Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Baco vs. Sope at Opus and La Cabanita

On Tuesday nights, Opus serves bacos (bread + taco, I believe). They're large grilled flatbreads, $8 each, and topped with your choice of: pork belly and short rib carnitas with salbixtada; market fish with pickled red cabbage and garlic-chive dressing; spiced tofu baco with napa cabbage salad and avocado; or pork meatball and chorizo baco with caraway-pepper sauce and smoked jalapeno.

Every night of the week, La Cabanita in Montrose serves a special sope (fried, thick corn flour disc) dish--you get three sopes, one with sweet spiced ground beef, one with chicken and one with pork.

J and I noshed at La Cabanita on Friday, Opus on Tuesday, and I can't help but compare these similar dishes.

Opus and the Bacos

Pros:
  • Bang for your buck--the bacos are huge and piled high with goodies.
  • Pork in all its glory--J and I ordered both the pork meatball and the pork belly bacos and we were in hog heaven.
  • Cocktails--you can enjoy your baco while sipping a Gingered Jamie--Jameson and ginger beer.
Cons:
  • Delusions of grandeur--the word baco is trademarked on the menu. Huh?
  • Flowery menu descriptions--the sauces don't quite live up to the detailed descriptions. In fact the sauces on the pork belly and the pork meatball tasted fairly similar to me.
  • Wacky service--I always enjoy the food at Opus, but other than my very first visit, the service has always been strange. Not rude or bad, but awkward.
La Cabinita and the Sopes


Pros:
  • Cheese-The sopes are strewn with yummy queso. The bacos are cheeseless.
  • Sweet meat-I love the raisins in the ground beef.
  • Cocktails--Can't go wrong with a La Cabanita house margarita
  • Snacks to start--the homemade tortilla chips and smoky salsa disappeared quickly.
Cons:
  • Price--At around $11 these are more expensive than the bacos.
  • Slow service--It took quite awhile for our 2nd margaritas to arrive.
Verdict
While Opus is a foodie darling, and I've sung its praises before, I'm gonna have to go with La Cabanita's sopes for this round. This time, simple and homey wins.

Opus
3760 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90010
213.738.1600

La Cabanita
3447 N Verdugo Rd
Montrose, CA
91208-1520
818.957.2711

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yay! La Cabanita wins! haha

Buy Generic Viagra said...

I don't know which one of this dishes is more delicious, the only winner in this contest is the costumer, in other words me.

Buy Generic Viagra said...

Both restaurants offers awesome food, But I prefer la Cabanita to eat a good appetizer.

Viagra Canada said...

I have to go to the CabaƱita because I've heard people saying that CabaƱita is terrific I want to go there to eat meat because it's its specialty.

www.islas-baleares-3d.com said...

For my part everybody ought to glance at this.

Cosmo said...

Quite helpful piece of writing, thanks for the post.
this site

Percival said...

Quite useful data, thank you for this article.
free online games

Giles said...

Quite effective material, thank you for the article.
play games