Ask Mr. Gold: Top 10 Pico Boulevard Eats

Anne Fishbein

the invisible restaurant critic

Dear Mr. Gold:
Have you published a list of the 10 best places for L.A. street food and/or "dives"? I'd like to tour them on bicycle, so if they are concentrated in one general area, that would be best -- and hopefully a slightly more urban area like Venice or downtown.
--Jakki F.

Dear F.:
I never have published such a list. My favorite street food tends to change locations from week to week, being not quite legitimate, and one man's dive is another man's palace -- often mine. But if what you hope to find is something like a mini-tour of Pico Boulevard, I'd be happy to help.

1. El Parian is still the champion birriera in town, and if what you're after is a bowl of Jalisco-style roast goat, you're in the right place. Note also cold beer, fragrant homemade tortillas (except on Sundays), and what some people call the best carne asada in L.A. 1528 W. Pico Blvd.

2. La 27th. Heroic Nicaraguan fritanga plates -- why not? I think you'll be happy with the vigorón, a Nicaraguan cabbage salad ballasted with fried pigskin, too. 1830 W. Pico Blvd.

3. El Colmao. I sleep better knowing that there is still fried pork leg with onions like this in the world. Add an avocado salad, a glass of cold red wine and a plate of their moros y cristianos -- rice and black beans fried hard with bits of pork fat -- and you'll know why L.A.'s most old-school Cuban restaurant is still rocking it all these decades later. 2328 W. Pico Blvd.

4. Dino's Burgers. If you are looking for a proper representation of hellfire, the grill at Dino's Burgers may be as close as you will get: a sulfurous, smoke-belching landscape of fire and ashes, and stacks of chickens, dyed red as Old Nick with chile and spices, ready to be flipped onto stacks of hot fries. If you hit the chicken the right way, you may have infernal visions of your own, all heat and musk and dripping flesh. 2575 W. Pico Blvd.

5. Las 7 Regiones. Great Oaxacan tlayudas, decent mole colorado and world-class chicken soup -- apparently there is life beyond Guelaguetza after all. 2648 W. Pico Blvd.