Downtown L.A.’s Mexicali Taco is open for lunch and dinner, but I’m a big fan of the lunch deals. For WAY under $10, I get a garlicky vampiro (photos below), taco and drink. The crispy cachetada is a GREAT hangover meal, on it’s own or with a fried egg on top. Trust me, I’ve tested it out!
Jonathan Gold wrote:
But like everybody else who visits Mexicali Taco & Co., I am obsessed with the vampiros, rather larger flour tortillas folded over chorizo, chicken or carne asada, maybe all three, as well as a squirt or two of garlic sauce and what can technically be described as a boatload of gooey, stretchy melted Mexican cheese. (A vampiro is supposedly a creature of Sinaloa, although I’ve seen them in Guadalajara and they are apparently endemic in northern Baja at the moment. I refuse to take sides.) Think of a CPK-size pizza folded in half, only a million times better. A folded pizza you can have with giant grilled guero chiles — chiles dusted with dried chiles! — if such is your pleasure. Or really, about a pint of that taqueria guacamole. ~ Read more at L.A. Times
Carne Asada Vampiro. GET EXTRA GARLIC SAUCE!
Cachetada: The classic tostada reinvented with choice of meat and melted Mexican cheese, topped with a savory aioli chipotle sauce.
Cachetada con Huevo. HANGOVER HELPER.
Dinner is great with a group of friends (and family). My brother Greg’s favorite is the MEATY Zuperman: A gigantic portion of all three meats & cheese sandwiched between two tasty haring tortillas.
Chorizo Nachos w special Salsa Raja. Ridiculously GOOD! I shared, but didn’t want to.
Gueros: Cantonese-Baja Style Peppers. At $1.50, a MUST ORDER every time.
All about Mexicali Taco & Co (they cater too!).
Make sure you wave hello to founders Esdras Ochoa & Javier Fregoso!
Mexicali Taco & Co.
Website
702 N. Figueroa Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Phone: (213) 613-0416
Located one block north of Sunset Blvd/Cesar Chavez Blvd, just north of downtown and west of Chinatown.
Map
my last bite... 
You’re one of my favorite food pornographers! Excellently luscious shots, Jo!
Ohhh lala! that Carne Asada Vampiro looks scrumptious
Love those cachetadas!! I gotta try those peppers.