Patricia Escárcega’s five favorite restaurants that she reviewed this year (so far)

L.A. Times restaurant critic Patricia Escárcega picks five of her favorite recently reviewed restaurants.

Patricia Escárcega • Los Angeles Times • July 3, 2019

In the six months since Bill Addison and I joined the L.A. Times as co-restaurant critics, my personal highlight reel of phenomenally good Meals to Remember has blown up to embarrassing proportions. There have been rewarding late-night food truck...

Restaurants In This Story

Teddy's Red Tacos

Yours Truly

Kra Z Kai's BBQ

Sonoratown

Nightshade

The full article can be read on the Los Angeles Times website.

Review: At Sonoratown, worship at the altar of flour tortillas and mesquite-grilled beef

Patricia Escárcega • Los Angeles Times • April 24, 2019

The first thing you notice about Sonoratown, the small counter-service taquería tucked amid the tailor shops and fabric outlets of downtown L.A.'s Fashion District, is the scent of mesquite-grilled steak that hangs in the air. The scent moves...

Review: El Ruso in Boyle Heights has some of the best tortillas in L.A.

Bill Addison • Los Angeles Times • January 16, 2020

Walter Soto stood under a makeshift tent in an industrial corner of Boyle Heights, making tacos in rapid batches of four. He pitched handfuls of shredded Monterey Jack cheese onto the griddle in neat piles; the strands hissed and buckled in the...

Here's all the great Mexican food from the 2019 101 Best Restaurants in Los Angeles list

Patricia Escárcega, Bill Addison • Los Angeles Times • December 16, 2019

Of the many excellent restaurants on this year’s 101 Best Restaurants list, where can you go for exquisite carne asada, mole Oaxaqueño, a steamy bowl of fideo, Zacatecas-style burritos, or maybe a taco tasting menu? Here are the 16 Mexican...

Bar Avalon in Echo Park is a L.A. bistro with soul

Patricia Escárcega • Los Angeles Times • March 4, 2020

Lunch at Bar Avalon ends with a curious ritual: Nathaniel Muñoz, the restaurant’s garrulous sommelier and general manager, hands you a baseball card. It’s the glossy, ’90s-era Topps variety, with a squiggle of black Sharpie across the front....

Bar Avalon

Review: How the Petit Trois and Jon & Vinny’s sequels measure up to the originals

Bill Addison • Los Angeles Times • May 9, 2019

This is a town that understands the perils and possibilities of sequels. This is also a town that loves the restaurants of Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo. Who could have predicted, when the Florida natives opened their Fairfax restaurant Animal in...