La Esperanza Market — Local services in Highland

Little spot on 9th and Lankershim in Highland. I ordered a pound of carnitas, and a half pound of chicharrones. I was asked what kind of meat I preferred, I said surtido, but mostly maciza. When I got home, there was a tiny amount of carnitas maciza, and massive amounts of buche and cueritos. The maciza was delicious, all two tiny street tacos worth. The cueritos were good combined with the maciza. The buche was not too good, and was by far the largest portion of the combination. Nowhere near what I requested. The chicharrones were awesome, one of the best I've eaten👍🏼. Next time I'll order separately, one pound of maciza and a quarter pound of cueritos, and a half pound of chicharrones. As long as they get the order right it'll...

I absolutely LOVE the chicharron but literally none of the employees were wearing gloves! Not one. They were constantly jumping from one area to the next and touched non food items in between. This is tough, my stomach is not super sentive but I'm sure if they skipped a handwash after the restroom or something, someone would be puking. The chicharron was literally being split with bare hands to weigh it out. I eat from street vendors all the time but even they wear masks and gloves. The chicharron still smelled delicious and I decided to go for it (I have a strong stomach and was craving it) buuuut I'm not sure I would do it again. Just wear some cheap gloves people...and change them of...

Some of the best asada fries I've had recently (officially Nacho fries with carne asada, $11.42 after tax, $11.92 with 50c card fee). Kind of tied with my other current go-to place for asada fries. Esperanza has better fries, I watched these come fresh out of the fryer, but they use nacho cheese sauce instead of shredded cheese. Still undecided which kind of cheese I like better on asada fries. This is a little tiny local market with a bigger than expected meat counter that makes some food fresh. Note: there is a menu but no prices on it. They also have these nice little fried tacos for 75c each. Honestly, next time I go for asada fries I'm going to be in trouble trying to decide which...