Black tacos in Los Angeles and where to find them

Containers with tacos, chips, beans and rice and other dishes.

By Kevinisha WalkerMultiplatform Editor, Newsletters

Feb. 24, 2024 6:30 AM PT

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Black tacos in Los Angeles and where to find them

Los Angeles is the home of the Black taco.

Take it from me: Three separate times I’ve opted to wait hours for my order from Worldwide Tacos in Leimert Park to be ready. And I’m not alone.

When you place an order at the window, a cashier will tell you it could take at least 30 minutes and up to three hours. Often it’s just the owner Frederick Sennie and his business partner preparing the food by themselves. That means handling catering and special orders on top of dozens of walk-up customers.

But are the tacos worth the wait? With lamb, salmon, crab and duck options on the menu plus columns of yummy flavors such as jerk, curry, pina colada, blueberry with blue cheese and raspberry chipotle, they are definitely delicious.

Worldwide Tacos is just one of several Black taco spots in the city that my colleague Danielle Dorsey highlights in her roundup of nine L.A. spots that prove that tacos are soul food.

Black tacos are based on recipes that trace back to Black kitchens, Danielle wrote. They might resemble the hard-shelled “gringo” tacos at fast-casual restaurants, but the difference is in the seasoned ground beef (often turkey), the fresh shredded cheese and lettuce and crisp fried tortillas. And instead of bottled options, the sauce is often made in-house, resembling barbecue sauce.

Original Taco Pete — dubbed the “home of the Black taco” — has been serving the South L.A. community for more than 50 years. The menu still features the same recipe in “OG” tacos with ground Angus beef, cheese, lettuce, onion, tomato and house taco sauce in a fried tortilla shell.

Taco Pete, along with newer restaurants that offer modern takes and twists on Black tacos (oxtail or plantain tacos, anyone?) are a huge part of L.A.’s soul food canon.

Here are a few others:

Sky’s Gourmet Tacos in Mid-Wilshire

Assorted tacos made by Barbara Burrell in the kitchen of her restaurant

Barbara “Sky” Burrell’s restaurant started as a takeout taco stand in 1992 with only five tacos on the menu — chicken, ground turkey, ground beef, pinto bean and shrimp.

Today, the menu has expanded to include tortas, burritos, nachos and fillings like lobster, filet mignon and yams with wild rice. But the shrimp tacos remain a crowd favorite.

Taco Mell in Leimert Park

After years of bouncing around with his taco cart in parking lots and other spaces, Compton native Jermelle “Mell” Henderson finally secured his current location on Crenshaw Boulevard next to the newly opened Leimert Park Metro station.

His tacos are similar to ones prepared in Black homes across Southern California, with well-seasoned chicken, steak, shrimp or a mix of all three meats on tortillas that can be fried to your preferred crispness, plus rice and beans as a vegetarian option. There’s also Kool-Aid on the drink menu.

Alta Adams in West Adams

While not solely a taco spot, Keith Corbin’s restaurant offers a nontraditional taco on its menu such as the jerk-spiced sweet plantain taco, which features a handmade corn tortilla, strips of caramelized plantain, mango-habanero salsa and chopped onion and cilantro.

Here’s more on Black taco spots to try and our coverage on Black tacos in Los Angeles:

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