The Most Creative Tacos in the U.S. Part 2

From BLT tacos to peanut butter carnitas, the most creative tacos in the country.
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Fish tacos prepared with all fresh ingredients for lunch or dinner.
Fish tacos prepared with all fresh ingredients for lunch or dinner.

Welcome to Part 2 of whatsGOOD's exploration of the taco.

In Part 1 , we looked at unique takes on the taco shell that have generated buzz across the web and on whatsGOOD. In part 2, we are going to dive into the mea tof the taco, quite literally.

But before we get started, as always, I want to give you some weird facts pulled from the data inside whatsGOOD. Today it's a dive into the most popular taco ingredient, based upon all tacos sold in California. Without further ado...

5. Carne Asada - 3,480
4. Fish - 7,447
3. Steak - 8,530
2. Beef - 16,540

and our taco ingredient champion:

1. Chicken - 18,537

Now, the ingredients/proteins didn't make the aforementioned list, but these unique eats deserve their time in the spotlight.

The BLT is an American staple dating back to the turn of the century. For those unfamiliar, it stands for Bacon, Lettuce Tomato, and is almost always served as a sandwich. (Why you wouldn't be familiar -- I'm not sure, as even ardent vegetarians can get "TLTs," with tofu). In Miami, the people at JoJos Tacos decided to "sabor" (Spanish for flavor) up the BLT and turn it into a taco. Apple-smoked bacon, plum tomatoes, crisp romaine, silky avocado and creamy blue cheese make this taco the best BLT taco in the U.S... If you dig it as a sandwich, wait until you try it as a taco.

The usual taco suspects include chicken, pork, beef, other pork, seafood, steak or some variation of them all. Occasionally, restaurants will serve ostrich in their tacos, like El Coyote in Los Angeles, but outside of that you don't see much in the way of "exotic" meats. Well, at La Condesa, in Austin, Texas, gamey meats reign supreme. La Condesa drops Venison into the taco equation, along with pickled cucumber, chipotle harissa, fennel pollen yogurt and cilantro, with a bacon fat tortilla for a foodie's dream taco experience. Yes, I said fennel pollen yogurt. Side note: they actually are taquitos, but they still qualify.

This popular "unique" taco hails from Los Angeles. Chef Joe Kim decided that the new PB and J should be PB and P, and paired his peanut butter spread with delicious, fresh pork carinitas. The beautiful color contrast of peanut-butter brown against the reddish pork makes the taco a dual threat. Good enough for an Instagram pic, and tasty enough to win your heart. Of all the tacos in this two-part series, this one is mentioned positively more often than any other on whatsGood. Eat up -- It's peanut butter jel', I mean pork time.

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