Taquería Millo at Carnicería Guadalajara

🇲🇽 JALISCO, MÉXICO / HISTORICAL: The small restaurant connected to this busy Lennox Carnicería punches well above its weight.

🇲🇽 MÉXICO (Jalisco)
📍 11040 S. Inglewood Avenue,
Lennox, South Bay
🅿️ Small lot
🥤 Homemade michelada cups

📸 All photos by Jared Cohee
for Eat the World Los Angeles

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📆 Original Article 11 February 2022

If you read through the thoughts of commenters online about Taquería Millo and the carnicería it is connected to, you will get a much different experience than the usual rubbish. Instead, you get a feeling for the long history of this Lennox staple and the people that have been coming here since they were kids. The meat market has "Established 1983" on its sign and this blue collar taquería has been here for most of that time.

Open at 07:00 every morning of the week, it has daily rotating specials that are popular with regular customers. It seems abnormally busy at its opening hours, a line of men wearing shirts with various gardening and landscaping company logos filling up before a long day. Another rush gets going around lunchtime for those lucky enough to be working within striking distance.

The Wednesday special is the torta ahogada ($13, above), but you can get it any day if you ask, it just takes a bit more time to make than a normal torta. This Jalisciense staple is of course on a crispy roll known as birote salado, one of the only types of bread that can withstand being "drowned" in salsa and still retain its crunch.

The version here would make a Tapatío proud, like sticking a hot pepper in your mouth. The chef actually apologized after seeing the sweat that was forming while enjoying this sandwich, saying it was accidentally spicier than usual today.

On Monday and Monday only, the special is carne en su jugo (above), another Tapatío dish that does not have a wide presence around town. Depending on the day you come, you may find it sold out by noon or available into mid-afternoon, but it would never be wise to wait too long to come for lunch if that is what you desire.

The version here is quite good, surprisingly full of herbs at the tip of your tongue on each bite, and a steal at the price they offer it for. While not quite on the level of Carnes Asadas Pancho Lopez's version, it fits the feel of this working class eatery and neighborhood perfectly, definitely getting the job done.

While it makes sense that these favorites from Jalisco are popular and very well made at a taquería connected to Carnicería Guadalajara, the business has been around long enough to have a very well-rounded menu for what people in Lennox are craving. If you hang around here enough you will see that the cocteles are popular.

In the mood for seafood but not cocteles on later visits, two orders of tostadas de ceviche ($3 each, above) were made, which surprisingly brought the finely chopped and wetter style known as ceviche de sierra. This ceviche originates in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, where mayonnaise is popular on tostadas as well and will be offered.

Coming too late for the Tuesday special of mole on one visit (sold out by 12:30!), the taco de pescado ($3, above) was enjoyed as a replacement. This taco uses a grilled filet instead of fried, and is broken up into smaller pieces and smothered with the shop's excellent salsa de chile de árbol.

For more seafood tacos, never pass up the chance to order their cheesy taco gobernador ($4, below), which has a bunch of chopped up shrimp, tomato, and salsa as well. As is custom for this taco sinaloense, the outer tortillas is dipped in the fryer to make each bite crispy.

It would be hard to visit more than once without getting a craving for their well-advertised Millo-chelada cups (not shown), which are meant for takeout. If you come at a time that is not very busy, it is possible to sneak next door to the liquor store and bring a tall boy of Pacifico or Tecate back to be poured in one of these cups. On a recently hot February day, this was as refreshing and spicy and glorious as could be imagined.

Mini burritos ($2.75, below) are a great way to enjoy multiple meats and more of their salsa de chile de árbol, small flour tortilla-wrapped gems of meat and sauce. After a few, their chorizo and carnitas stick out most, probably sourced from next door where you will be watching people sourcing meats for their home as you eat.

The carnitas is good enough to enjoy on tacos ($2.50 each, below) if that is where your mood takes you. While not necessarily carnitas specialists, Carnicería Guadalajara and Taquería Millo will make you think twice about leaving without getting behind the last customer at the meat market and ordering a pound or two to take home.

Do not say you were unwarned.

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