Blogs : Los Angeles Area Digest
Los Angeles Area Digest Weekly highlights from the most interesting Chowhound posts on the Los Angeles Area board, including restaurant and bar reviews, best-of lists, and hidden local spots for eating and drinking.
Spectacular Barbacoa at the Boyle Heights Street Fair
In Boyle Heights, there’s “a scene straight out of Mexico,” says streetgourmetla. At the corner of Cesar Chavez and Breed Street, “right by the Big Buy Foods there’s a glorious street food scene,” featuring the truly luscious deep-Mexico stuff, not the “cloying tacos and uninspired bacon-wrapped hotdogs” that the rest of LA is stuck with, says streetgourmetla.
Chowhounds have known about this place for a while, but there have been some recent additions. For the best in regional cuisine, there’s a newly added barbacoa de borrega stand, “representing the famous pit roasted mutton from the state of Hidalgo,” says streetgourmetla. It’s authentically prepared, including an underground pit lined with maguey (agave). It could be the best barbacoa in the city, says streetgourmetla.
There’s also a new stand doing crêpes in the style of Mexico City. The crêpe lady fills hers with cream cheese and tops them with cajeta (Mexican caramel), goiaba (guava paste), and fresa (strawberry). “She knows her stuff,” says streetgourmetla.
Now on to the classics of the fair. Nina’s catering truck serves sopes, huaraches, gorditas, quesadillas preparadas, tostadas, and flautas. Fillings are cooked to perfection, says streetgourmetla, including options like hongos (mushrooms), papa con chorizo (potato with chorizo), flor de calabaza (squash blossoms), and cuitlacoche (corn fungus) amongst more standard offerings. “This stand has the best salsa on the street including a salsa de semillas consisting of pumpkin seeds, peanuts, sesame seeds, chile de arbol, and a little bit of peanut oil. Que rico!” says streetgourmetla. “Nina’s can’t be outdone.”
Just north of Nina’s is a guy who does tacos al vapor, steamed tacos. To the south, close to Big Buy Foods, is a taco vendor serving excellent cochinita pibil (roasted pork in achiote).
Across the street, to the south, is a delicious pozole stand, with both red and white pozoles. The chef assembles the pozole, which includes stock, hominy, chicken, and whatever meats you want. If you order red pozole, it gets topped off with a mild red chile sauce. “This pozole rocks!” says streetgourmetla. They also serve up a “formidable tostado of cueritos (pigskin). Pure heaven!” says streetgourmetla.
The street fair runs from 7 to 10 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. Weekends are the best nights for maximum action, says streetgourmetla.
Mexican Street Fair at Big Buy Foods [East LA]
2233 E. Cesar E Chavez Avenue, Los Angeles
323-264-2230
Board Link: La Feria de Big Buy Foods-Boyle Heights
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Tagged with: los angeles area, restaurants and bars, big buy foods, street fair, nina's, mexican, barbacoa, pozole, street food
Ceviche Superstar
La Cevicheria has a great ceviche spread, with shrimp, sea bass, or mixed seafood available as the main ingredient in ceviches prepared Peruvian or Guatemalan style. The seafood is “super fresh,” says 123milo, who’s visited four times in two years and found the food consistently great.
banjoboy agrees that the food is delicious. There’s “terrific ceviche, great fish, and amazing fish tacos, among the best I’ve ever had in LA.” It’s a “great little spot,” says bruinike.
La Cevicheria [Mid-City]
3809 W. Pico Boulevard, Los Angeles
323-732-1253
Board Link: La Cevicheria—Guatamalen gem
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Tagged with: los angeles area, restaurants and bars, la cevicheria, peruvian, guatemalan, ceviche, seviche
Fantastic Homemade Tortillas
Chile colorado, frijoles, and handmade tortillas are sheer heaven at Tortilleria La Talpense, says WildSwede. “The Chile Colorado has a nice heat to it and the thick brick-red sauce is so flavorful and deep. Just wonderful.” WildSwede also recommends the chile verde, which is a bit less spicy, and the carnitas.
The place is owned by a sweet lady named Lupe; she’s been there for 16 years and is from Jalisco. She’s won nine local menudo competitions. Menudo, birria, and pozole are only available on the weekends. Cash only.
Tortilleria La Talpense [San Fernando Valley – East]
715 N. Maclay Avenue, San Fernando
818-361-9867
Board Link: Tortilleria La Talpense, San Fernando–Fantastic!!
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Tagged with: los angeles area, restaurants and bars, tortilleria la talpense, mexican
Best Chile Verde in Town
Chile verde is one of the homiest of Mexican dishes: pork cooked down in green tomatillo sauce. At its best, it’s spicy, zesty, and deeply porky all at once.
• Servorg recommends Teresita’s chile verde. estone888 agrees: “Teresita’s is some of the best I’ve had anywhere.”
• Neta, master of the Latino food of the eastern reaches, likes Rafael’s version.
• The best chile verde delishdonna has ever had is at Tacomiendo. mdpilam is “mildly impressed” by the version, which has good verde sauce, piquant nopales (cactus), and lovable homemade tortillas.
• David Kahn recommends two chiles verdes: the one at Mi India Bonita, and the one at Tere’s. “Both versions are well made, with obvious affection and attention to detail,” he says.
• The Talpa has an amazing chile verde, with “a pleasant, smoky kick,” says Moose.
• annagranfors recommends the chile verde at Tonny’s.
Teresita’s [East LA]
3826 E. First Street, Los Angeles
323-266-6045
Rafael’s Mexican Restaurant [San Gabriel Valley]
2226 W. Beverly Boulevard, Montebello
323-728-4880
Tacomiendo [Westside – Inland]
11462 Gateway Boulevard, Los Angeles
310-481-0804
Mi India Bonita [East LA]
4731 E. Olympic Boulevard
323-267-8505
Tere’s Mexican Grill [Mid-City]
5870 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles
323-468-9345
The Talpa [Westside – Inland]
11751 W. Pico Boulevard, Los Angeles
310-479-9884
Tonny’s [San Gabriel Valley]
843 E. Orange Grove Boulevard, Pasadena
626-797-0866
Board Link: Chile Verde
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Tagged with: los angeles area, restaurants and bars, tonny's, mi india bonita, teresita's, rafael's, tacomiendo, chile verde, the talpa, tere's mexican grill, mexican
Chipotle-Lime Crema and Caviar on Chips
“Not a thing crossed my palate … that wasn’t delicious,” says lotta_cox of her first visit to Rivera. “Every single morsel was just so worthy of re-eating. ... I think many people are skeptical of high end Mexican, being that there are so many amazing and amazingly cheap Mexican and Central American options in Los Angeles. However, Rivera could turn the skeptics.”
Start with the snacks menu. Patates xips—potato chips with chipotle-lime crema and caviar—are a solid hit. The crema is made into a sort of mousse, with beautiful, balanced flavors.
When you get to the mains, order the carne churrasco, a little piece of prime beef steak served with superlight onion foam and veggies, or the Tasmanian sea trout, which at its best will be soft pink and slightly translucent in the center. peppermonkey liked the lamb chops, while Babette adored the genuine sopapillas, studded with peppers and orange zest and served with a nice unsalted butter.
To drink, there’s a cooler full of nonstandard sodas with wonderful stuff like Bubble Up. Or the bartender, Julian, will improvise some wild drinks for you. peppermonkey likes his Scottish Maid, which involves scotch and cucumber.
Rivera Restaurant [Downtown]
1050 S. Flower Street #102, Los Angeles
213-749-1460
Board Link: Rivera: Review with pics
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Tagged with: los angeles area, restaurants and bars, rivera, mexican
Tiny, Mighty Spring for Coffee
Spring for Coffee is a tiny, and we mean supertiny, coffee shop downtown that makes superb coffee. “The very nice owner was the nicest barista I have ever met,” says lvgoodfood. “He asked what type of coffee I liked, then he explained a few points about the art of brewing coffee, the different flavors and process, then he went ahead and prepared possibly one of the best coffees I have had in a very long time, using the Chemex process.”
Spring for Coffee stocks coffee from some of the most serious roasters in the local game: Intelligentsia, Equator, and Lamill. Prices are reasonable: $6 for a large carafe, plenty for two large cups of coffee. Various brewing methods are also offered, including a beautiful La Marzocco espresso machine. And to top it all off, there’s Straus Family Creamery milk for your coffee, and Rockenwagner pastries to go with.
Spring for Coffee [Downtown]
548 S. Spring Street, Los Angeles
213-228-0041
Board Link: Spring For Coffee ~ Downtown Los Angeles
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Tagged with: los angeles area, restaurants and bars, spring for coffee, rockenwagner bakery, chemex, la marzocco, straus family creamery, coffee
