That must be the lechon they serve just to the side of Chichen Itza? I was not sure if it was the same vendor. Looked great but I was full of Holbox.
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Yeah exactly, itās pretty good stuff.
Gosh, Holbox is good isnāt it? I donāt think the lechon is necessarily on Holboxās level, but itās about a quarter of the price!
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If anyone goes to the mercado paloma on the weekends also try the menudo at the vendor next door to chichen itza, itās the best version Iāve had in Los Angeles spicy soup, with chewy but tender tripe, sprinkle on chilis, oregano, and raw onions, and dip with their charred house made tortillas. Always do the bang bang with holbox and have even done a triple bang that included a lechon taco (put holboxās salsas on the taco it tastes better)!
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Finally had a chance to try the Sunday lechon at Chichen Itza in taco and torta form. Thought it was good not great. The pork itself was tender and juicy, and the chicharron a nice touch, but there were no little bits of crispy skin like I was hoping. I prefer their marinated meats, particularly the mesquite-grilled pollo asado @Alkiegourmand mentioned in the OP.
Hereās the torta:
And the tacos:
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thinking we might combine lunch at chichen itza with the obligatory visit to the natural history museum with the kids when weāre in l.a next month. iām trying to figure out if there is something on their menu that our kids with their particular, unpredictable preferences might be willing to eat. so, iām hoping someone might be able to give me a description of their pollo asado, bistec a la yucateca and tikin-xic.
There are lots of kids who enjoy Chichen Itza. The Tacos are great and Yucatecan Food is not inherently spicy, you add spice as a garnish. So Tacos de Cochinita Pibil or Chicken are very flavorful, but mild. Also, the benefit of being in the center is you can get any from a Burger to Pad Thai to a Oaxacan Pizza there. Actually my neighbors kid favorite dish at the Mercado is the Shrimp Torta at Holbox.
āDommy!
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ah right, iād forgotten that they were in a larger center. our kids actually eat spicy food (we cook indian and korean at home). so itās not spicy food per se thatās a problem but that one or the other might turn his nose up at something theyāve not tasted before. at regular mexican places they happily eat milanesa and carne asada with rice and tortillas. anyway, we will give the pollo asado a shot and see if we need to fall back on chicken satay from the thai place.
I think they will enjoy the chicharron tacos, I know I sure do!
Also the poc chuc torta is something to consider, grilled pork on a nice bread, and their oddly addictive potato salad.
Their pollo asado is my favorite thing there. Itās adobo marinated, so like @Dommy said, itās flavorful but mild. One of the best in the city imo.
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My teenage daughter currently has adolescent tastes in general. I donāt think thereās one item on the Chichen Itza menu that weāve ordered that she didnāt at least find good. On our last visit (six weeks ago?), they had a grilled vegetable dish on the menu. She ranks vegetables almost a low as the plague. But the grilling, seasoning and salsa were so well done that she actually liked that too.
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My one and only complaint about Chichen Itza is that it is impossible to get them to give you the grilled habanero salsa when you order food from UberEATS. Not a huge complaint, but mildly annoying.
Otherwise, a truly wonderful spot. That polo asado doesnāt get enough mainstream love as an iconic chicken dish in LA. Itās is one of the most flavor-infused chicken dishes I have ever had, and super consistent.
#FirstWorldOCD
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OCD as in obsessive compulsive disorder? Iām fully willing to admit it is a first world problem of minor importance, but I donāt think a predilection for a particularly divine salsa is a symptom of OCD, is it?
We ate here yesterday with friends. Very goodāespecially the chicharron tacos and the panuchosābut perhaps all the talk had led me to expect something more revelatory.
And oh, our kids happily devoured the bistec a la yucateca.
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Did you go to Holbox?
Nope. Next time.
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I really enjoy the potato salad. It is oddly delicious to me. And the chicharron tacos are my order there.
I wrote our meal up on my blog. As a bonus thereās some tedious reminiscing about the USC neighbourhood in the 1990s and less tedious photographs of Mercado La Paloma for those whoāve never been. Hereās the text portion (pictures are on the blog):
Chichen Itza, located in the Mercado La Paloma building in the Figueroa Corridor, right by USC and the Exposition Park museums, is one of the most celebrated Mexican restaurants in the city. This despite the fact that itās not a restaurant per se but a counter in a food hall within a community center. It specializes in the food of the YucatĆ”n (it is named for the Mayan city site there), which even in Los Angeles is not very widely available. A mainstay on Jonathan Goldās annual lists of the best restaurants in the greater L.A. area, it doesnāt lack for publicity. As always with cuisines of which there are not very many exemplars available, it is hard to know to what extent enthusiasm is driven by relative uniqueness. As someone who has not been to the YucatĆ”n (or any other part of Mexico), I canāt really evaluate this. I can tell you though that we liked the food a lot, even though it was not as revelatory as the talk had perhaps led me to expect it would be.
First a bit about the larger neighbouhood. I got my graduate degree at USC in the 1990s. And itās fair to say that in those days it would not have occurred to any of us to go looking for trendy food anywhere in the area. Indeed, other than going to the DMV on Flower, we would not have felt any need to go east of the 110 freeway. The neighbourhood was very different then, and not always very safe. I lived about a 20 minute walk from USC for a couple of years and late night walks home from the library could be a bit of an adventure. And itās not so long ago that Chinese students were assaulted and murdered in the area.
Since then, USC has purchased most of the immediate real estate around its main campus and gentrified it quite a bit. Passing it now on the way to the Museum of Natural History (a must-stop with the brats on every trip to L.A) I find myself occasionally nostalgic for the grittier texture of the old neighbourhood. But then I have to remind myself that I didnāt actually enjoy shopping at the 32nd St. market (run by Notricaās, I think), where you could smell the meat department from about 10 aisles away and whose produce was rumoured to be delivered there after having past sell-by date everywhere else in town; the manager of the crappy apt. complex I lived in worked in the liquor dept. and would always warn me about having parties when I bought beer in any quantity above a 6-pack. Ah, the memories. Now, thereās a Trader Joeās in the University Village! Still, itās hard to get excited about Fortress USC.
Anyway, Mercado La Paloma is not actually in the University Village and so I should not have gone on the way I did. It didnāt exist when I lived there anyway. In development since the late 1990s, it only emerged in the early-mid 2000s, right when we left Los Angeles for Colorado (from where we later moved to Minnesota). Itās an interesting organization, seeking to help develop local entrepreneurship and community. The space itself is an ex-garment factory, with the ground floor now given over to restaurant counters, shops and a meeting room, and with non-profits located on the second floor. They also host cultural events.
Chichen Itza is not the only restaurant there and nor are all the restaurants/counters Mexican. Thai and Ethiopian food (vegan Ethiopian, in fact) are also available. At least when we were there, however, almost all the eating seemed centered on Chichen Itza and its recently opened seafood-only sibling, Holbox. Iām not sure how representative this is: itās possible that all the other places get a lot of custom too (and I have no idea how many times the other counters may have turned over; Chichen Itza, I think, has been there since the beginning). I donāt think Iāve come across any write-ups of these other establishments (which is not to say that no one has written them up). If you are an Angeleno and know more about them, please write in below.
Mercado La Paloma
Before getting to what we ate at Chichen Itza, a quick look at the ground floor of Mercado La Paloma.
[slideshow]
Chichen Itza
So to Chichen Itza. We met old friends there for lunch. We were four adults and three kids, but when the kids learned that grilled meats and rice and beans were on the go, they were very highly motivated. We tried to eat as much of the menu as we could, but could only cover so much ground on this outing.
To see what we ate, please launch the slideshow. Scroll down for thoughts on value etc.
[slideshow]
All of this came to around $100, or about $20/head. It would probably be less per head when you consider that we overate a bit. In other words, a very good deal. I think the panuchos, salbtutes and chicharron tacos were my favouritesāand the sikil-pak was damn good too. If I lived in L.A. Iād come back often to try more of their menu. Since we only visit once or twice a year though, on our next visit weāll pair a visit to Exposition Park with a meal at Holbox. That is, unless someone tells me that the other places in the Mercado La Paloma are worth a look as well.
(What we ate: panuchos; salbutes; sikil-pak, tacos de chicharron, pibil, pollo asado, poc chuc; pollo pibil, bistec a la Yucateca)
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I really need to get back there to try those chicharron tacos. They look insanely good.
I donāt. I personally think itās still got plenty of gritā¦
But it looks like Hogwarts! (I just threw up a little in my mouth)
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