Los 5 Puntos — Restaurant in Los Angeles

If I could pick just one place to eat Carnitas Tacos from for the rest of my life, it may be Los 5 Puntos in East Los Angeles. Their venerable Carnitas Taco does not belong in 2020, it belongs in a museum. A reasonable argument can be made that it's already there, given that Los 5 Puntos has been cranking out Carnitas Tacos for over 50 years.

Their carnitas are straightforward, derived from pork shoulder that is more sturdy than fatty, and without the textural contrast of crispy ends made popular by the various "designer carnitas" destinations that are popping up everywhere. The carnitas served here have an old-school, nostalgic feel to them. Try discerning anything other than pork and salt in Los 5 Puntos' carnitas and you won't find it. Yet behind each succulent fiber of cooked pork lurks magic that defies precise description -- it is not an ingredient, but the result of a process. There's no culinary trickery here; this is the inevitable outcome of a recipe made many thousands of times as it is passed between generations, each iteration more perfect than the last.

Speaking of perfection, a taco cannot be any better than its tortillas, and the corn tortillas here are hand-made by adept abuelas who brilliantly flatten their perfect mixtures of masa and water into hefty frisbees of corn that are soft like pillows despite being dense like boat anchors.

The final key ingredient is a small palmful of pickled nopales (cactus) that provide a zesty hit of tang and heat, mixing with the meat, grease, and toasted corn for a well-rounded assemblage that you desperately need...

Carnitas and Chicharrones are the most popular protein choices according to what I see via Yelp. I really enjoyed the lengua, which is usually my choice of taco protein. $4 tacos seem like alot but for better meat, flavor and fresh tortilla...its worth it. The handmade tortilla really got me interested in this place. Small parking lot or free street parking.

I visited on a Friday night just 20 minutes before they close. There are 3 cashier areas. There was 2 customers ahead of me. There was 1-2 staff handling us. It took long due to those customers ordering cooked meat by lb/meat market. Most of the meat were put away and the place looked like it's closing up. You may want to buy extra sauce/salsa... Which is a good tip I forgot even though they included the verde salsa I picked. They of course we're out of the weekend only served menudo.

Chicharrones was very crunchy, smaller bite size vs overly large like other places. SO liked it. I'm just not a fan of chicharrones in my taco. I'm a lengua person instead.

There's tons of street tacos with great meat, flavor and condiment mix, but very few with handmade tortillas. Probably why we love Azteca too. But I've only eaten burritos from there and that tortilla was more like the Taiwanese beef wrap type. Los Cinco Puntos was thicker but not extremely...

Los 5 Puntos have been in this Boyle Heights location for many years I can remember,my parents use take me and my two brothers when we were very young for carnitas,chicharron,tacos and other classic Mexican food. Los 5 Puntos have serve the surrounding of Boyle Heights and East L.A. and parts of L.A. for many years. This location have on movies and T.V. shows and including well know movie film there called Blood in Blood out it's movie classic.

Inside the restaurant it change throught the years it been so many years I have been herecat Los 5 Puntos. My wife and I look at the menu display and decided to order two carne asada combo it comes with a 20 Oz drink to go. But eat our meals in car they were no seat everything was taken it's a very popular place with history on it. We both took a bite of the carne asada burrito it was good I couldn't taste the flavor of the carne asada I add lime to brought flavors to the burrito. The bean were ok including the rice we enjoy the burritos very much. The staff were very friendly and knowledgeable about the food and the history of...