Refreshing agua fresca
(Credit: Shane Redsar)
Olvera Street—with its verve and grandeur—is hardly the end all and be all of the city’s most authentic Mexican cuisine. Not to say that Cielito Lindo doesn’t crank out some damned good taquitos, but the street does have a Disneyland-kinda vibe to it. For the best food-court in the city, head to the eastern edge of Boyle Heights. A row of painted mariachis stand guard along the top façade of El Mercado de Los Angeles, a three-story marketplace so central and dear to the Chicano community, it’s commonly referred to by the diminutive El Mercadito.
The market is stocked with wondrous sundries: from food stuff (beans, rice, chorizo, dried grasshoppers) and apparel (handmade belts, woven bags, cowboy hats) to unexpected provisions including rough-hewn brooms and dustpans, noisemakers and even girdles. Looking for a tortilla press or a molinillo, that wooden thingamajigger that foams up hot chocolate real pretty? You’d definitely find it here—in a pile somewhere. But the food is where it’s at; and the mercadito has plenty of it.
Strolling through the first level of the mall we instantly got swept up with the bustle of barkers, food vendors and families relaxing on a Saturday outing. The air was filled with the intense aromas of steaming, frying, grilling. Buskers with guitars in tow roamed the plaza, ready to belt out a tune to whoever would listen.
Thirsty? We hit up one of the jugos stands for a quick refresh with jamaica or horchata. Orange Julius has got nothing on Julias Antojitos Jugos y Bionicos which serves a variety of fresh and tasty beverages along with a few appetizers.
Mariscos el Gallito specializes in authentic seafood dishes. So we ordered the mojarra frita: a whole tilapia, deep-fried and served on a bed of rice and vegetables. The seasoned crackling skin broke away to reveal the steaming, flaky, moist flesh—delicious.
For sweets: there was a plethora of choices from candy sold farmers’ market-style in bins and along open displays to bakeries doling out hot and fresh pan dulce. Lily’s Panaderia y Pasteleria is a good choice for picking up a sweet roll or two. They also take cake orders for special occasions.
All the action really happens on the third floor where two large restaurants, El Torasco and La Perla, literally face off. (The seeming rivals are in fact affiliated with each other with a third patio area that opens for Sunday brunch only). The day we visited, the restaurants "battled" it out with the fierceness of a Hatfield-McCoy grudge match—not with food alone but with a spectacle of dueling mariachi bands. It was a beautiful study in chaos theory as blaring trumpets and wailing singers unleashed at full, cacophonous volume. We’d be hard-pressed to determine a clear winner in the music portion of this "competition," but La Perla whipped up a mean poblano enchilada, and the tamarind salsa was truly amazing.
The Indiana Street Gold Line station is being built across the way as we speak—that means the three-stories of jamaica, fried mojarra and mariachis are just a hop, skip and four stops away from downtown. El Mercadito, here we come—next time on a Sunday for which, we were told, three mariachi bands duke it out.
