Chichen Itza

5 Essential Mexican Restaurants in Los Angeles

Our 99 Essential L.A. Restaurants issue came out last week, and we're highlighting a few categories drawing from the list. Today: Mexican restaurants. This isn't every single Mexican spot on the list (there are a ton!), so make sure you check out the whole thing, but here are five of our favorites ... More >>

100 Favorite Dishes: The Google Map

Want to find which of our 100 Favorite Dishes is closest to you? Not that you don't know where Lukshon or Chichen Itza or Hatfield's or Animal are, but still -- it's nice to know that the folks at Cupertino Mountain View are still hard at work controlling the world. Check out our Google Map. Turn th ... More >>

Top 4 Weekend Food Events: Abigaile's Kitchen Takeover, Chichen Itza Tamale Class, Gingerbread Skid Row Young Folks Family Supper

The Kitchen Takeover at Abigaile Manhattan's Abigaile will open its kitchen to chefs from around the city for each to create courses that celebrate their personal style. Guests include Bernhard Mairinger of BierBeisl, Lara Mandracchia of Cake Bakeshop, Meg Hall of Made by Meg Catering and John-Carlo ... More >>

27: The Hickoryburger at Apple Pan

Celebrating this year's Best of L.A. issue -- now out in print and online -- we're counting down, in no particular order, 100 of our favorite dishes. 27: The Hickoryburger at Apple Pan Los Angeles' burger boom, in many ways, owes much to this humble onion-scented lunchroom, a place that stands out ... More >>

Top 5 Weekend Food Events: Hanal Pixan Cooking Class, 626 Night Market, Long Beach Food Swap, L.A. Magazine Food Event Hollywood Oktoberfest

Chichén Itza's Hanal Pixan Cooking Class and Dinner Chef Gilberto Cetina of Chichén Itza, author of the new cookbook Sabores Yucatecos, hosts a cooking class called Hanal Pixan, which shows how to prepare traditional Mayan foods for Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). A four-course sit-down din ... More >>

33: Cauliflower T-Bone at Superba Snack Bar

Celebrating this year's Best of L.A. issue -- now out in print and online -- we're counting down, in no particular order, 100 of our favorite dishes. 33: Cauliflower T-Bone at Superba Snack Bar. It's not very often that, at an eatery with a meat-loving menu, the dish that reverberates through your ... More >>

34: Bossam at Kobawoo House

Celebrating this year's Best of L.A. issue -- now out in print and online -- we're counting down, in no particular order, 100 of our favorite dishes. 34: Bossam at Kobawoo House. Kobawoo is one of Koreatown's older restaurants, having been established all the way back in 1985, and although it bega ... More >>

40: Sicilian Slice at Pizzanista

Leading up to this year's Best of L.A. issue (due out Oct. 4) -- and probably beyond, at this rate -- we'll be counting down, in no particular order, 100 of our favorite dishes. 40: Sicilian Slice at Pizzanista. The thick-crusted Sicilian pizza at Pizzanista, cut into a long rectangle and covered ... More >>

43: Raw Kale Salad at Elf Café

Leading up to this year's Best of L.A. issue (due out Oct. 4) -- and probably beyond, at this rate -- we'll be counting down, in no particular order, 100 of our favorite dishes. 43: Raw Kale Salad at Elf Café. Fifty-some entries into this list and we feel like we need a virtual detox -- the onsla ... More >>

44: Hot Wings at Beer Belly

Leading up to this year's Best of L.A. issue (due out Oct. 4) -- and probably beyond, at this rate -- we'll be counting down, in no particular order, 100 of our favorite dishes. 44: Hot Wings at Beer Belly. Is there a more natural and satisfactory partner for football and beer than a plate of deep ... More >>

46: Edomae Tendon Bowl at Hannosuke

Leading up to this year's Best of L.A. issue (due out Oct. 4), we'll be counting down, in no particular order, 100 of our favorite dishes. 46: Edomae Tendon Bowl at Hannosuke. The saying goes that good tempura should last about as long as a snowball in August (or September, if you happen to be ca ... More >>

51: Almond Croissant at Proof Bakery

Leading up to this year's Best of L.A. issue (due out Oct. 4), we'll be counting down, in no particular order, 100 of our favorite dishes. 51: Almond croissant at Proof Bakery. It's hard not to drool all over the glass of the bakery case at Proof Bakery in Atwater Village, such is the bounty that ... More >>

50: The Southern Fry at Plan Check Kitchen Bar

Leading up to this year's Best of L.A. issue (due out Oct. 4), we'll be counting down, in no particular order, 100 of our favorite dishes. 51: The Southern Fry at Plan Check Kitchen Bar. While the centerpiece of Plan Check Kitchen Bar on Sawtelle is undoubtedly it's dripping, concentrated burg ... More >>

54: Taco Sampler at Guisados

Leading up to this year's Best of L.A. issue (due out Oct. 4), we'll be counting down, in no particular order, 100 of our favorite dishes. 54: Taco Sampler at Guisados. Decisions are hard. At Guisados, chef Ricardo Diaz makes things a bit easier. The Boyle Heights taquería -- best known for its b ... More >>

56: Smothered Chicken at R and R Soul Food

Leading up to this year's Best of L.A. issue (due out Oct. 4), we'll be counting down, in no particular order, 100 of our favorite dishes. 56: Smothered Chicken at R & R Soul Food. A good soul food plate should be formidable. It should make you worry whether you are going to be able make the driv ... More >>

59: Pickled Watermelon Salad at L&E Oyster Bar

Leading up to this year's Best of L.A. issue (due out Oct. 4), we'll be counting down, in no particular order, 100 of our favorite dishes. 59: Pickled Watermelon Salad at L&E Oyster Bar On days like these, when the temperature is pushing 100, we just want a cooling salad. A salad with bursts of co ... More >>

58: Spaghettini with Abalone, Pickled Cod Roe and Truffles at n/naka

Leading up to this year's Best of L.A. issue (due out Oct. 4), we'll be counting down, in no particular order, 100 of our favorite dishes. 58: Spaghettini with Abalone, Pickled Cod Roe and Truffles at n/naka. A meal at n/naka, by its very nature, is full of surprises. A parade of traditional kaise ... More >>

65: Beef Koobideh at Kabab Mahaleh

Leading up to this year's Best of L.A. issue (due out Oct. 4), we'll be counting down, in no particular order, 100 of our favorite dishes. 66: Koobideh at Kabab Mahaleh. On Friday afternoons, the Pico corridor is a happening place -- especially at Kabab Mahaleh, where the Persian Jewish community ... More >>

66: Pastrami Reuben at Art's Delicatessen

Leading up to this year's Best of L.A. issue (due out Oct. 4), we'll be counting down, in no particular order, 100 of our favorite dishes. 66: Pastrami Reuben at Art's Delicatessan. The motto at Art's Deli in Studio City is "Every sandwich is a work of art." The deli, which has changed little sinc ... More >>

67: Son of a Gun's Uni and Burrata

Leading up to this year's Best of L.A. issue (due out Oct. 4), we'll be counting down, in no particular order, 100 of our favorite dishes. 67: Son of a Gun's Uni and Burrata. There are quite a few contenders for favorites on Son of a Gun's menu, dishes that made this restaurant a destination in th ... More >>

69: Yukhwe Bibimbap at Oo-Kook Korean BBQ

Leading up to this year's Best of L.A. issue (due out Oct. 4), we'll be counting down, in no particular order, 100 of our favorite dishes. 69: Yukhwe Bibimbap at Oo-Kook Korean BBQ It's been a week filled with those days when you glance around the kitchen, throw up your hands, and laments that's i ... More >>

Yucatán's Longaniza: Where to Get It in Los Angeles

You may never have heard of it, but one of the world's great sausages is right here, under your very nose. It's the famous longaniza of the city of Valladolid in Yucatán. The L.A. version doesn't just pretend to be authentic. It's the real thing, vibrant with Yucatecan seasonings such as seasone ... More >>

70: Brisket Banh Mi at Gjelina Take Away

Leading up to this year's Best of L.A. issue (due out Oct. 4), we'll be counting down, in no particular order, 100 of our favorite dishes. 70: Brisket Banh Mi at Gjelina Take Away In its purest form, the banh mi is a humble lunch: a thin layer of meat, a smear of pate or mayo, a handful of flash-p ... More >>

75: Porcetto at Sotto

Leading up to this year's Best of L.A. issue (due out Oct. 4), we'll be counting down, in no particular order, 100 of our favorite dishes. 75: Porcetto at Sotto. Porchetta is one of those dishes that, once you've tried it, tends to feature prominently in recurrent dreams. The same genre of dream a ... More >>

77: Agedashi Tofu at Izakaya Bincho

Leading up to this year's Best of L.A. issue (due out Oct. 4), we'll be counting down, in no particular order, 100 of our favorite dishes. 77: Agedashi Tofu at Izakaya Bincho. At Izakaya Bincho, a cubbyhole of a restaurant hidden along the boardwalk Redondo Beach Pie, chef Tomo Ueno might have bee ... More >>

79: Tandoori Chicken at Al-Watan

Leading up to this year's Best of L.A. issue (due out Oct. 4), we'll be counting down, in no particular order, 100 of our favorite dishes. 79: Tandoori Chicken at Al-Watan Surely we can't be alone in our endless fascination with the tandoori oven, a cylindrical-shaped clay oven that facilitates a ... More >>

81: White Anchovy, Tomato, and Fresno Chile Pizza at Pizzeria Mozza

Leading up to this year's Best of L.A. issue (due out Oct. 4), we'll be counting down, in no particular order, 100 of our favorite dishes. 81: White Anchovy, Tomato and Fresno Chile Pizza at Pizzeria Mozza. The mere mention of anchovies doesn't evoke pleasant memories for most people. Maybe someo ... More >>

86: Galbi Jjim at Soban

Leading up to this year's Best of L.A. issue (due out Oct. 4), we'll be counting down, in no particular order, 100 of our favorite dishes. 86: Galbi Jjim at Soban. Walk into any cozy Korean mom-and-pop restaurant, the kind with the old lacquered wood tables and weathered pictures of soups and stew ... More >>

Top 6 Weekend Food Events: Beer Dinner, Free Sandwiches at Langer's, Spanish Cooking Demo, Habanero Eating Contest, Cocktail Fundraiser Grilling Class

Golden Road Beer Dinner at Tin Roof Bistro Try a different Golden Road beer (including limited release brews Get Up Offa That Brown, Either Side of the Hill, and Hudson Rye Porter) with each of five courses prepared by chef Anne Conness. Golden Road co-founder Meg Gill, who we recently profiled in t ... More >>

Are You Crazy Enough for Chichen Itza's Habanero-Eating Contest?

We're not sure if this would be considered a treat or torture for Dad, but on June 17 Chichen Itza Restaurant is hosting their second annual habanero-eating contest as part of Mercado La Paloma's Father's Day celebration. Chichen Itza specializes in cuisine from the Yucatán Peninsula (we're big fan ... More >>

97: Tsukemen at Tsujita L.A.

Leading up to this year's Best of L.A. issue (due out Oct. 4), we'll be counting down, in no particular order, 100 of our favorite dishes. 97: Tsukemen at Tsujita L.A. Since opening last August, Little Osaka's Tsujita L.A. has quickly become the most serious purveyor of Hakata tonkotsu in town, a ... More >>

98: Chichen Itza's Cochinita Pibil

Leading up to this year's Best of L.A. issue (due out Oct. 4), we'll be counting down, in no particular order, 100 of our favorite dishes. 98: Chichen Itza's Cochinita Pibil. You know the drill. Wind your way down the 110, past the concrete universe of downtown L.A., LA Live and USC, and into the ... More >>

Top 5 Places to Eat off the Metro Expo Line

If you ride the Metro regularly, or more likely, tell yourself that you should be riding the Metro regularly, the recently opened Exposition line should come as exciting news. Culver City residents now have the western terminus of L.A.'s rail system at their doorstep (somewhat), which means a journe ... More >>

L.A.'s Mexican Cuisine Renaissance Continues: From La Casita Mexicana to Teresitas to Seta

If, for some reason, you still think Los Angeles is still lagging behind other major cities in the sophistication of our Mexican cuisine, maybe you haven't been getting out much. The city has been going through a renaissance in the last few years, with highly talented chefs bringing the food they gr ... More >>

Gold Standard 2012: Photo Slideshow

The temperature climbed into the 80s, but that didn't diminish the enthusiasm of about 1,800 people gathered at the rooftop parking lot of the Peterson Auto Museum last Sunday for Gold Standard: the L.A. Weekly's food-sampling bonanza featuring 40 restaurants picked by Jonathan Gold. Even Bludso's B ... More >>

Chichén Itzá's New Cookbook a Recipe for Sopa de Lima

​If you're a fan of the Yucatecan food at Chichén Itzá in the Mercado La Paloma, you can now make your favorite dishes yourself. No kidding. All the recipes from the restaurant, and many more, are in a just-published cookbook by Chichén Itzá's founder, Gilberto Cetina (read the Weekly's Q ... More >>

Marouch: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

Guisados: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

Gjelina: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

Chichén Itzá: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

Cochinita Pibil Taco Fight: La Cabanita vs Chichen Itza

B. MesirowLa Cabañita's Cochinita Tacos​The versatility of the taco is well-documented, on these pages and countless others. There are as many potential taco fillings as there are kinds of food in the world, but not all of them are equally wonderful. (We know that Korean BBQ works but Taco Be ... More >>

Q & A With Gilberto Cetina: Chichen Itza, His New Cookbook, The Scoville Scale The Happiness of Chowhound Guys

Facebook/Gilberto CetinaGilberto Cetina​Anyone who loves cochinita pibil, the Yucatecan dish of pork roasted in banana leaves, knows the well-traveled route to Chichen Itza in the Mercado La Paloma near USC just south of downtown, which also houses Ricardo Zarate's Mo-Chica. Chef-owner Gilbert ... More >>

A Recipe From the Chef: Gilberto Cetina's Tikin-Xic

A. ScattergoodTikin-Xic at Chichen Itza​ If you read our interview with Chichen Itza chef-owner Gilberto Cetina, you will have been reminded that the chef, besides running one of L.A.'s favorite restaurants and writing a soon-to-be-published cookbook on Yucatecan cuisine, makes a mean bottle o ... More >>

Last Night: 2011 Gold Standard [Photos]

"I can't hold my stomach in anymore," we heard someone, a man, exclaim as he rested between bites at yesterday afternoon's Gold Standard. The third annual tasting event, held once again at Petersen Auto Museum, featured dozens of local restaurants with dishes on offer ranging from the baroque wi ... More >>

Like Day and Night: Lechon at Chichen Itza and Havana Mania

D. GonzalezChichen Itza Restaurant's Sunday lechon stand​ There are no alarm clocks in our home in Merida. There is no need as it is located in one of the most enviable spots in the neighborhood, around the corner from the baker. The air wakes me up in Merida. We get a special treat on Sunday, ... More >>

Squid Ink Food Fight: The Pork of the Yucatan, Cochinita Pibil

If God exists, then His greatest gift to mankind may very well have been that delightful creature the pig (unless you're a member of one of the many religions that don't allow it, in which case it is God's ultimate cruel joke). It is a large, round being, packed to the brim with uncommonly flavorful ... More >>

Seeking Chichen Itza’s Hot Spots

A single drop of habanero salsa is enough to season a panucho. A small spoonful renders a vaporcito ­practically radioactive. And this isn’t even the hottest salsa Chichen Itza has to offer.

Yes, Deer

Regional Mexican

The Great White Shark...Casserole