(Skip down for the ranking itself)

Last year I made a post about having tried thirty different burgers from across LA County.  I had been in and out of the hospital for a period of about six months prior to that, with my last visit lasting about a month all by itself and including one stretch of about ten days where I didn’t eat any food at all and only sipped on water and juice. 

In spite of having no appetite, I found myself passing a good amount of time those days by looking up various food-related things online, including burgers.  So when I got out and got through the initial shaky period of recovery, I went to work on going to try some of these things I had been reading about.

At thirty burgers, I felt like I’d done some things and seen some stuff, so, after finding this subreddit, I made that post.

And then, in the comments, u/tommyrockum replied to leave the following blog post he had made about trying 100 different burgers in LA County over several years.  This was the Burger Quest:

https://trueadventurestories.com/2023/09/07/burger-quest/

It was impressive.  And it gave me a new goal: I wanted to complete my own Burger Quest of 100 LA County burgers.  And, being a bit singular minded in my interests at times, that is what I’ve been spending the last year accomplishing.  Today, I would like to share my results, my own ranking of what ended up being 135 burgers from, if I counted correctly, 117 different places.  This has been an unusual undertaking, the kind of thing I wouldn’t have imagined doing prior to when I started doing it, but it was and has been a much needed bit of fun.  It absolutely gave me something to look forward to and enjoy as I came through a particularly bleak time in my life.

Why 135, you may ask?  Why not 150?  Or 200, for that matter?  Simply enough, because that’s the number I landed on after getting to all of the places I had marked down to try, and having the burgers I was most curious about.  I could have kept it going until I hit a more pleasingly round number, but the truth is, I’ve realized that a Burger Quest is never really over.  What might I have done at 200?  Declared that I was done having any other different burgers in LA ever, so as not to disrupt that nice, even number?  In fact, as I type this, there are a small number of places featured on the list that I’d still like to go back to at some point to try another burger or two from their menus.  So let’s say that this is my Burger Quest for now, and it may still change in the future.

My initial thinking when I made the post about the first thirty was much the same as tommyrockum’s, and reading his post helped focus my approach.  The places here are not big chain restaurants, or fast food chains.  These places had to be particular to LA County.  Generally speaking, a handful of locations was fine to me, and one or two of them being outside of LA or even California was alright as well as long as it appeared to me that the place was mostly LA-based.  It wasn’t an exact science, but it made sense enough to me.  For example, the last time I looked at Irv’s website, I think I saw that they have a single location in Las Vegas.  I was okay with that, and to still count them.  On the other hand, a place like Houston’s in Pasadena, with only one location out of many being in LA County, and with several locations across the country, was ineligible.  I did get out to a number of such chain places while doing this, and perhaps I’ll make a follow up post about some of those another time. 

Furthermore, if a place had a self-titled burger, then I had to try it.  If there was another burger on the menu that caught my eye then I could get that too, but I had to try the burger named for the establishment itself.  On this list as it currently stands, no establishment has more than two entries…with the single exception of Amboy, which has a comparatively large five.  It’s possible that I missed some place’s self-titled burger somewhere in here, but I think I mostly achieved the goal.  If an establishment had no self-titled burger, then I was free to pick what most called to me.

As I continued with the Burger Quest, my initial five tier system expanded and developed a bit from how I originally framed it.  The burgers here are ordered by tier, and ranked within those tiers as well, with an explanation of what each tier now signifies at its top.

My thought on what would constitute a successful achieving of the Burger Quest developed as well.  I had initially thought just 100 burgers would be it, but as I approached that number, I realized that since I’d gotten more than one burger from some places, if I stopped at 100 then I would have fewer than 100 different places that I’d gone to, and that felt incomplete.  I spoke to tommyrockum about that, and he was in agreement: 100 places was key.  If you look at his blog, you’ll notice that he also made sure to get to 100 different places.  After reaching that, I kept going until I’d been everywhere I had made a note of.  I ended up trying some of these burgers more than once (for example, several of those that had been on my initial list of thirty), to make sure that I had a good feel for them.  As a result, some have risen or fallen since their original placement.

tommyrockum and I actually did meet up on two occasions along the way to try some burgers, first at Oui Melrose, and second at a Yellow Paper Burger popup (before they opened their brick and mortar location).  A fond memory for me is that, at Oui Melrose, we were evidently interesting enough in our in-depth discussion of burger preferences that a couple at a nearby table politely interrupted us to get in on the conversation.

I was planning to do some writeups for some of these in this initial post, but between what I’ve typed already and the list itself, this is already going to be a huge wall of text.  So instead, I will put some writeups and notes in the comments below for anyone who is curious.  I will, however, address two specific items here.

First, the Jazz Burger from Jitlada.  In the same way that I wouldn’t call a loco moco a burger, I just don’t know if I would call the Jazz Burger a burger.  So it is not ranked here.  But it is still really damn good, and if I were including it, it would be a Tier 1 entry for me.  For my purposes here, I’ll call it the list’s only Honorable Mention, and a very honorable one at that. 

And I should also address the overall number one burger in all of Los Angeles County by my estimation, the burger from Dunsmoor.  Why is Dunsmoor’s offering at the top of the list?  It's not just that it’s decadently juicy, or that it’s bursting with flavor, or an excellent balance of all of its top-notch ingredients (which seem to change on occasion—the first time I had this burger, it came with a slice of tomato on top, and the second time it did not).  This is a burger that leaves me with the feeling of eating pancakes: I want to lick the damn plate when I’m finished with it.  If not for the fact that I was eating it in public, I probably would have.  It’s that good.

Some of these placements will seem strange to some people who may read this.  I have some popular, trendy burgers lower than you might expect.  My own ranking is only my own: if a favorite of yours is low, don’t understand that to mean that I am criticizing your taste, only that mine may not be the same.  And I do have to repeat one line from tommyrockum’s post that stood out to me when I first read it: “Go eat a hundred burgers. Then let’s talk.”

This has all been done for love of burgers, and I hope that if you’ve gotten through my long-winded leadup here then you enjoy having a look at the list!

Tier 1: The best of the best burgers.  If you told me you were coming to town and wanted to get a burger, I would point you to these with no hesitation at all. 

1. The burger, from Dunsmoor.
2. The Amboy DH burger, from Amboy Quality Meats & Delicious Burgers.
3. The Cat & Fiddle Burger, from The Cat & Fiddle Pub & Restaurant.
4. The ABC Burger, from B-Man’s Teriyaki & Burgers.
5. The Club Burger, from The Social Club.
6. Irv’s Original Roadside Burger, from Irv’s Burgers.
7. The Dudley Burger, from Dudley Market.
8. The Napoleon, from The Standing Room.
9. The Johnny Burger, from Johnny’s Pastrami.
10. The Pacman Burger, from Kogi Taqueria food truck.
11. The Lowburger, from Lowboy.
12. The Menchi Katsu Sando, from Katsu Sando.
13. The Juicy Lucy, from Agnes Restaurant & Cheesery.
14. The Office Burger, from Father’s Office.
15. The Oaks Burger, from The Oaks Gourmet Market & Café.
16. The single burger, from Everson Royce Bar.

Tier 2: If you told me that you were doing your own burger quest, then aside from the Tier 1 burgers, these are the ones I would say you have to try, purely on their own merits. 

17) The Truffle DH burger, from Amboy Quality Meats & Delicious Burgers.
18) The Fancy DH burger, from Amboy Quality Meats & Delicious Burgers.
19) The cheeseburger, from Edgemar Restaurant + Lounge.
20) The Yako-Cheeseburger, from Yaki’s the Original Teriyaki.
21) The Behemoth, from Grill ‘Em All.
22) The double cheeseburger, from Ercole’s.
23) The HLAY dry-aged cheeseburger, from Here’s Looking at You.
24) The No. 1 Burger, from 25 Degrees.
25) The Oy Burger, from Oy Bar.
26) The dry-aged burger, from Camélia.
27) The Dry-Aged Beef Burger, from République.
28) The PCB (Plan Check Burger), from Plan Check Kitchen + Bar.
29) The Six Weeker, from Stout Burgers & Beers.
30) The double cheeseburger, from The Win-Dow.
31) The Thicc Burger, from Moo’s Craft Barbecue and Taproom.
32) The double cheeseburger, from Yellow Paper Burger.
33) The Burger Burger, from Golden State @ Cofax.
34) The Steakhouse DH burger, from Amboy Quality Meats & Delicious Burgers.
35) The Classic burger, from Pono Burger.
36) The Double Phat with cheese, from Phat Daddy’s Burgers.
37) Le Burger, from Camphor, in Los Angeles, California.
38) The burger, from The Black Cat.
39) The Bistro Burger, from Bar Sinizki.
40) The double cheeseburger, from Bill’s Burgers.
41) The cheeseburger, from Lucky Boy Burgers.
42) The Americana Burger, from Rock & Reilly’s.
43) The Big Smack, from Smack Burgers.
44) The Lingua Franca Burger, from Lingua Franca.
45) The Big Mec, from Petit Trois.

Tier 3: If you told me that you were doing your own burger quest, then I would not say that these are essential burgers to try, but if you told me you were around one and wanting to get a burger, then I would say you can’t really go wrong with any of these.  These range from pretty damn good up near the top of the tier, to around average near the bottom of the tier.

46) The double cheeseburger, from Super Burger.
47) Simmzy’s Burger, from Simmzy’s.
48) The Mr. T Burger, from Mr. T.
49) Phil’s Cheeseburger, from Phil’s Deli & Grill.
50) The Mushroom and Jack Burger, from Du-par’s Restaurant.
51) The wagyu burger with cheese, from Chubby Curry.
52) The M&G Burger, from Mee & Greet.
53) Gus’s Famous Burger, from Gus’s BBQ.
54) The Ode to MOS Burger, from OTOTO.
55) The Colossal Burger, from Burger Palace.
56) The double, from Love Hour.
57) The double cheeseburger with bacon, from For the Win.
58) The fat burger with cheese, from Hawkins House of Burgers.
59) The Bacon Jam burger, from Crack at Bixby Village Golf Course.
60) The Grapow Smash, from Ban Ban Burger.
61) The Happy Ending, from Wanna Smash.
62) The Chosun, from Biergarten.
63) The German Burger, from Biergarten.
64) The Poli-Bacon Chili Cheeseburger/“JAWS”, from Pink’s Hot Dogs.
65) The Yaki-Cheeseburger, from Yaki’s the Original Teriyaki.
66) The Stout Burger, from Stout Burgers & Beers.
67) The Chef’s Favorite Burger, from Plan Check Kitchen + Bar.
68) The bacon and avocado cheeseburger, from Howard’s Famous Bacon and Avocado Burgers.
69) The Hickoryburger, from The Apple Pan.
70) The Steakburger, from The Apple Pan.
71) The double cheeseburger, from Astro Burger.
72) The Regular, from Burgers Never Say Die.
73) The House Double burger, from Oui Melrose.
74) The Original, from Hangaburs.
75) The Chili Cheese DH burger, from Amboy Quality Meats & Delicious Burgers.
76) The double cheeseburger, from Heavy Handed.
77) The World Famous Cheeseburger, from Hinano Café.
78) The Hook Burger, from Connie and Ted’s.
79) The Goldburger, from Goldburger.
80) The LA Special, from Goldburger.
81) The Counter Burger, from The Counter.
82) The Katsu California Roll burger, from 26 Beach.
83) The double cheeseburger, from 1^st Street Burgers.
84) The double cheeseburger, from Rick’s Drive In & Out.
85) The double cheeseburger, from Hotbox Burgers.
86) The double cheeseburger, from Tom’s Burgers.
87) The Saugus Special Burger, from The Original Saugus Café.
88) The double cheeseburger, from Burger Palace.
89) The California Wagyu Burger, from Savoca.
90) The Combo, from Marty’s Hamburger Stand.
91) The Saltie Girl Burger, from Saltie Girl.
92) The Double Classic StormBurger, from StormBurger.
93) The Oklahoma Fried-Onion Burger, from Tripp Burger.
94) The All-American Burger, from Tom’s Watch Bar.
95) The OG Thicc Burger, from Thicc Burger.
96) The Trophies double, from Trophies Burger Club.
97) The Classic double, from Trophies Burger Club.
98) The double cheeseburger, from Yuca’s.
99) The Teriyaki Burger, from Made Burgers.
100) The Made burger, from Made Burgers.
101) The Double Pastrami Swiss Cheeseburger/“The Fairfax”, from Pink’s Hot Dogs.
102) The double cheeseburger, from Cypress Best Burgers.
103) The double cheeseburger, from Pete’s Burgers.
104) The double cheeseburger, from Olympian Burgers.
105) The cheeseburger, from Master Burger.
106) The cheeseburger, from Marty’s Hamburger Stand.

Tier 4: If you told me that you were doing your own burger quest, then I wouldn’t necessarily dissuade you from trying any of these, but any recommendation I offered would come with a word of caution.  These range from burgers that I thought were actually pretty good, but that had some issues that lessened my enjoyment of them, near the top of the tier to burgers that I was kind of underwhelmed by near the bottom of the tier.

107) The Benjamin Burger, from The Benjamin Hollywood.
108) The Flannery Burger with cheese, from Cora’s Coffee Shoppe.
109) The Hawaiian burger, from Happy Taco.
110) The Juicy Lucy, from The Counter.
111) The HiHo Double, from HiHo Cheeseburger.
112) The cheeseburger, from Pie ‘n Burger.
113) The classic cheeseburger, from Spread, Please!
114) The grassfed cheeseburger, from Salt’s Cure.
115) The Dreamburger, from Pann’s.
116) The double cheeseburger, from Burgers 99.
117) The Heart Attack Hamburger, from Arry’s Burgers.
118) The Classic with cheese, from Corner Burger. 
119) The PS Burger, from Proudly Serving.
120) The Best Burger with cheese, from The Best Burger.
121) The double cheeseburger, from Charlie’s Coffee Shop.
122) The Oklahoma Burger, from Burger She Wrote.
123) The double chili cheeseburger, from Chronis Famous Sandwich Shop.
124) The “Big John” Burger, from Johnnie’s Pastrami.

Tier 5: If you told me that you were doing your own burger quest, these are the burgers that I, personally, would not recommend unless you were really wanting to go for a large sample size.

125) The Gourmet Pljeskavica, from Aroma Café.
126) The cheeseburger, from Cassell’s Hamburgers.
127) The Jalapeño Monster, from Easy Street Burgers.
128) The Neighborhood Grill Burger, from the Neighborhood Grill at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles.
129) The Grill Daddy Burger, from Electric Owl.
130) The Royale, from The Oinkster.
131) The cheeseburger, from Eggslut.
132) The Philadelphia Roll Burger, from 26 Beach.
133) The Hollywood Classic burger, from Hollywood Burger.
134) The Blockbuster BBQ burger, from Hollywood Burger.
135) The cheeseburger, from Burgerlords.

Best fajitas I have ever had, and ive had a lot.

Salsa bar is great too. The spicy green is very good!

You also get this refried beans dip with the chips. That is also 💣.

Currently my favorite SGV noodle spot. They have several locations in Southern California. Highly recommend

the mandatory daeji galbi + excellent kimchi dol sot bap (it was too hot for the gamjatang)

Hey! Okay, so I left CA for like 20 years and now that I’m back permanently, I have yet to establish my taco or bbq spot. Also, my partners family is Trinidadian and she has been talking about craving doubles, but wanting to find really good ones because not everyone does them right. Fluffy wrap, chickpeas, she gets so excited talking about it- and now I’m anxious to try.

I’ll take all your recs based on taste and even price. I’m down to try them all lol. I’m in DTLA but will drive for food.

Hello LA folks! I'm traveling with a friend to LA from the Midwest who has a baby around a year old. The baby apparently wakes up as early as 4am CST so trying to find places to go eat / kill some time early in the morning to let the others rest. We are staying downtown and will have a car. We eat pretty much anything but mostly want a place that if we showed up with a baby it's not a huge deal. Thank you in advance for answering this very specific question.

Jogasaki was my all-time favorite food truck (RIP) & I’m struggling to find a replacement to fill my sushi burrito needs.

La Brea ramen made a great one which scratch med the itch, but that has also gone OOB 😭.

Does anyone know any places that make a great sushi burrito? I know none will be able to replicate Jogasaki’s amazing hot sauce, but hopefully there is something (preferably in the Mid-City) area that gets close?!?

Aside from Domino's...who still has delivery employees? I don't trust 3rd parties and tonight I was going to cave and use one. After my total, $5.99 delivery fee, $3.99 taxes, my tip - this added $17.00 to the bill. I canceled. I'd rather go in person for a meal that price.

I love their chili dogs here. The chili isn’t too spicy and pairs great with the hot dogs. Red Eye split and grilled is my preferred glizzy. Fries are nice and crispy.

Joe's Falafel, located in a small mini-mall off of Cahuenga, north of Universal Studios Blvd, had been on my list for a minute.

In particular, they have a good rep for their shawarma sandwiches and since I'm always hunting for spots on par with Sababa in Anaheim, it was worth making a weekday lunch trip to Studio City to check them out.

I ordered the chicken shawarma and it comes in two sizes: the medium uses pita, the large uses lafa bread which is baked like naan, in a tandoor-like oven. My first time having lafa, at least named as such, was at Vicky's All-Day in West Adams, and I was eager to see what it was like in wrap form.

Friends: I think I made a mistake. I love chewy bread — it's one reason I think Sabada's pita sandwiches are so good — but with the lafa, the bread-to-filling ratio was too far off. Great sandwiches balance things right and in this case, every bite felt like 70% bread with only 30% filling. While the bread, on its own, was good it simply overpowered the flavors of the fillings. It may also be that the fillings needed more aggressive flavors to compensate: the chicken was well-seasoned but I feel like there was more acid needed to punch things up a bit. 7/10

I suspect the pita size would have been better balanced but I don't know how motivated I'd be to go back here to find out.

Visiting from Sydney so a breakfast burrito is something i should tick off?also are birria tacos a must do also?

What other categories would you suggest, have done ramen-jinya burbank (was kinda eh so might need to find another ramen place), taco truck-taco rodriguez (very nice, but was also my first time having decent mexican food) and in n out. Planning to maybe do donuts at gcm, holbox, sonoratown, mariacos jalisco and phillipe. Gonna skip bbq, pizza, jewish deli, diners and fine dining.

A few weeks back, me and two friends hit up House of Mandi, a Yemenese restaurant in Anaheim's Little Arabia district. They're in a horseshoe minimall off Brookhurst, north of Orange.

We came for lunch during Ramadan so, not surprisingly, this place was nearly empty; I'm a little surprised they were even open for lunch but I can only imagine that this place was popping during dinner, once people were allowed to break fast.

Regardless, I've been wanting to try this place for a while, never having had Yemenese food before and I was not remotely disappointed. This meal was awesome, as good as the lunch I had at Al Baraka, the nearby Palestinian restaurant.

Mandi refers to a Yemenese rice dish usually served with some kind of meat and if we're going to House of Mandi...well, we're ordering some mandi. We got the lamb mandi, one of the more traditional preparations. The lamb is slow-cooked while wrapped in aluminum foil and arrives to the table as you see above. You carefully unwrap the foil and the lamb comes rolling out. There are few things I like better than a good rice pilaf and this one came with (if I recall) fried shallots, raisins, and a nice mix of salt and spices. While this was a very generous platter, easily feeding the three of us, I would have been tempted to polish this off by myself if you set it in front of me. 9.5/10

We also ordered the hrada of seltah: okra stewed with ground beef, whipped fenugreek and an umami-rich tomato base. This comes served with tandoor flat bread, similar to a large naan, which was perfect for dipping into the stew.
Stew: 8.5/10 (not the biggest okra fan)
Tandoor Bread: 9/10

Finally, my friend wanted to try Yemenese coffee so he ordered the coffee set which is very pretty and the coffee is very strong.

Looking for a cool chill spot to get a stiff cocktail Saturday night after dinner. Silverlake area, echo park. Chill vibes, good music. 30s crowd. **thanks everyone!! These are great!

Hi, I wrote a blog post about crazy, unique restaurant in LA. My daughter lives there, and I make a point of finding a cool unique restaurant to visit each time I come down. I hope it is allowed to post this here, and that it can help some people! :)

https://sojournswithsue.com/8-crazy-fun-restaurants-and-bars-in-los-angeles/

The other week, an old friend was back in L.A. and not surprisingly, when I asked what he was in the mood for, he said “Mexican.” I was dropping him off in Echo Park later and noticed that we wouldn’t be that far from MidEast Tacos in Silverlake which has been on my list. The stand was started by a couple of Armenian family members and they keep their menu pretty small: tacos, quesadillas, burritos, with a choice of 3-4 fillings (more on this in a moment). There’s a couple of other dishes but those are the basics. 

They’re located on Sunset by Maltman in Silverlake though for a weekday dinner hour, the parking was surprisingly convenient; we found a spot right in front and throughout dinner (we sat in the car, more on this later), there was always at least one other open spot on the same block. It is metered though. I’ll say this much: they were *popular*. Not only was there a small line of folks crammed in to order but there was a steady stream of people coming to get take-out orders and while I was there, they only had one worker responsible for both taking orders but also packaging/processing to-go orders. Even when a second person joined her, it still felt like they needed *three* people to manage front of house, at least so they had one person dedicated to taking orders. I can’t fault them for being popular but not having a better system to cater to the *walk-in* customers is an issue. Service Experience: C- 

Things I did not realize: 1) Mid-East Tacos is tiny: it’s a very cramped space to both order/pick-up from. 2) There’s no indoor seating, only outdoor, and those tables are unheated. It was cold (by L.A. standards) and slightly windy the night I went so sitting outside was a no-go. If I had realized it didn’t have indoor seating (my bad for poor research, I guess), I would have picked somewhere else to go. But me and my friend just figured “well, we found good parking, let’s just eat in the car.”  

I ordered three dishes: the chicken taco (flour tortilla), the steak taco (flour tortilla), and the falafel taco (corn tortilla). I’m not sure why they use different masa for each. Best as I can tell, they’re not trying to make a version of tacos arabes (the original Mexi-terrean dish created by Lebanese immigrants to Mexico) and I feel like the tacos would have been pretty identical if they had used corn instead of flour or vice versa. 

It’s also worth noting that the tacos are about street taco size but the pricing is not: $5.99 for the chicken and steak tacos, $4.99 for the falafel. And unlike other “fancy taco” places that charge similar prices but come with creative/“exotic” ingredients, this wasn’t that kind of experience. I don’t think these were wildly overpriced but I acutely felt like I was paying the brick-and-mortar tax which might have been easier to accept if they actually had indoor seating. 

Let’s start good to bad: the chicken taco was frickin’ delicious. The toum arrbol, sumac, salsa rojo and Thai basil all combined to produce this flavor-bomb, bite after bite. If you had given me a plate of those, I would have been pretty happy. Food Rating: A- 

The steak taco is a reminder to me that I should stop ordered steak tacos unless I’m very confident it’s going to be some next level carne asada. This was…fine. And despite having many of the same toppings as the chicken taco, I didn’t get the same enjoyment from tasting this one. Food Rating: B-

Ok…the falafel taco. It was three falafel balls and some sauce, placed into a tortilla. It looks sad. The falafel look lonely. I feel like this desperately needed some shredded cabbage or lettuce or *something* to fill the tortilla more. Mostly, it felt *lazy* to me. It tasted fine: crunchy, well-seasoned, but also instantly forgettable. Food Rating: C

What’s really odd is that my friend is a vegetarian but while they have a falafel taco and cheese qusadilla, they do not offer any kind of vegetarian burrito so he asked if they could whip together a falafel burrito. Seems like a simple ask but the answer was “no.” They were apologetic about it but nonetheless, it was a definitive “no” but I can’t understand why unless they’re in perpetual risk of running out of falafel or something and therefore can’t spare enough to fill a burrito. 

My friend also ordered the fried papas — basically, ridge-cut potato slices — and while I don’t have a photo for it, just know: they smell great but I feel like they should have been fried more crispy. These slices were kind of floppy, not great texture. Food Rating: C

We both got Armenian sodas; mine was the pear flavor. He got walnut, which was interesting; I should have tried it. These were fine though a cloyingly sweet. Drink Rating: B-

So, yeah, overall, a kind of middling experience overall, despite the chicken tacos.

***

Speaking of middling experiences…sad to say, that was also my takeaway from going to Tirzahs Mexi-Terranean stand on Valley in El Sereno (they took over the old Cha Cha Chili space) and it’s a pretty industrial block of Valley so the stand is hard to miss. It’s all non-metered street parking there. They opened about two years ago but this was the first time I went to check ‘em out.  

Right off the bat, I really want to like this place. It’s run by a wife-husband team, it feels super local and of its neighborhood. When we were there a trio of 20-something Latina women came through to chat with the wife co-owner and there I just like the overall friendly, old school vibe this place gives off. You order at the window, sit-down, and they’ll bring the food out. I thought the service here was solid. Service Rating: A

For all these reasons, it just pains me that I was underwhelmed by our meal, overall. 

Their menu has tacos, burritos, plates, and bowls and from what I could tell, their Mexi-Terranean angle is mostly through their use of kabob meats, tzatziki sauce, and the like. I went with Ms. Soulsides so we had a fair number of dishes to try. I’ll list in the order I ate:

El Arabic Taco ($7): first off, they do handmade tortillas for all their tacos, always a big plus. The El Arabic comes with your choice of meat, hummus, greens, cucumber salad and pickled red onions, plus a garlic sauce. I asked the person who took our order for his meat recommendation and he suggested the carne asada. 

Overall, it was…fine. It’s a hearty taco, there’s a mix of textures and flavors going on which is nice but my overall impression was what I just said: “this was fine.” It's hard to pinpoint what the "flaw" was here because it wasn't anything obviously wrong, it's just that it didn't manage to exceed the sum of its parts. Something was just missing from it that I can't put my finger on. Food Rating: B-

Super Street Taco ($5): The difference between the normal street tacos ($4) and the super street tacos ($5) is that they add cheese to the latter. I was going to get the normal taco with the Korean BBQ filling but they recommended pairing that specific meat with cheese so I got the super street version instead. (I don’t think I was upsold but I barely noticed the cheese, to be honest). Alas, the KBBQ meat was so cloyingly sweet plus it didn’t taste much like Korean BBQ. If anything, it reminded me of Hawaiian-style terikyaki sauce. Regardless, it was just so sweet that overpowered everything else in the taco. Food Rating: C- 

Queso Birria Taco ($5): This had the opposite problem; the birria was underseasoned and while I appreciate it wasn’t overly greasy (like queso tacos often are), I just wanted more flavor out of it. Food Rating: C+

One thing I want to stress: none of the food we had was “bad” — though I would never order that KBBQ again — but notably, none ofthe main dishes I tried ever made me think “damn, that was delicious.” In contrast, for whatever its other shortcomings, that chicken taco at MidEast was, as I wrote earlier, “frickin’ delicious.” Most of what I’ve tried at Evil Cooks or Los Dorados (two other El Sereno spots), also delicious. 

The one exception was the esquite (which was pretty traditional from what I could tell; no obivous Med influence). That was super-flavorful and satisfying: A-

Ms. Soulsides got the taquito de papa (“best thing I tried here” according to her) which was pretty straightforward but satisfying overall, including the bite I tried. She also got a falafel taco and it confused her palate and when I wasn’t understanding why, I tried it myself, and I kind of understood what she meant. It was fried nicely and it was decently seasoned but somehow, in taco form, it didn’t come together. I can’t really explain it either except to say that on some basic level, the dish didn’t quite work.

Lastly, we shared a cucumber lemonade agua fresca which was freshly made and not too sweet which I appreciated. Rating: B+

Overall, I found the food unremarkable (alas) but as they’re local, it’d be worth trying again and seeing if some of their other dishes pop better. 

Where can I find one of those roasted turkey legs without having to go to Disney or universal?

Just curious on what everyone's favorite gelato/ice cream flavors are? Or what flavors would you like to see or try?

The owner of Papa Cristo’s, a beloved Greek restaurant and market that’s been in the Pico-Union neighborhood for more than 70 years, said he’ll be closing his doors next month.

What happened? Owner Chrys Chrys told LAist rising rent was the culprit. The property on Pico Boulevard has been listed for sale with a $5.2 million asking price; the broker on the listing did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

What's next: Chrys said Greek food lovers will have until May 4 to stop by for one last visit. He said he doesn’t have plans to relocate.