Yuko Kitchen ★ 4.4
Yuko Kitchen on Wilshire, Los Angeles is a Japanese counter run by Yuko Sato, serving rice bowls with karaage chicken and onigiri. Lunch only, line forms at 12:00.
Try: Japanese rice bowl
Al & Bea's in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles has wrapped bean and cheese burritos since 1966 from the same walk-up window. Closes by 17:00 daily.
Address: 2025 E 1st St, Los Angeles, CA 90033
Yuko Kitchen on Wilshire, Los Angeles is a Japanese counter run by Yuko Sato, serving rice bowls with karaage chicken and onigiri. Lunch only, line forms at 12:00.
Try: Japanese rice bowl
Chichen Itza inside Mercado La Paloma, Los Angeles plates Yucatecan dishes including the city's reference cochinita pibil. Chef Gilberto Cetina runs the kitchen.
Try: Cochinita pibil panucho
Tortas Ahogadas Ameca in East LA serves the Guadalajara-style drowned pork torta. A birote bun filled with carnitas and submerged in chile sauce.
Try: Drowned pork torta
Noodle ST in Westwood near UCLA, Los Angeles pulls Lanzhou-style hand-pulled noodles to order and serves them in a long-simmered beef broth from an open kitchen.
Try: Lanzhou hand-pulled noodles
Philippe the Original on North Alameda, Los Angeles claims the 1918 invention of the French dip and still serves it on sawdust-floored cafeteria benches.
Try: Original French dip sandwich
Sarita's Pupuseria inside Grand Central Market, Los Angeles griddles Salvadoran pupusas to order from the same family-run counter since 2003. Cash and card.
Try: Salvadoran pupusa with curtido