I was sure this was going to be a good spot for Huevos Rancheros, I don’t know why but I just had a feeling. The online reviews were mostly positive, it catered to working people that just want a quick and tasty affordable meal, and it’s in an area with lots of Mexicans. And they even have a lil’ vegetarian options menu, a nice touch. My HR-dar must be broken because sadly, the HR’s were terrible.
The sign sez “Keeping the Mexican Food Tradition Alive, Made Fresh Daily” but after tasting their beans and rice I doubt very strongly they make their food fresh daily.
The place is in an old Chano’s spot, what was I thinking? At $5.25 it is very affordable, compared to the price of food in LA these days. I got a taco de papa as well, just to give it a taste.
Oh, its one of these things. It was good enough, though you can see the tortilla was kinda burny and the whole thing was a bit on the greasy side. Heat your oil properly!
And for the main attraction, our plate of HR’s. Looks messy was my first impression, can’t a poor guy get some proper plating and a bit of presentation? Minor quibble but it all goes incredibly downhill from there. WTF is up with all that sour cream? Why is there a needless “salad” gunking up my breakfast? Grrr. The rice was old and not even reheated properly, it was barely warm. Same for the terrible beans. Is the cheese on top melting? No it is not. At this point I start thinking about food safety and doubting my decision to venture out in search of new places. But in the interest of proper documentation, we proceed. Pa’cabarla de chingar, the beans are also old, and burnt, and saltless, and greasy. No pos no. A Mexican place that can’t get their beans and rice in order? Shut it down!
And I haven’t even started on the HR’s. As you can see, the salsa ranchera is instead that southwest style red sauce, with the ground chile powder and flour as a thickener. When done right it can be a very beautiful thing. But this place can’t even get rice and beans to the proper temperature, so of course this sauce was crap. No spiciness, no meaningful flavors, but there was a note of tangy vinegar buried underneath, pass! Do I need to mention that the tortillas underneath were not fried? You already suspected as much. I don’t even care about the eggs at this point.
Blech. Yeah, I think I’m done. I can have second breakfast later. Life is too short to eat shitty food.
“El Huero” indeed.
El Huero 213.747.0012
3000 S. Figueroa St.
Los Angeles, CA 90007
www.elhuero.com
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oh shit! this place! I used to go here when working at that high school in South Central. this is place is kinda a trip. first of all their drive-thru window is on the right-side which makes getting your food annoying. but yeah, their mexican food is just whatevz with lots of cheese & not a lot of flavor. i kinda like their vegetarian “chili” fries which im pretty sure is just the same nasty chili sauce you find anywhere else but without the ground beef. but hey, sometimes you want a nasty lunch.
Your first (and only) warning sign should have been the “Pastrami” listed along with all of the Mexican items and the hamburgesa. The intersection of schizophrenia and bad cooking is best avoided.
Of course, Spanish only being my third language, I had to look up “huero” in a dictionary. Got this: “empty, vacuous, hollow, sterile” and “[+huevo] rotten”… So perhaps they are trying to live up to their names, serving rotten huevos rancheros in order to make their restaurant as empty as possible.