I'm going to go out on a limb here and say Anthony Bourdain knows more than I do about food. I'd be willing to bet he knows more about food than you, too, as well as the vast majority of people not involved in the culinary arts.
Because he knows so much, I generally trust his intuitions about where to eat and what best represents a place's culture when expressed through food. If you've ever watched one of his shows for long enough, think: Where does he tend to gravitate to no matter what part of the world he finds himself in? Street food.
Whether in Ecuador, Italy, or India, he puts all concern for atmosphere, presentation, or obvious (and often perfunctory) symbols of cleanliness aside for something raw, immediate, unpretentious, and plugged into the very rhythm of the city, town, or village he's in.
According to his own accounts, he has never gone wrong eating on the street from a cook who is basically pulling mysterious cuts of meat out of a cooler and throwing them on a rusty, hastily assembled grill on a sidewalk, if there happens to be a sidewalk at all. In fact, some of his most highly regarded meals, and some of his most highly regarded cooks, were found at such non-establishments.
In Los Angeles, street vending has become a hot-button issue in city and state elections this year. There's a quite vocal group who see street vending as unsanitary, unsightly, and even downright toxic to what they feel are more "legitimate" businesses. Gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton has even promised to outlaw street vending as a means to, in his words, "save small businesses." For the purposes of this discussion, I’m focusing specifically on food vendors, though Hilton’s ire seemingly extends to street vendors of all kinds.
Fact check: I'm not sure how doable that is for Hilton, since he would essentially have to repeal the Safe Sidewalk Vending Act passed in California in 2018.