I was on my way to get doughnuts when I walked past this place the other day. I had a nosy at what people were eating as they sat outside. That made me Google Yagul Cafe and, as I read the various write-ups, I decided to go back and try it.
I am a broken record, always moaning about the lack of freshness and cut corners when it comes to starting a dish from start to finish. Is anybody out there able to follow through with good, honest and fresh ingredients? Yes, thankfully. Tortilla chips made from scratch, sauces, guacamole, fillings — even the tortilla itself that everything was sat upon — was homemade here. What a revelation! You have no idea how happy this makes me, really.
Hearing that satisfying crunch when dipping the chips into a fresh, just-made, zingy guac makes life better. Two soft tacos landed on the table, filled to the brim with super-fresh mixed greens, pico de gallo, guac sauce, and a smidge of queso fresco. Even the beans and rice on the side were complementing. Seriously, it was the best lunch I had in Santa Monica — any decent one is difficult to find.
The rest of the menu I do want to try; they are not trying to do a million things. It’s an Oaxacan-style café, revealing a lot of breakfast items too, so it would be suitable for brunch at any time of the day. A word of warning: do be careful when you sit outside. I had a homeless person shout abuse at me along the lines of, “What are you f****g looking at, b***h!” I was, in fact, just looking ahead and not even at him. There is a problem with this all over Los Angeles, and I don’t feel safe sometimes, even in the daytime, walking around. Luckily, he just walked past and that was the end of it. There were people around, with a bus stop close by, but I wouldn’t sit outside again. Go inside. I will be back for the enchiladas.
