Antojitos Mexicanos El Paisa

El Paisa is a small counter-service spot off Figueroa with a huge menu of every Mexican lunch option imaginable. The kitchen makes homemade corn tortillas for its quesadillas and tacos and can whip up anything from huaraches, tostadas, sopas, and tortas within ten minutes. You enter the orange-painted room, give your order to the cook, and sit at one of the four tables as a Univision crime drama plays on the TV. Everything we’ve tried is quite tasty, including a chewy, loaded huarache with minced chorizo, crema, and queso cotija and their excellent milanesa torta with a slathering of mayo. If you don’t want to watch reruns of an early 2000s telenovela, call ahead to place a pickup order.