Tortas de Camaron: Glorias Restaurant

Glorias Restaurant (2657 Pasadena Ave. 323.221.3972) seems like a perfect place to eat Cuaresma food, this place is a religious establishment to the core, it just doubles as an eatery. They’ve maintained an outdoor public altar with La Virgen for quite some time but it was much more interesting before they got rid of the 3-D image of Jesus that would slowly wink as you passed. That was simultaneously creepy and hilarious. Blinking Jesus has since gone to a better place but filling his sandals quite nicely is the painting of Pope John Paul II kissing the hand of La Virgen: these images are reserved only for the Super-Catholics. I wonder if this religiosity stems from the fact that Diego’s Tacos across the street happens to reside at the demonic address of 2666, the neighbor of the beast surely needs to take precautions!

Despite the sanctity, Glorias let me down. Their Tortas de Camaron are lacking one crucial necessity: FLAVOR! The shell for a decent meal have all been collected properly, but they just seem to have forgotten that one last step that turns sustenance into a dish. The tortitas were of a decent texture, but you could barely taste the shrimp essence. Worse, the red chile sauce was utterly bland, completely devoid of flavor. I found myself adding salt to the meal (something I never do) to try and give it a kick, which sadly did not work. No point in going on about it, this meal was bland. It’s quite unfortunate since Glorias got some extra points for throwing in a simple but tasty lenteja soup and closing off the meal with a serving of capirotada, a bread pudding dessert.

Capirotada is a traditional dish during Cuaresma and though it was pleasing to see them include it with the meal, this one wasn’t to my liking, but i give them some points for the effort. But not even these two extras could salvage this plateful of mediocrity.
Oh Glorias! I want to like your food, I really do. You have one of the quaintest eateries around, all small and cozy with just the right amount of kookiness to make the experience interesting. But c’mon already, un poquito mas gloria a la comida and then maybe you’ll have something that could truly be worthy of praise. Until then, you’ll only be known as the food convent across from the devilish tacos everyone else seems to crave. EL CHAVO!