what's in there it's a secret people haveed Pride out of him we don't know what what's in this memo also recommended the Poseidon tostada which looks insane it's very tasty but truthfully I really was more focused on the shrim taco textured I think it's a 94 honestly it's like the best textured shrim Taco in human history flavor dude it's 940 that might be the highest rating I've ever given crazy work moving on we're at taka which is one of the OG beta trucks I know be exploded everywhere but these guys have been doing it for a long time one of the special things about these guys that other beta trucks on do is that they do goat and they do beef and on top of that they make their own handmade tortillas I like that they do both beef and goat cuz I feel like often times any time I've gone anywhere it's either one or the other and most of the time nowadays it's beef you don't really see goat anymore that's obviously the more traditional route I like that they're kind of trying to cater to both parties nothing much you got your cons there too let's see you do it oh F yeah this has flavor I want to like try and persuade you here for anybody who has had Bea before you really should be looking for the goat variety I think that you're going to get a more authentic flavor but it's really not like I think when everyone's afraid of it's going oh it's going to be gayy I'm not going to like it first of all you got to try it before you start talking second of all beef to me is so mellow that it gets lost in all the power of this flavor you've got chili you've got the onion the fresh cilantro and of course that nice cons that's just like enrobing this Rich bite but the beauty of having goat in there is you can actually taste the meat so now it's a whole experience I think this is great this would definitely go in one of my top contending bira it was far better than the one that we had in Mexico City in my opinion the whole history of bira it was created to tame the gaminess of goat if you ever get a goat taco and you still taste a goat they didn't do it right all right I'm going to break this down texture super crisp on the outside and a lot of tortillas this is why you can tell that they're making them here when they try to get that crispy exterior in their older tortillas they do get a little crispy but they're kind of like leathery this is like a nice snack it's still a little bit elastic from the tortilla you've got the cheese in there that's kind of promoting that chew even more and the meat is so soft it melts in your mouth not too spicy at all I almost wish it was a little spicier for me personally but that's what the salsa was for so there you go honestly I'm going to give the texture a 9.1 out of 10 flavor I almost wish there was just a tiny tiny bit more salt I wouldn't say this is UND salted even without that though the flavor is so intense I think I'm going to get the flavor an 8.8 out of 10 very very very very strong start we have much more to go moving on so I'm super excited to bring you to the spot it's one of my newest favorite spots we're in Cypress Park down the hill from Dodger Stadium and this is one of the first tacos I've been into immediately was like this is a winner this is their alaur taco and one of the unique things that they do here is they're The Offspring of a good franchise in Tijuana called taso which used to be called takaso so like the tortillas they're all from Tijuana he's got his great marinade on it and one of the most unique things that he does that you won't see anywhere else is that cilantro cream on top yeah I love that there's two sauces basically go ahead and take a bite better than any alpast store that we had in Mexico City by far this is exactly what people imagine when they see that juicy trumpo hot and sweaty seasoned to the maximum with salt there's zero dryness it's nice and fatty it's luscious it's unctious and then all that richness gets cut by the acidity in the pineapple the sweetness of the pineapple it's nice and acidic in the crema too the crema is not overwhelmingly creamy exactly because I think if it was it might almost be too much it's also very fresh I'm like drooling over here yeah one of the most unique things about this Sakara though is that he takes after his father who taught him this trick he has a specific salsa and a specific tortilla for every meat that you want this is why I always say the best tacos in America do not come from New York they do not come from Texas they come from California in Los Angeles and this is an exact epip moment you'll have if you come me here you'll know what the I'm talking about I'm not joking and I know a lot of people are going to think oh you're so biased I really don't give a that is what I believe because when I put it in my mouth I want to take my pants off do you understand flavor the meat I taste the anxiousness of the pork and the spices and it's garlicky and Rich and you can get that a little bit of that achiote it's got that cream herbaceousness from the cilantro cream flavor 96 and I think I'm going to give the texture a 95 this is the highest score of the video so far and that means that we've only got a few more places left to see if that can be beat moving on okay so we went a little bit off the path here we went to KI I picked this out it's been around for a long time actually it's been around so long that I would argue it might as well have been one of the first most important food trucks of the United States of America they kind of kicked off basically the food truck scene I grew up eating off of these growing up with my dad and you know working around La after Ki took over the truck style and did his thing Roach Coach is no more it was like the fusion trucks the food trucks and the whole scene exploded all over not just LA but the US it made the public com able with eating street food in a big way across the US in other countries it's very common no one thinks twice about it but in America we're all about sanitation and oh my God I don't know if I can eat that off the street so we got the sliders we got the Korean K Dog what we're going to do is we're going to try these whichever one is better is the one that we are going to rate okay it's good yeah the Korean barbecue sauce on that when I saw the bag shredded cheese scared you a little bit didn't I got scared yeah but that fear turned to Joy the meat is super tender it's not chewy nice little sear the Korean I guess barbecue sauce whatever is on there is sweet it's salty it's perfectly balanced it's a little bit acidic too I like the acidity in there that's really important you got the crunch from the Fresh cabbage it's got a little bit of like a kimchi flavor to it but this bun is like remarkable I don't know where the they're sourcing these buns this might be one of the best slider buns I've ever had in my life it's not like a King's Hawaiian rooll but it's very similar yeah it's not as sweet but it's soft like it and it's buttery honestly forget the K dog cuz that thing look whack as I'm just going to vote for this you sure I mean you don't want the Gizzy the way that that is slung over let's just let them have this win and call it a day I'm curious man I'm going to give it a try this dude really wants this we had it I got all all right all right was that right yeah that bun was not it man okay okay texture can I get a drum roll please we're going with an unbelievable 9.2 and flavor 9.3 maybe one of the most surprisingly tasty sliders I have had in a very long time still got it man K still got it good for you just maybe not the dog now Laie score might look big but remember this is just the current average this number could go down depending on how the final spot goes and yes it could still lose the lead it all comes down to mam Mia schwarma if they score a higher than a 13 La will officially be the best street food city in America the energy emanating off of these guys is crazy they've been around for under two years they're still very new they've got that excited energy that kind of goes away after you run an establishment for like four or 5 years and you've been killing it for so long you know it kind of goes away the magic and they still got the magic so there's a strong chance we could have a winner so this is a Jordanian Style Chicken schwarma the guy it start at schmorgasburg La this is my most favorite Street Food Festival ever it happens every week it's massive there's of people everywhere and loads of very unique food by some of the most passionate people I can think of in restaurants but for Chef Yas the magic really started back home in Jordan he brings this bread which is like a beautifully thin translucent bread that's handmade from Jordan and the spices do here we go cheers this is not any schwarma I've ever tasted in my life at first I was like why is there a line of people on the side of the road in front of the car wash parking lot and then I see these hot long crunchy boys going to people's mouths I think I'm getting it what garol he puts on there too mhm some pickles it's like a perfect bite that is exactly what I was going to say this is a perfect bite God that bread is so thin it's so delicate and because it's so thin it's really just doing the bare necessities of its job it's holding everything and all the goodness together texture really crispy here super soft and chewy almost like a super thin tortilla mixed with the naan the inside the protein is salted perfectly you're getting from the pickle the meat is moist it's got a nice toothsome to it it's fatty it's not dry at all I don't even know what kind of meat it is come on look at this look at this dude it's so thin wow I can't believe we've arrived at the final moment after four cities endless flavors it all comes down to our final score which city is our champion of American street food it's so difficult think about New York arguably many people would look at that place as the greatest place for a dining experience in the United States of America globally people would say that but then again Portland has won over the hearts of culinarians around the US and Austin a bit of a newcomer but still killing the game I mean I live there for sake I love the place but if mam Mia scores higher than a 13 Los Angeles wins the competition all right texture 95 flavor though solid 9.4 out of 10 this is a banger that means La winner La one it is what it is here's what I'll say we've been all over every single place has blown out our expectations every single place that we ate at easily has gotten the highest ratings that we've ever done period out of any video we've eaten all over the globe by far this video we've rated food the highest of all time so I think everyone deserves a round of applause great food doesn't have to be made over a shiny cooktop just needs to be made with great ingredients and some good intention we love you subscribe bye