Beyond the Burrito

Los Angeles is a culinary goldmine, especially when it comes to (cheap) ethnic cuisine. Vietnamese, Thai, Salvadoran, Armenian, etc. So it comes as a surprise that it is not known for their burritos. On the burrito front, Northern California comes out way ahead. I have fond memories 25 years ago of the burritos at Super Taqueria in San Jose or El Toro in San Francisco but the only remembrance I have of burritos here is the giant "Pregnant Burrito" at El Nopal in Palms. And not because it was good, but because it was the size of a Tonka truck. This doesn't mean that I haven't had good burritos in L.A. The carnitas burrito at Senor Fish is delicious, as is their scallop one. The vegetarian burrito at Chabelitas is scrumptious. Which brings me to my point: it's not that burritos in L.A. are inferior, but the rest of the Mexican cuisine here is so spectacular, no one cares about a tortilla sock stuffed with beans and meat. And for me to call a burrito Mexican is debatable. The multi-layered version we gringos know, with the beans, meat, cheese and salsa, is far more a California product than it is a Mexican creation. Its goal seems to be to overwhelm with quantity rather than quality. Taco Bell announces, "We've got a seven layer burrito!" Del Taco responds, "Oh, yeah? We've got an eight layer burrito!" But why get a burrito when you can get chuletas en pasilla at La Cabanita? Or the quesadilla con borrego at My Taco? Or the tacos al pastor at La Estrella? There's so much depth in Mexican cuisine, why would I settle for a pedestrian burrito? Case in point: Last week I was in a minimall with a friend when I saw a tiny hole-in-the-wall spot selling these huge sandwiches. Even though I had already had lunch, I wanted to try one and my friend, who's Mexican American, said, "Oh, these things are everywhere." But I had never seen them before. They're called cemitas poblanas and my friend was wrong. They're not everywhere. Essentially, it's a hard-ish sesame seed roll that's been heated up on a grill and stuffed with meat, avocado slices, panella cheese (a fresh Mexican cheese), sometimes onions and cilantro and finished with a slathering of either zingy jalapeño or a smoky chipotle salsa. So here's their story (according to the Internet and Jonathan Gold): it's basically a street food from the city of Puebla in the state of Puebla which is almost smack in the middle of Mexico. I guess there was an influx of Europeans in the 19th century, which may account for the use of bread, but according to lore, the term "cemitas" refers to the Lebanese, or Semites, who immigrated there. Traditionally, the sandwich meat used is milanesa, thin, pounded steak that's been dusted and deep fried. Stateside, cemitas are more popular in the Mexican neighborhoods of Chicago and Brooklyn, but there are a few places here that make them. The closest place to my house is El Ruby Cafe on San Fernando Road in Glendale. It's been around for awhile and they serve only one variant of the cemitas poblanas, with the milanesa. It was tasty and the salsa was just the right amount of hot, but the meat was stringy and tough and the bread (the most important part) was on the chewy side. A few minutes further south in East L.A. is Cemitas Poblanas Elvirita, which has a solid following. It's a box-shaped restaurant that looks like a small converted bingo hall. The rolls there is crisper than El Ruby's, but a bit on the thin side. The milanesa was more tender and flavorful. I also tried a cemita with barbacoa - long cooked meat, usually lamb - and it was a little oily and stringy. I'd read a fair amount about this place and was somewhat disappointed. I did enjoy a Mexican Coke there - much better than the American version which uses high fructose corn syrup instead of sugar. I like it because it's less sweet, plus there's something about drinking Coke from a bottle. My favorite cemitas place was the first one I visited, Don Adrian, in Van Nuys. Though it was the smallest of the three, it had the largest menu. Pork, beef, ham, milanesa, head cheese, fried chicken, tongue, pickled tripe - they had it all. I opted for the barbacoa and it was just stunning. Piles of tender, juicy lamb on a fresh bun that was hard on the outside and soft like a memory foam pillow on the inside. The onion/cilantro relish they use on it cuts through the richness of the meat. Not bad for $5.50. The biggest and best of the sandwiches I tried, hands down. My two week romance with cemitas poblanas is still in its infancy. There is still much to explore - the taco truck that sells them outside the Smart and Final at Pico and Cotner, the place on Sherman Way and the other variants I have yet to try at Don Adrian. Who needs burritos?