Foodies may gush about their favorite Beluga caviar mousse or truffle consomme, but when the subject turns to more down-to-earth cravings, inevitably people will start reminiscing about their favorite street foods--juicy ballpark franks or sticks of garlicky satay lifted from a charcoal brazier in Bangkok.
Whether in Singapore or Mexico City, street chefs cater to everyone from cabbies to Armani-suited businessmen, and their regulars cherish dishes that have taken lifetimes to perfect.
In the past decade, Los Angeles has inherited wonderful street-food cooks from just about everywhere. They've moved their woks, tandoors and comals into mini-malls and shopping centers; their menus are often written only in Mandarin, Hindi or Spanish. While their livelihoods depend on satisfying the longings of homesick compatriots, they are also appeasing the culinary wanderlust of the rest of us. So much is out there, it would be impossible to cover it all here. We've left out our favorite taco stands, Asian noodle joints and falafel places, but we did so to flaunt some of L.A.'s less-familiar street snacks.
MEXICO
With Los Angeles' upsurge of authentic Mexican eating places, tortas , cocteles de mariscos , jugos , licuados , paletas and raspadas are everywhere. For the uninitiated, these terms translate to sandwiches, seafood cocktails, fresh fruit juices, frothy fruit-and-milk shakes, frozen fruit bars and snow cones.
The heart of Mexico's street-side eating is still antojitos , or "little whims," that include tacos and other corn-based snack foods. Antojitos come filled or topped with a traditional gamut of meat cuts unavailable as yet at Taco Bell, from the simplest grilled beef carne asada to the more exotic braised lengua (tongue) and sesos (brains). Wading through L.A.'s sea of mediocre antojito places taxes the digestion; finding these was a revelation.
At the epicenter of the expanding Latino community, El Gallo Giro ( 7136 Pacific Blvd., Huntington Park, (213) 585-4433, also in San Gabriel, Santa Ana and Los Angeles ) is antojito heaven. Everything at this huge, stylish, white-tiled emporium is made from scratch in an immense open kitchen, but the Central Mexican-style quesadillas are what draw me back. A cook pats out a thin round of corn dough as you choose from the various fillings (perhaps a tinga of braised beef that blares with the heat of chipotle chiles or the milder shredded beef machaca ) . Then the turnover is closed, deep-fried and topped with shredded lettuce and rich crema Mexicana.
Rigo's ( 13662 Oxnard St., Van Nuys, (818) 787-2899; also in North Hollywood, Los Angeles and Canoga Park ), a taqueria renowned for outstanding gorditas, eschews tough, pre-made gordita shells. The cooks at Rigo's fashion each shell to order, and the rim on each twice-fried corn patty makes it look like a mini pie pan. Next they layer in their own creamy homemade beans, your chosen meat and a little tower of salad, capping it all with another gordita shell.
Based on seafood cooked in its own light broth, true Mexican-style seafood cocktails are rather like gazpacho. Into this chilled soup go avocado chunks, fresh tomato salsa and sometimes a touch of catsup; you can crank up the heat with hot chile sauce. A great broth and very fresh seafood, requisites rarely attained at many marisquerias (seafood eateries), are what make the cocteles so fine at La Playita ( 3306 Lincoln Blvd., Santa Monica, (310) 452-0090 ). A converted burger stand in Santa Monica, La Playita always has a line in front of the orders window. The excellent Mariscos Sinaloa ( 1901 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, (213) 413-7840 ), a former fast-food place now painted an intense ocean blue, serves a more baroque cocktail, the compechana , a mix of shrimp and other seafood crowned with a fresh oyster.
If Patina served \o7 tortas\f7 , they would taste like the ones from Super Tortas \o7 (360 S. Alvarado 6, Los Angeles, (213) 413-7953; also in Sun Valley)\f7 . Super Tortas' patrician sandwiches are light years away from the usual soggy versions requiring a knife and fork. Grilled meats for these tortas, among them lean beef rib-eye and shredded breast of chicken, top a firm, toasted bun with a garnish of ripe avocado.
What sets good \o7 paletas \f7 apart from ordinary Popsicles are the luscious tropical fruit flavors and, in some, the fruit pulp. The range of flavors is huge, including guava, mango, coconut and \o7 jamaica \f7 (hibiscus flower). For \o7 paletas de leche\f7 , fruits or flavorings are blended with milk. In some neighborhoods, \o7 paleta \f7 vendors sell their wares from bicycle-driven carts. Many procure their \o7 paleta \f7 supply at El Paraiso \o7 (515 N. Mednik Ave., Los Angeles, (213) 263-0748)\f7 , a shop also open to the public.
