Oldest vs. Newest Mexican Restaurant (Taste Test)

Can LA's oldest Mexican restaurant make better tacos than its trendiest one? Let's talk about that. Good. Mythical Morning. A few months back, we tried one of LA's oldest Italian restaurants in a head to head. comparison against one of LA's newest Italian restaurants. And much to our surprise, and to the surprise of the Italian nonnas everywhere, the trendy new restaurant came out on top.

Yes, it did. So we're gonna do it again. We're gonna give it another try. This time with Mexican restaurants. Can the old classics make a comeback against the newer, hipper counterparts? It's time for. The Course of Time Mexican Edition. Okay, Mommy's little mistakes. Today's old school restaurant is one of the oldest Mexican restaurants in LA. and for sure one of the most iconic. El Coyote Cafe. Opened in nineteen thirty-one by Blanche and George March, the tiny cafe originally sat at first in La Brea and in nineteen fifty-one,

moved to its current location on Beverly Boulevard. It stood the test of time and remains a go-to destination for. locals and celebrities alike, despite. the dark history that put it on the map. In nineteen sixty-nine, Sharon Tate and friends infamously ate their last meal here before. being murdered by the Manson family just a few hours later. Stevie, you ruined it for me. A scene that was recreated in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

That aside, the kitschy, retro classic vibe. is a ton of fun. Ton of fun. It is. Great, classic. I've been here. multiple times. I love it. This is your classic menu. If you're visiting LA, this is the place to go, I would say. But maybe I'll say something different at the end of this episode. I mean, classic menu with fajitas and combinations of things that. you get with rice and beans, all the things that you think you'd want from a Mexican restaurant, including a little margarita section, a cerveza section.

Cerveza. And then. we have the very trendy newcomer restaurant Mirate, a gorgeous, sleek, modern, vibey restaurant with a tree house feel that opened its. doors in twenty twenty-two, but remains a hot. table today from Michelin's star chef. Joshua Gil. in the coveted and trendy neighborhood of Los Feliz. Now, I've been there three times.

Two dates. We did a little. VP dinner there with the Mythical VPs. Yeah, we did. It's super trendy, that tree in the middle. Anytime there's a tree inside, that's a real tree. That's nice. Very small menu. Something I noted when I was there. Everything I had was good, but it didn't, like it doesn't have a lot of the things that you expect, I like from a Mexican restaurant. The logo, though, is some sort of a creature. All right, I'm hungry. Let's try them.

Obviously, no meal at a Mexican restaurant can start without some chips, salsa, and guac. On Rhett's side, you have El Coyote's standard guac and tomatillo salsa. And on Link's side, you have Mirate's smashed avocado and tomatillo salsa. I remember. noting. how much I love the guac at El Coyote when I went, and I still do. There's no trace. Well, yes, there is. You were about to say, there's no tomatoes. And there are. There's not a lot of tomatoes, though.

There's none in that one, though. So, I'm excited about this. I've had better chips. The chips are. Yeah, chips are blah. I've had better chips, for certain. I like a thin, even crispier. chip than that. But I will say. Salsa is good, too. It is a chip, unlike. What you get, is it "Mur-a-te" or "Mir-a-te"? "Mir-a-te". Mirate. This is what they give you. They give you a tostada. It's a face sized chip. And tell you to break it.

Which I've done for you. I mean. I mean, it wasn't that hard to break, Rhett. It wasn't that hard to break, but really? I don't know. No trace of tomato, which I was hoping would be the case over there. It's smoother, too. More lime, more salt. I like it more. What can I say? I'm a simple man. They're both really good. But I don't like the fact that I have to make my own chips. Let me compare the salsa. This is a fancy looking salsa.

Looks like it's got some roasted peppers in there, which is a good call. I like the salsa and the guac better on the left side. I'm loving both of them. , though. This is spicier and has more of a roasted. It definitely is spicier. This guac looks better, though. That's good. Get a few Mezcals in you, you. won't know the difference. I like both. these condiments slightly better. These are not bad. I like them slightly better. I don't like that I have to make my own chips,

so I feel like I'm right down the middle. And I will. push this one to you to make a decision. What about mixed and matched? You're putting me in a tough position, man. This is so difficult. Crap. I can't decide either. So, round one. We're gonna have to have a tiebreaker? We need a tiebreaker. Now, you might remember. when we did Italian restaurants, we had. Italian Chef Nicole come in. and we thought we probably shouldn't do that for a Mexican restaurant.

So, we have Italian Chef Trevor. Hey, hey, hey. What's up, my guys? It's not Trevor. It's me, your good buddy, Cousin P. You know Cousin P? Cousin P. Hey, Cousin P. How you doing? Doing good. How are you guys? How are you guys? It's been so long. Take a knee, Cousin P. I'm on two knees right now, two knees. When was the last time I saw you guys? It's been too long. The reunion. Aunt Liotta, Aunt Liotta's funeral. Yeah, yeah. That was it. What do we got going on here?

We got some chips. We got chips and salsa and guac. Oh, my God. All right, let me get in there. I don't want to get it on my mustache. I always love the sound you make when you eat. I'm gonna give you one of those. You're gonna give me. Oh, you broke my chip for me? Yeah, I did that for you. Can you believe that? But note that you would have had to do it. You have to make your own chips there, Cousin P. I hate that crap. Yeah. Sucks, right? Why do I gotta do your work? I'm going out to eat with my family. You're gonna make me do the work breaking the chip? It's crazy. That's right. That's what I was thinking. Oh, man. We're not breaking your balls, but we are breaking your chips.

Tell you what, that's some good guac. Let me get another taste. That's really good. I might have to sit here for a few minutes. How you guys doing? What you guys been up to? I've been mourning Aunt Lolita. Was that her name? Liotta. Did you? That's why you were never her favorite. Did you try the salsa, though? No, I didn't try the salsa. Maybe it's a salsa. Oh, thanks. Oh, my God. You dripped it on his pants. Come on, man. What happened to me? You did that to me, wouldn't be talking. Well, I'm trying to be helpful here. You're being not helpful. That's good. I get why you guys are struggling here.

You gotta make a decision. Oh, man. You know what? Purely pn principle of not wanting to do work when I go out to eat. Okay. I'm going right here. I understand. It's unbelievable, why are you giving us the whole round? Break it up for us. We feel all right about that. Thanks, Cousin P. Feel good about that. There we go. All right. Next we've got a quesadilla with veggies from El Coyote on Rhett's side and. Mirate's La Quesadilla on Link's side. I mean. This is big and regular colored. This is. smaller and.

darker. I think it's blue. Is it blue corn? Is it blue corn? It must be. And look at this nice swoosh of guac versus just a. gratuitous dollop. Ooh, this is greasy. I'm not gonna be putting any guac in it. Because we already know about the guac. This is good. I usually don't get just veggies and cheese, but. Got a homemade vibe to it. Pricing wise, we're hovering around the same general number here for each of these.

Let's see how different this tastes. I wouldn't complain about that. I quite enjoyed it. This one, I'm. Why am I tasting so much of the. tortilla? Where's the cheese? A little spicy. What is that stuff in there. besides corn? It's the. moldy. It's the. Moldy something. It's the corn thing that I can't pronounce.

You know, that thing. The corn. Do we need to bring in an Italian? The corn fungus. Corn fungus. Yeah, yeah. An Italian? Yeah. But what's the. What's that corn fungus stuff called? Corn fungus? Yeah. It's the stuff that, Josh has that restaurant that he went to in Culver City. Huitlacoche. Huitlacoche. Give me that flag. I knew that. It's losing. Put the flag in that one. Well, hold on. Don't be so pushy. Put the flag. I know it's hard for you.

I mean, this doesn't even taste good. This is better. He's right. He's right. I mean, I want to like the way that that looks. It's just fancy. But it doesn't taste as good. Have you been keeping up with our Think It and Sink It trivia game. over on the Mythical Society app? It's available for free for everybody. You should be playing. Because you can keep your daily streak growing and also, or going. It can grow and can go. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You can increase your chances of winning this season's prize,

which is a thousand dollars of a gift card to the Mythical store. Okay? And listen, we're gonna start the whole process over in the fall if you feel. like you're getting in too late. So, we're gonna do it every season, all right? Yes. Predict what happens in an episode and trivia. It's fun. Okay. It's taco time. On Rhett's side, the beer battered fish taco and chicken street taco from El Coyote. And on Link's side is Mirate's fried chicken taco and grilled fish taco.

Okay, okay, okay. Okay, so we got a, I'm gonna do the fish versus fish here. That's good. It's lightly fried. This one's grilled over here. I've definitely had better fish tacos than that. Yeah. There's not much to say about it. That's not. why I'm going to El. Coyote. This has got. some orangeness on its grill. All right. This one's not even close.

Mirate is way better. Like. So much better. Embarrassingly better. Well, let's try the chicken. I mean, this is a classic. Very much a classic street taco. Chicken street taco. Usually I would put some salsa. The first time I ate one of these in California. I thought they'd made a mistake. I was like, oh, should I tell them they put an extra tortilla?

Like, that's how ignorant I was of taco culture. I don't love the double corn tortilla, but I do know that's how a street taco is supposed to go. Now, this fried chicken taco, it's only got one, but it's thick. You wouldn't want two of these. And this is a fried chicken taco. And it looks like it's got some interesting peppers mixed in. Also has some Mexican ranch, some Brussel leaves, and some tomatoes. Brussel sprouts.

If you go to Mirate. Mirate? Mirate. You're not going. to get. the classic Mexican stuff. You're going because you want a different sort of. Mexican experience. Like, you're not going to get this at a taco truck. Nope. But in this case, both of them are better, in my opinion. I agree wholeheartedly. They're creative. It's a new twist on something that you get all the time. That's not my favorite thing anyway,

so gotta give it to the noob. I was thinking the same thing, fellas. Yep, there he is. If we need you, if we need you, Cousin P, we'll let you know. Yeah, otherwise. So for this round, we wanted to really highlight how different the menus of these places are. Mirate doesn't offer a lot of the traditional Mexican. dishes like you expect, burritos, enchiladas, et cetera. So we're doing a head to head comparison of two items off each menu's House.

Specialties section. So on Rhett's side. is the Enchilada Howard from El Coyote, named after their first regular customer over ninety. years ago. Yeah. And on Link's side is Carne Asada Con Papas from Mirate. Oh, so like a steak and frite? Did Howard want an exploded enchilada? I don't even know where to start. What is this? What? Is this a piece of? Oh, this is the beans and the rice here. This is. It's over here, really. It's topped with chili con carne.

That's the. explosion part. There's. pork chunks, which I'm a huge fan of a good pork chunk. You literally got a dish. just recently when we were traveling. Called Pork Chunks. Pork Chunks was the name of the dish. And then you got pork chunks as an appetizer as well. I love a good pork chunk. I mean, this is good. These big pork chunks. are doing it for me. And there's a cheese enchilada in the middle. Their refried beans are great.

The classic stuff. They're just nailing it. And Howard. Howard, knows what's up. You're a good boy, Howard. He's probably dead. I love that. Nothing to complain about. Now, these fries look fossilized. What do they do to their fries? They're not fries. They're papas. Super crispy. I'm just gonna grab a little end piece of this. steak, which is.

cooked very. Oh, that ketchup is good. Emphatically. It's smoky. Like, so, this carne asada is. There's not a pink zone in it. Usually, that's how you're supposed to cook this stuff. Okay. Yeah. Well, it is very tender. Oh, that's tasty. Does go good with the fry, but it kind of cheapens it. Yeah. I'm not a fan of the fries on the side. I'm not going to a Mexican restaurant for fries. I don't care if you call them papas.

Right. Papa don't care what you call them. I don't want french fries in my Mexican restaurant. Well, don't preach. I love rice and beans, and I hate the fact that I didn't get them. I mean, exactly. I like pork chunks. You're a Mexican restaurant. I don't care how noob you are. You gotta give me some rice and beans with that great steak. That's a good steak. And I'm assuming that there's some way to get rice and beans on their menu, is there? I mean. Yeah. I don't want. They're all little sides.

They do a lot of little. side add ons. They're a little too precious when it comes to the rice and beans. Okay. All right, so, don't do the rice and beans, but in a head to head competition, we're going with old school again. Dang. Yeah, yep, yep. We don't need an Italian to tell us that. Yeah, we're on the same page all the time, guys. It's just the three of us all the time. Right there with you. That's right. Thanks, Cousin P. No problem. And finally, for dessert, it's flan. On Rhett's side is a traditional flan from El Coyote.

And on Link's side is the Mezcal Flan. brûlée. from Mirate. Six dollars. Sixteen dollars. Yeah. Now, as a man who likes mushy things and pudding, aren't, I haven't. heard you talk about flan too much. You see the runny stuff. I like mushy, but I don't love runny. It's just like syrup. Cousin P, come out here. Hey. Hey, guys. What's going on? Grab yourself a. I got one. I brought one. I'm ready.

Yeah. He brings his own spoon to everything. Yeah, everything. I wish it was tiramisu. Am I right? Italian. Yeah, it's flan. What are we getting in here? What does P stand for? What's your, what's your full name? You don't remember my full name? We're cousins. It's me. Parmigiano Reggiano. Cousin P. Sometimes we call you Reggie. Oh, my God. That flan is so good. It's knocking my mustache right off. That is good. Let me help you with that. Thank you, sir. I am not. You wouldn't get it. You know? What? Because you don't have any facial hair.

You wouldn't get it. Yeah, can't relate. I don't have facial hair. Yeah, look at you. You'll get there one day. Mezcal. What is? I tried to half that. What is that, a pear? That cube. This is, looks like goo. This looks like something I saw coming out of the faucet. the other day at Mikey's. How's Mikey? Mikey's doing great. Yeah. Jerry, though, not doing so good. He's doing fifteen to life upstate. Yeah. That's unfortunate. I wonder why I hadn't seen him in a while. Jaywalking. Oh, really?

Yeah. But it was like. It wasn't the first time? No. Repeat offender. Yeah. Does that have a peppercorn on it? What? it has cacao. It's got a crunch. What? Something? Cacao. crunch. And papaya. Chocolate. Is that what you're doing back there, Stevie? It's been. nixtamalized, which is the process for the preparation. of grain, where the grain is soaked and cooked in an alkaline solution. Can you taste it?

I like it more. I do like it more too. I do like it more. This one? Yeah. Yeah, I'm right there with you guys. Okay. See, and I'm not just saying that. This is my honest opinion. It's better. But you're also saying it. Why I am. Yeah, that's kind of the whole point of the show, no? We say stuff, they hear it. It would be kind of dumb if we just sat here in silence. Yeah, that's true. We tried that one year. It did not go over well. I understand that. But you said you're not just saying it. No, I'm not just saying it. You're saying it, but you're not just saying. No, I'm feeling it, too. You know when you feel it? Deep down. Yeah. Deep down inside, I'm feeling it.

You're feeling it too? I'm feeling you. I'm feeling you guys. Okay. Yeah, we're. This one goes out. Who's in prison right now? Jerry. Mikey. No, Mikey's doing good. Jerry's in prison. This goes out to Jerry if you're watching. Jerry, if you ever get out, we'll take you to. Mirate. Even though it actually lost, the flan is great. Yep. Looks like coming out on top is the old restaurant, El Coyote. And you know what? As your reward, consider this your official invitation to celebrate your. one hundredth anniversary.

on this show. with us. in twenty thirty-one. Twenty thirty-one. You're kidding me? We cannot wait. You know what we'll do? We'll rent out. Mirate. Yes! Hey, what a pleasure. What a pleasure it's been. Great to see you, Cousin P. Hey, it's great to see you guys, too. Hey, I'll see you at the next funeral, am I right? All right. You're right. Who's going next? Hopefully not me. Am I right? You're right. Thanks for subscribing and clicking that bell. You know what time it is. Hi, I'm Hannah. And I'm Will. And this is Mackenzie.

We're in the Gulf of Mexico, and it's time to spin the Wheel of Mythicality. Mackenzie's on the shirt? Mackenzie is the shirt. Click the top link to watch us taste dog bubbles in Good Mythical More. And to find out where the Wheel of Mythicality's gonna land. Download the free Mythical Society app to play our daily GMM trivia game, Think It and Sink It. Available to everyone.