L.A. Street Food

POSEIDON TOSTADA AT MARISCOS JALISCO
3040 E. Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles.
Mariscos Jalisco is one of the best Mexican seafood trucks in L.A., and while it is best known for fried shrimp tacos smothered in salsa, I’m even more partial to something called the Poseidon, a tostada heaped with ceviche, spicy shrimp aguachile, avocado and slices of poached octopus. The ocean on a plate, basically.

DOUBLE CHEESEBURGER AT BILL’S BURGERS
14742 Oxnard St., Van Nuys.
One of the most honest burgers in the city is at this roadside shack in industrial Van Nuys. There’s a 90-year-old man flipping burger patties on a cast iron griddle that’s older than him. You grab a stool and a bag of potato chips — they don’t serve fries — and hand over your cash. It’s the quintessential California burger, like what you’d imagine In-N-Out was when it first opened.

MIXED BOX AT SAKAE SUSHI
1601 W. Redondo Beach Blvd., Suite 112, Gardena.
This family-run shop in Gardena specializes in Japanese gift boxes filled with sushi, and they’ve been doing it since 1962. Instead of raw fish, they fill seasoned rice with things like shiitake mushrooms, spinach, fried tofu skin and pickled mackerel. The beautiful paper-wrapped packages end up resembling a box of chocolates but better.

SURF ’N’ TURF PO’ BOY AT THE LITTLE JEWEL OF NEW ORLEANS
207 Ord St., Los Angeles.
I was lucky enough to live in Chinatown when this New Orleans-style deli opened a year or two ago. Their po’ boys are absolutely gigantic and just as decadent as the ones you’ll find in Louisiana. If you’re feeling flush, go for the fried shrimp and hot roast beef combo, which comes drizzled with spicy cajun remoulade.

JADE NOODLES AT SAPP COFFEE SHOP
5183 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles.
Sapp in Thai Town is less a coffee shop and more a homey Thai diner, a place where you can swing by for a bowl of noodles and strong iced coffee. Their legendary jade noodles (tinted green by adding spinach in the dough) are topped with barbecued pork, crushed peanuts, dried chiles, cilantro and a spoonful of sugar. It makes for a fantastic breakfast.

CHICKEN SHAWARMA LAFFA AT TA-EEM GRILL
7422 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles.
This is the spot for mouth-watering Israeli food: shaved chicken shawarma, silky hummus, chopped salad and hot sauce wrapped in hot-from-the-oven flatbread called laffa. The guy at the counter stuffs your sandwich with whatever toppings you want, and there’s a lot to choose from. Mine usually ends up thicker than a super burrito.

LONGGANISA RICE BOWL AT RICEBAR
419 W. 7th St., Los Angeles.
A former fine dining chef opened this lunch counter downtown that serves killer Filipino rice bowls — the whole space is basically a cramped kitchen and a few chairs, but they somehow make magic happen. Try the longganisa, a sweet-spicy grilled sausage, with a side of garlic rice and tart pickled veggies.

AL PASTOR TACOS AT TACOS TAMIX
W. Pico Blvd. and S. Tremaine Ave., Los Angeles.
My favorite street food to eat in L.A., hands down, is tacos al pastor. The best places serve it sliced from a huge rotating spit called a trompo, which you can see and smell from your car window as you’re driving down the street. At Tacos Tamix near Mid-City, the pork is crispy and well-marinated, the salsa is fiery, and the tacos cost just $1.25 each. It’s heaven.

SMOKED SALMON BIALY AT GJUSTA BAKERY
320 Sunset Ave., Venice.
If you don’t mind braving the crowds, Gjusta in Venice is a veritable deli wonderland. Their fresh baked bialys — essentially bagels without the hole — are good on their own, but even better sandwiched with smoked pastrami salmon, scallion yogurt, capers, radishes, pickles and a few other crunchy items. The whole thing almost feels healthy.

BREAKFAST BURRITO AT COFAX
404 N. Fairfax Ave., Los Angeles.
There are too many good breakfast burritos in L.A. to count, but my favorite is from Cofax, a coffee shop on Fairfax that happens to sell top-notch doughnuts, too. Their chorizo-and-egg burrito with smoked potatoes is ridiculous, especially if you add avocado. The secret is onions and tortilla chips sautéed in with the eggs.

IRA GLASS SANDWICH AT WAX PAPER
2902 Knox Ave., Los Angeles.
Never underestimate the power of a good veggie sandwich. This semi-hidden sandwich joint near the L.A. River somehow turns sharp cheddar, avocado, sprouts, cucumber, pickled onions, garlic mayo and two slices of poppy seed bread into a mind-blowing combination. And they name all of their sandwiches after NPR hosts, which is hilarious.