La Unica, Birria Tacos specialist

Olympic x Soto, slightly east.

8am-3pm, Closed Tuesday’s.

Things to know:

-Birria is the speciality here, both goat and beef.
-Owner is not from Guadalajara but Michoacán. I really don’t know the difference between the 2 areas when it comes to birria.
-Tacos are $2.50.
-Tortillas are handmade.
-Tacos can be enjoyed 2 ways:
Quesatacos. These are with cheese melted on the tortilla.
Dorados. Slightly crispy.
-Consommé is free but with meats it is extra. Be sure to squirt some limes in.
-Salsa. All handmade with 6 different ones. 4 of them pair well with the Birria

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The owner, Mr Mendoza is warm and friendly and if you never had this before will gladly explain the menu and the food.

Speaking of food…


Free Consommé. Warm tomato/Birria broth. Really good with some limes. I like alternating between this and the tacos. Could even drop a small spoonful of the Consommé on the tacos.

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Got 4 quesatacos, 2 goat and 2 beef. Each taco has one of the 4 salsas. Wonderful. Juicy meat, the gooey cheese, the lime, the salsa, handmade tortilla, all come together beautifully, then chase it with some Consommé.


Tried the dorados, good but IMO the quesatacos here are where it’s at.

IMO if you are not doing a speciality with handmade tortillas you are not competitive. Don’t get me wrong I like the generalists now and then.

La Unica is new and only a few months old but is already making a name for themselves with the locals in Boyle Heights.

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Great report! These look awesome, thanks for sharing. I’ll have to check this out sometime soon; love seeing that giant jug of salsa de aceite, one of my favorite styles.

Have you been to any of the South LA birria de res specialists (birrieria gonzalez, teddy’s red tacos, etc)? And if so, how do you think these compare?

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Thanks for reading.

I have not tried any of the South LA Birria specialists. I am sure they are solid because outside of Boyle Heights/East LA, South LA is where it’s at for Mexican street food, so many nameless food carts and stands.

Can’t wait for you to try this place!

Yes salsa aceite is so good and very rare to find at street trucks/stands and even restaurants. Curious what do you like with aceite besides Birria?

There’s a truck up in Sylmar called Mi Ranchito that makes a phenomenal salsa de aceite, which is where I first encountered it. Otherwise I’d say it’s a slightly above average truck, good handmade tortillas and nice asada.

The Chori-Man also has salsa de aceite to add to breakfast burritos, which is a great combo. At home I tend to throw it on pretty much everything, though I particularly like it with potatoes.

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Still crushing it! They have gotten more popular and rightfully so! Just perfect quesatacos with salsa aciete and some consommé with lime.

Why does Teddy Reds get all the foodie media coverage???

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Because Chrissy Teigen.

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da bomb

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Salsa De Aciete and Chinese Chilli Oil are food brothers from different mother

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You rang?

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The Tiegan is out there.

John_Legend: Wassup?

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You take really good Taco photos @JeetKuneBao . Mine kinda’ suck. I need much more practice.

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Mikey Chen has a new show on Amazon Prime, View and Chew featuring La Unica. They were also featured on KTLA5 and Infatuation list.

Come early, put some extra salsa aceite in those quesatacos for me

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Even before all that recognition, they already had huge lines daily. We ain’t never gonna get our hands on those birria tacos again…