The Alameda Swap Meet
Going by the recommendations found on the invaluable Chowhound, Quyen and I decided to go for lunch at the Alameda Swap Meet the day I fly out of L.A. It was quite the experience.
I was quite taken with the boldly pastel signage outside the swapmeet.
But the real attraction ofcourse is the food. Here is Quyen with our first stop at a Taco stall. She started light with a Taco with pork Al Pastor. I'm still not quite sure what that term means. Meanwhile, I pumped for the sopes you can see in the foreground -- a thick, corny disk liberally slathered and splattered with refried beans, pork cheeks, cilantro and cheese! The stewed pork cheeks were so tender they fall apart in your mouth.
After the taco stand, we wandered around the market and got various snacky items like the hot corn with lime and chili powder, which was unusual, but not particularly outstanding. We also each had an agua fresca. Those Mexican refreshers were very fruity, which is good, but also very sweet, which is not so good. I felt like we were basically drinking fruit flavored simple syrup. Still, I kept taking little sips. The lime was better than the watermelon because the sharpness of the lime cut through the sugariness of the drink. It was even better after some of the ice cubes melted into it.
We then decided to take on one more big dish. I was in the mood for seafood, so we got a seafood torte for only $8.50. It was enormous! Here I am, poised to spear.
And here is a closeup of the salad. As you can see, there was a great quantity of shrimp, as well as octopus and "abalone". The only annoyance was the equally enormous quantity of fake crab which had to be gotten out of the way. If only we spoke Spanish, we could have told the woman to leave it out altogether.
I have to say, this was not tip-top quality seafood. But it was fresh enough, and where else can you gorge yourself on such a large amount of seafood for $8.50?
All in all, the Alameda swapmeet is a great place for lunch. It wasn't until after we headed out to the parking lot that we realized that we were the only non-hispanic people we saw at the swapmeet that day!
I was quite taken with the boldly pastel signage outside the swapmeet.
But the real attraction ofcourse is the food. Here is Quyen with our first stop at a Taco stall. She started light with a Taco with pork Al Pastor. I'm still not quite sure what that term means. Meanwhile, I pumped for the sopes you can see in the foreground -- a thick, corny disk liberally slathered and splattered with refried beans, pork cheeks, cilantro and cheese! The stewed pork cheeks were so tender they fall apart in your mouth.
After the taco stand, we wandered around the market and got various snacky items like the hot corn with lime and chili powder, which was unusual, but not particularly outstanding. We also each had an agua fresca. Those Mexican refreshers were very fruity, which is good, but also very sweet, which is not so good. I felt like we were basically drinking fruit flavored simple syrup. Still, I kept taking little sips. The lime was better than the watermelon because the sharpness of the lime cut through the sugariness of the drink. It was even better after some of the ice cubes melted into it.
We then decided to take on one more big dish. I was in the mood for seafood, so we got a seafood torte for only $8.50. It was enormous! Here I am, poised to spear.
And here is a closeup of the salad. As you can see, there was a great quantity of shrimp, as well as octopus and "abalone". The only annoyance was the equally enormous quantity of fake crab which had to be gotten out of the way. If only we spoke Spanish, we could have told the woman to leave it out altogether.
I have to say, this was not tip-top quality seafood. But it was fresh enough, and where else can you gorge yourself on such a large amount of seafood for $8.50?
All in all, the Alameda swapmeet is a great place for lunch. It wasn't until after we headed out to the parking lot that we realized that we were the only non-hispanic people we saw at the swapmeet that day!
posted by Battlepanda | 10:10 PM
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