A. Scattergood

Burrito Express pork burrito

​I am often asked where I eat when I am not on the clock, when the agenda includes neither distant anticucherias nor Korean silkworm soup. And the answer I have not quite given, although I probably end up there once a week, is the Pasadena takeout stand Burrito Express, although if pressed I will also profess my admiration for the roast beef grinders at nearby Connal's, the Armenian sujuk sandwiches at Torino and the spicy takeout salads at Garni. It's not a bad neighborhood in which to be hungry.

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Photojojo

The Photorito lens wrap

​If you have a separate lens for your nice, pretty camera, you probably carry it in a special case. And if you do have such a special case, it probably is generic, bulky, and decidedly unfashionable. And if it is indeed generic and bulky and decidedly unfashionable, surely you have wished for a lens wrap that resembles a giant tortilla so that when you rolled up your lens in this "tortilla," the result would look like a giant burrito.

For you wishful photographers, that day has come. With Photojojo's Photorito, your lens will be just as safely and tightly wrapped as the burritos at Tacos El Korita.

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Flickr/shutterbeant

The Tell-Tale Burrito

​If you keep up with the LAPD police blotter, or perhaps are just are a civic-minded Mexican food enthusiast, you may have heard about the Los Angeles County deputy who was recently charged with trying to smuggle a bean and cheese burrito filled with heroin into the Airport Courthouse. Yes, you read that right: a bean-cheese-heroin super combo. Sometime between January and February of 2010 Sheriff's deputy Henry Marin allegedly conspired with an unknown woman to deliver a burrito stuffed with a "secret ingredient" to the courthouse jail, the contents of which would be later sold to inmates.

Since we're fairly certain that Chipotle doesn't offer heroin as an optional topping (we'll have to double-check at Freebirds), there seems little doubt that this crime represents another chapter in the burrito's dubious history as smuggling device.

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Javier Cabral

Scallop Burrito at Señor Fish

​Behind every great taco, there's an even greater burrito. A proper burrito is excessive in all the right places: an edible package of chewy opulence that stands for everything great in the Mexican-American influenced culture that is Los Angeles. Meat, carbs and convenience, sauced and served to your exotic whims on a budget.

A smokey lamb burrito, a couple of breakfast burritos, hell, even one with seared seafood and shredded cabbage in the style of the burritas from Puerto Vallarta.This hand-picked list is for those days when a mere taco will not suffice, featuring a burrito for every mood and time of day. Turn the page for the best 9 of them in town.

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ProfessorSalt.com

Carne asada burrito at Isaac's Cafe

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Stop by Isaac's Cafe on any given morning, and you'll end up sharing breakfast burritos with the stevedores that work the nearby docks of Wilmington and San Pedro. And those burritos? Some of the best in L.A.

Despite an unlikely industrial location blocks away from the neighborhood's main drag, people in the know have kept Antonia Medina's family busy since she built a small restaurant behind her home in 1977. Isaac Jr. explains, "this was our backyard. My mom just wanted to make a yard, but the zoning guy said she couldn't because it's a commercial zone. Little by little, the business grew by word of mouth because we're in the middle of nowhere."

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Breakfast burritos have a special place in the hearts of college students. There are times when you desperately need a heavy, filling breakfast on a Saturday or Sunday morning, but the idea of handling silverware and a plate seems like far too Herculean an effort. Enter the breakfast burrito: your morning meal wrapped in a tortilla, and often accompanied by a much-needed bottle of hot sauce. You can eat it hunched over a greasy table, in front of the T.V., or in especially dire cases, in bed. One of our old favorites comes from The Cantina, in UCSB-adjacent Goleta: a vegetarian delight comprised of potatoes, eggs, sour cream, cheese, rice, and salsa. But Los Angeles has college students (and others who love the things) too, so we went out to see what we could find.

N. Galuten

Lucky Boy breakfast burrito

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Growing up in Los Angeles, my brother and I used to joke that all Mexican food was just the same ingredients, put into different edible containers. That is a product, really, of Mexican food in the United States, and most specifically, Taco Bell. Sure, we have much more traditional fare available in Los Angeles, but even the most committed and adventurous gastronomes still have a craving for a sloppy wet burrito from time to time, despite the pleas from those around us who think we ought to know better. So why do we love such things? Maybe it has become a local fusion, a comfort food, something appreciated for its place in our childhoods, like egg foo young or spaghetti and meatballs. Today we throw a bone to the true westsiders--those who hail from Santa Monica and who, for the most part, think Fairfax seems like too far to drive for dinner--and tackle the Santa Monica wet burrito with chicken at two longstanding locales, placed just blocks from each other, Gilbert's El Indio and Lares.

N. Galuten

The Super Mule Burrito at Gilbert's El Indio

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If you grew up in Santa Monica, you've probably eaten at Pancho's Tacos. It originally opened in 1977, in a small strip mall on the corner of Pico Lincoln and Ocean Park, where it pleased locals and their kids, who scarfed down tacos and burritos, sipped Orange Bang and pumped quarters into the Ms. Pac-Man machine. After a two-and-a-half-year closure (thanks to the arrival of Blockbuster Video, which replaced the entire corner), Pancho's re-opened at another location in Santa Monica and the patrons quickly returned. "You never really appreciate your customers," owner José Moya said, "until they come back to you." Now, he's seeing if he can have similar luck expanding to Venice Boulevard, where it takes over the old Campos spot.

N. Galuten

Pancho's opens in Culver City

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Photo Credit: Nguyen Tran

​Before the restaurant, even before the food truck, there is the home kitchen, the starting point for most culinary businesses. One North Hollywood couple has opened theirs up to the public. Husband-and-wife team Nguyen and Thi Tran are now operating Starry Kitchen from the back door of their kitchen apartment, serving Pan-Asian dishes on a first-come, first-serve basis for $5 a plate. Thi Tran, wife, culinary entrepreneur and self-proclaimed "Kitchen Ninja" creates globally-inspired homemade grub from tacos to burgers to noodle bowls to rice plates.

After Thi got laid off from her advertising job back in April, she turned to friends for advice. Her love of cooking, addiction to FaceBook (she used her food photographs as her profile pictures) had her friends salivating over their computers and encouraging her to take on a new career. Operation Starry Kitchen was born.

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Photo Credit: Todd Porter

Work your way along the sawdust-strewn walkways in downtown's Grand Central Market, past stalls selling dried chiles and fresh mangoes, fresh seafood and stacks of tortillas, to where you will find Tacos Tumbras A Tomas (a play on words meaning "You Get Used to Tomas") against the south wall.

Owned by Tomas Martinez, Tacos Tumbras a Tomas has long been a downtown insiders' hot spot. There's often a crowd, so belly up to the front where one of Tomas' hard working, ever-helpful staff can get your order.

During this phase of trendy taco fusion, Tomas is staying old-school. Slow-cooked meats keep warm in hotel pans: tongue, cheek, and goat, as well as the more-expected cuts, slowly stewed with spices, piled so high that you're given a fork and extra tacos with each taco. At $2.50 a taco, it's a steal.

Photo Credit: Todd Porter

Tacos Tumbras a Tomas: 317 S Broadway, Los Angeles, (213) 620-1071. Mon-Sun. 9:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.

Todd Porter also co-writes White On Rice Couple with his partner.