Southeast Los Angeles is not home to any neighborhoods deemed “cool” by any publication, and this is exactly why I love to eat around this part of the city. For the rare L.A. native who was born, raised, and is fighting every day to stake a claim in their hometown, it can be hard to find the L.A. that many of us grew up with: an unpolished and rough-around-the-edges L.A. that is still home to Mexican, Central American, Asian, and Black working families that helped establish Los Angeles as the best eating city in the world.
I eat and drink around the neighborhoods of Huntington Park, Bell, and Lynwood to help me remember old-school L.A; a city that existed before it was impossible to buy a home here without any generational wealth. These neighborhoods are beautifully unglamorous.
These neighborhoods are also home to some of the city's most delicious spots to eat because they have nothing to prove to anyone. Their food and drink scene is aimed at their immediate community. No press releases. No influencers. Just SELA, for SELA.
If you live anywhere in Los Angeles or are visiting and want to get a sense of Los Angeles that you will not see in Hollywood or any other palm-tree-lined cliché, here is how to eat and drink your way to understanding the southeast Los Angeles food scene at a deeper level.