Restaurants in Boyle Heights
IF YOU KNOW | MAR 9, 2021
Mario Christerna
WHO
Restaurants
WHAT
Boyle Heights
in Los Angeles
WHERE
About
Christerna is a proud Boyle Heights native, community leader, and former MasterChef Latino judge, now the force behind The Paramount, a legendary cultural institution & history-making music venue that serves as anchor to one of Los Angeles’ most heritage-rich neighborhoods, Boyle Heights. As part of a multi-year and multi-dimensional revival of the historic venue, Chef Christerna recently opened Brooklyn Ave. Pizza Co. at The Paramount along Cesar E Chavez Avenue (formerly known as Brooklyn Avenue in an attempt to entice residents from the East to Los Angeles' first suburb in the 1870’s).
The neighborhood spot––created by locals, for locals––offers the community a fun, fresh take on pizza, wings, loaded fries, and cocktails. Inspired by his beloved Chicano heritage and love for melding cultures, Christerna is dishing up everything from a Mole Pizza to Flamin’ Hot Cheetos Wings and Chicano Gravy Fries.
PHOTO BY JAKOB LAYMAN
La Barbacha has the best gorditas in all of LA. Trust me, a lot of people do gorditas, but the gorditas here, the way they do them … I go there at least once a week – at one point I was going there daily!
They also specialize in barbacoa. Now, with barbacoa, how it’s cooked depends on the region of Mexico. When people say ‘Mexican food’, it’s very regional, everyone has their own variation of barbacoa. At La Barbacha, it’s from the region of Hidalgo. They make really good lamb barbacoa, and this really good consomme out of chickpeas. It’s so good it makes me want to slap somebody. I normally go there and get the combo with the garbanzo soup and their handmade tortillas. You gotta go.
PIONEER CHICKEN
904 S Soto Street
Los Angeles, CA
$
Pioneer Chicken has been around a long time – it’s a staple here in Boyle Heights. I feel such a connection to this place, it’s very nostalgic. When I was a kid, my mother would always pick up a fried chicken, coleslaw, corn on the cob, some of those biscuits with honey and she would take us to the beach and we would lay out in the sand and eat this chicken. It has this amazing crispy skin, that’s very particular. I’m a fried chicken junkie, I’ve eaten them all, but this particular place just has this crispy skin! Every time I eat it, it brings back memories of my mother and my childhood.
It’s a little taco stand right down the street from where I grew up. ‘Tacos De Canasta’ are tacos that are made inside of a basket, using paper. They’re nice and soft, they’re kind of unique but they’re so delicious. Tacos El Abuelo, means grandpa’s tacos. The combo comes with all the fixings – my favorites are the tacos chicharron or the tacos de papa (potato tacos), and also beans. You cannot forget their beans!
Boyle Heights makes some really good burgers. This spot has been around for a very long time. My boy Robert is one of the owners there – he has been making some healthier changes to the menu. I get the classic with cheddar cheese … and always grilled onions. Always ask for ranch, because they make their own ranch in-house and I like to dip my fries in it. They also have this spicy ketchup that I put on the burger, and when you bite into it, it just works.
OTOMISAN
2506 1/2 E 1st Street
Los Angeles, CA
$$
This is one of the oldest Japanese restaurants in LA, as far as I’ve done my homework. I’ve been going there for so long. It’s like a 12 x 14 ft restaurant and they make the best spicy tuna rolls … they have good nigiri. Mama owns it, I don’t know her real name, but I call her Mama because I’ve been going there since I was a kid. It’s super old-school, delicious and has great hospitality. They’ve been doing take-out during the pandemic, so I’ve been ordering from there as much as I can.
THE CHURRO LADY
918 S Lorena Street
Los Angeles, CA
$
These are my favorite churros … I’ve had churros in Spain ... I’ve had them in Mexico ... I’ve had them all over LA ... but I’ve been going to The Churro Lady for 28 years now. She’s normally there after 3:00 PM, rain or shine. She has this fabricated wheel that drops the paté a choux (churro dough) into the fryer. I don’t know what she puts in them, but she has nailed the whole soft on the inside, crunchy on the outside thing, and has nailed her sugar mixture. She also does platanos: plantains that are ready-to-go, super soft, which she fries and then adds la lechera, which is a condensed milk that is SO nostalgic.
It’s been around since the 1980s and there’s a line every time. It’s that good. My go-to is their cold macaroni salad – it’s super creamy and they serve it with a short rib teriyaki. It’s kind of a Thai-Korean fusion, but it works. They also make their own house salad and they do a great pad thai.
MARISCOS TOLIN
2960 E 8th Street
Los Angeles
$$
This is my go-to seafood spot. He does really cool blood clams, tostadas and papa de mula in cocktails. He also does a mixed tostada with shrimp, crab and octopus and it has these little secret sauces. It’s just delicious.
I’ve been eating here since before I was born – when I was in utero! When my mother was pregnant, she would always crave their pineapple empanadas and these other pastries, called ferrocaril. She was eating one of their empanadas when she started getting contractions. True story!
They also make really great bolillos, tamales (honestly some of the best tamales I’ve had in LA), and during the holidays a really good Rosca de Reyes, which is a bread that symbolises a king’s crown. Traditionally, you hide a baby Jesus inside, and whoever gets the baby Jesus has to buy tamales for everyone the next year, or host a party.
LA LUPITA
2211 E Cesar E Chavez Avenue
Los Angeles, CA
$$
Lupita is a cute way of saying Guadalupe. I eat here every day that it’s open. It’s my number one! They do lengua, al pastor, asada, with the charcoal. They confit the potatoes in the fat that the meat is cooked in. Then, they have all the fixings: cucumbers with salsa verde, a bunch of different types of sauces: red sauce, green sauce, chipotle, pickled onions, beans. The flavor there is … they have just nailed it! Nailed it! It really is my happy place.
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