Cemitas Tepeaca

The plan.  Go to school and finish class at 2:00pm.  Head over to East LA to try a cemita from Cemitas Tepeaca which I read about over on York Blvd.  And then head on over to Irvine to meet up with some church folk for dinner.

Things didn’t go quite as planned.  I went to school.  I tried a cemita for my very first time.  And I did go to Irvine to spend some time with church friends.  I did all that.  But who would have thought that heading over deep into Orange Country from East LA at 3 in the afternoon would take less than an hour.  That gave me a lot of time to spare so I went to Strawberry Farms to hit some range balls.  The only reason why I bother to mention this is because at this pretty nice golf course, I saw two grown white men go at it.  Started out with some casual trash talking to an all-out fist fight.  Wow.

Alright, so with that irrelevant piece of information aside, I’ll talk about what I had over in East LA.  If I could compare the cemita to anything, it would be a torta.  I ordered the Cemita de Milanesa.  Milanesa is a breaded and deep fried cutlet.  So it was simple.  Sesame roll, the cutlet, avocado, these carrots and red jalapeno peppers (side note, don’t ask for them on the side like I did), and cheese… a lot of cheese.  The bread was pretty hard, unlike the torta.  I thought what made the cemita different was the peppers.  Despite it being red, I didn’t think there was too much of a difference from the green peppers and carrot mix you get at other Mexican places but it certainly was a nice addition.  The peppers gave a kick to a rather heavier taste.

But I noticed my cemita looked different from everyone elses.  Everyone else, when they bit into their cemita had strands of cheese coming out just like a slice of cheesy pizza.  Mine didn’t do that.  After I finished mine, I realized, everyone else paid a dollar more to get a cemita CON QUESILLO.  I guess it’s some type of Mexican string cheese but it looked better than what I had.  I need to remember that for next time.  Cemita de Milanesa con Quesillo.

Oh yeah, and I ordered a coke too.  And of course my coke was different from everyone elses’.  I was drinking out from a can while everyone else was drinking out from a bottle…  Soy un gringo.

<Edited 5/11/09> I don’t know what it was about today, but my Cemita experience was a whole lot different.  It was more like that described on York Blvd. than my first time there.  I ordered the Cemita de Milanesa con Quesillo with jalapeno.  The first time I was there, there was a bit of a communication problem in regards to the chile on my part.  He asked me what kind of chile and I said yes.  He paused.  Chipotle or Jalapeno?  Yes.  Hahaha.

Today the bun was a whole lot softer.  I tasted the papalo (if you’re not into the whole herby/minty thang, then don’t ask for it) which gave the cemita its own unique taste.  The quesillo was good, maybe a tad salty.  I got the Mexican coke.  I don’t know what it was, but I know it was better this time around.

Cemitas Tepeaca
E. Cesar Chavez Ave & N Indiana St.
Los Angeles, CA 90063

Teresitas Restaurant

I don’t quite know what authentic Mexican food is.  I’m not talking about your standard taqueria fare.  Because I’m sure there’s more to Mexican food than just that.  That’s just like saying all there is to Korean food is dduk-bokk-kee, kimbap, kimchi, and some Korean barbeque. I would scoff at anyone who said that.  Not really having any Mexican friends, it’s kind of hard for me to know more about Mexican food.

The closest I’ve gotten to authentic Mexican food is probably Teresitas.  What am I comparing this too?  El Cholo.  Don’t get me wrong, I love El Cholo, but it’s probably Americanized to a large extent.  And you can also tell that I don’t have much to compare against.  What makes me think this is more authentic?  1) They claim to be authentic.  2) A Mexican person took my dad here and my dad took me here in return.  3) It’s in East LA.  4) There are a lot of Latin-lookin’ people here.  Ah the ignorance.  But bear with me.

This was my third time here, twice for breakfast and once for lunch.  This time was breakfast again.  And I ordered the same thing as I did the first time I was here… Chilaquiles with eggs and top sirloin steak.  The Chilaquiles are “fried corn tortillas prepared with spicy red or green hot chile sauce, topped with onions and cheese.” It wasn’t hot at all but man… so good!!  The fried tortilla is soaked in that sauce and cheese is sprinkled over it.  The fried tortilla is somewhat soggy from being soaked in the sauce, yet it’s still somewhat crispy.  If you let it sit then it’ll get soggier, but it’s still good!  With the steak and eggs, it makes a real hearty breakfast.  It comes with a side of beans and potatoes too but I was too full to touch it.  MmmMMmmMmm~~!!!

Their carne asada on the lunch/dinner menu is pretty darn good too.

Check their hours.  They don’t open so early for breakfast during the weekdays.

Teresitas Restaurant
3826 E 1st St
Los Angeles, CA 90063
Phone: 323.266.6045