Grand Central Market - Los Angeles, Ca

Our January 2019 trip was a bust due to the Women’s March taking place right by Chinatown so we’re going to try again.

When we were planning the trip in January, I told my dad, and this is what he emailed me. I can’t wait to relay our visit to him, he’s in Washington state and will probably not return to the market.

“ Your mention of a trip to L. A. to visit Grand Central reminded me of when I was a kid, 12 or 13 years old. My family never owned a car and my Uncle Hugo would come to the house every Saturday morning to pick-up my Dad and they both would go to Grand Central to do the weekly shopping. Since they went so frequently, they established relationships with vendors at particular stalls. There was a stall for produce, the bakery goods for bread, and of course the deli counter where they purchased Italian cold cuts. They shopping was usually done before noon so we had fresh bread and and lunch meats for sandwiches for lunch. On the occasion that my Uncle couldn't make it, my Dad and I took the bus downtown to do the shopping and I helped carry the bags home on the bus. Frequently, I accompanied my Dad and Uncle Hugo would bring Ronnie to keep me company. Ronnie an I would venture throughout the market just taking in the sounds and smells while our Dads did the routine shopping. Fond memories of those days.

Hope you enjoyed your trip to the Market. Love, Pop”

I wonder if it was like this when my Pop went on Saturdays.

Fish Taco

Pork, cheese, and bean pupusa from Saritas

Whitefish ceviche

Odd thing about eating here this first time everything was round, ceviche tostada, pupusa, fish taco overstuffed so it coudn;t even be folded. Next time i promise myself that I’ll observe the rules.

Roast to Go- This vendor offered an array of meats by in tacos or tostadas in addition to soups and sides. We tried the fish taco because I was still kind of obsessed with the ones we had in Ensenada last month, but this was quite a disappointment. Fish was pulled from a pre cooked bin of fish and chopped with a cleaver before being placed on a double corn tortilla then topped with onions and cilantro, tomatoes, lettuce and an avacado salsa of some sort. The worst part was that the fish was cold and was more breading than fish, it also tasted like tilapia, a fish I don’t think ever belongs in fish tacos.

Sarita’s Pupusaria - The fact that the pupusas were made while we waited was reassuring especially since we were disappointed with the previous taco. It came with a baggie of pickled onions and cabbage, a tasty slaw that we put on our pupusa before we cut it in thirds. We were able to add other salsas also and it was delicious, next time i’m going to get my own instead of sharing, or maybe share if we can have more varieties.

La Tostadaria - This was a great choice, the white fish ceviche was fresh and cold as it should be, the cubes were nice small squares. There were a lot of salsas to choose from and it was on a double crisp tostada tortilla that stayed crisp. If I was a ceviche fan, this would have been my favorite, it was very good, but I’m mostly partial to hot food, especially seafood, but that’s just my bias.

These are some of the food vendors we left to try in the future.

Eggslut

China Cafe

DTLA Cheese

Olio Pizza

Sticky Rice

McConnells Ice Cream

Prawn

Berlin Currywurst

Horse Thief