Tortas Ahogadas El Rey
🇲🇽 JALISCO, MÉXICO / HISTORICAL: More than just the namesake tortas are delicious here at this purveyor of Guadalajara foods.
🇲🇽 MÉXICO (Jalisco)
📍 11537 Garvey Avenue,
El Monte, San Gabriel Valley.
🅿️ Private lot
🥤 No Alcohol
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📆 Original Article 26 April 2019
In a fun building that has seen two burger joints close in the past ten years, Tortas Ahogadas El Rey has decided to expand to their third location. After success in Southeast Los Angeles at branches in Lynwood and Huntington Park, this El Monte location will seek a different customer base in the San Gabriel Valley.
Inside, the furniture immediately transports you back to Guadalajara. The dining room may still have the bones of a burger joint, but within that it feels 100% Tapatío. The tables and chairs are exactly like those in the good tortas ahogadas restaurants in that Jalisco city, comfortable and high-backed, ready for a long stint eating and drinking into the night like at the amazing Ahogadalajara.
As the name might tip you off to, most folks come here for the tortas ahogadas, "drowned" sandwiches that are dunked or covered in a luscious and spicy sauce made with chiles de árbol. The versions at their other locations consistently show up on city-wide lists of favorites like a recent compilation put together by LA Taco, where it won first place.
Even if you are not one for lists or rankings, you and the entire area can just be happy to have so many folks from Jalisco in and around Los Angeles. This makes the foods from one of the most delicious of Mexican states readily available almost everywhere.
On this night, what inspired dinner was the carne en su jugo ($13.59, above and below), another Tapatío specialty very specific to Guadalajara. You may have first tried "meat in its juice," a soupy dish always served in a fairly shallow plate, at Karne Garibaldi. One of Guadalajara's originals, eating there is a slap in the face when the realization that so many years of life were wasted not eating it.
The dish served here at El Rey looks very similar to that famous plate. The main ingredients are thin slices of flank steak, red beans, potatoes, bits of bacon, and a heartwarming broth. Squeeze in some lime for a sour kick and life is very good. Tomatillos, serrano peppers, onions, garlic, and black pepper all make their voices heard.
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