East Los Angeles Restaurants

Spicy mole negro de Oaxaca, mole poblano y mas. We recommend the "4X4", a sampling of four mole sauces matched with four meats. Moles you never imagined, such as coffee mole, pistachio nut mole and mole with hibiscus flower are perfect, savory dipping companions for beef, chicken, and pork tenderloin. Plenty of other regional specialities too, served in a Mexican folk art ambiente. www.moleslatia.com

These may be the best tacos you'll ever eat: rich, spicy, stewy, adventurous concoctions ladled onto thick, handmade corn tortillas. Stand-outs are the Cochinita Pibil – rated 1-10 on the Habanero hotness scale, and believe us when we say that the 10 really means 11 plus – the Mole Poblano and the Bistek in salsa rojo. At $2.50 per taco, you can get a supremely filling and satisfying lunch for $5.00! They also serve five types of vegetarian tacos, as well as tamales. Guisados recently tied for first place in "Taco Madness", an on-line tournament that rates the best tacos in Los Angeles. In a city that really knows its way around a taco, that is high praise indeed. www.guisados.co