La Carreta Chorreada

Tacos Los Angeles

Chorreadas are basically vampiros with benefits.

Historically, restaurants and street food vendors situated south of the 105 freeway and east of the 110 freeway don’t get a whole lot of coverage from local writers, but that’s changing thanks to efforts from writers like Bill Esparza and websites like L.A. Taco. I learned about La Carreta from Esparza in Los Angeles magazine. By the time I got the opportunity to visit the Sinaloa-style carne asada vendor, “Los Mazatlecos” moved from Compton to Bellflower, where José Morales and son José now operate inside Sinaloa Fish Market on Sundays from 1-7 p.m. This family-run side hustle draws bigger crowds for their mesquite grilled, cleaver-hacked beef tacos than the market does for fish, with good reason.

Morales assembles tacos to order from behind a branded cart that parks inside the market. Anything they serve on a corn tortilla is worth the drive, starting with a taco topped with minced cabbage, minced red onion, and a salsa rojo slurry. I’m also a believer in their vampiros, crispy tostadas topped with melted mozzarella and similar accompaniments. Still, it’s their chorreadas that take matters over the top, adding a layer of molten lard between cheese and meat.

La Carreta also sells fully loaded quesadillas and papas locas, mashed potato mountains topped with carne asada.

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Joshua Lurie

Joshua Lurie founded FoodGPS in 2005. Read about him here.

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