[dropcap size=big]"W[/dropcap]hy can’t Mexicans in L.A. have nice things, too?” This was the thought that Jose Luis Ruiz had when he first moved to Los Angeles from Guadalajara, Jalisco seven years ago.
Prior to opening La Carniceria Meat Market in South Gate, a carniceria that is changing the game of backyard carne asada in the area with their densely marbled cuts of prime-grade beef, he had no experience in the meat trade. But as soon as he stepped into his first traditional meat market in the southland and took a bite of his first cut of rubbery carne asada, he knew he had to open a better carniceria and properly represent his home country’s celebrated dish and pastime.
“Where I’m from, people have high expectations and expect products and customer service of only the highest quality,” Ruiz tells me during an afternoon rush at his hole-in-the-wall meat market in South Gate. He is soft-spoken, clean-cut, and is wearing the same royal blue polo shirt with his shop’s logo of cow silhouette as the rest of his employees behind the meat case. There are two massive flatscreen TVs in the back playing a mix of instructional meat-smoking videos on Youtube followed by high-definition corridos verdes music videos.