Late Nite Eats: La Cabana
La Cabana has been one of my favorite places to eat in Los Angeles almost since the day I arrived four years ago. It's just about perfect for anything you need.
Want to show your East Coast parents "real Mexican food?" Check. Want to go on a good first date with some of the best margaritas in Los Angeles with mariachi music playing live - but not too obtrusively? Check. Want a nice girls night out? Or a late night drunken good ole "get your grub on" fest? Check check.
Of all the times I have been here, there is usually a slight wait; Friday and Saturday nights are definitely a longer wait during dinner hours. But you can always go back into the bar to get a drink while you wait for a table and eat some chips. The night I went, I was enjoying a girls night with a good friend of mine. We both have been working a lot of hours and traveling too much this past summer and so we just wanted a place to sit in a deep booth, relax, order drinks and food and catch up.
We both ordered margaritas to start. Mine - rocks, salt. Her - frozen and raspberry. Both
$5.25 a piece. They have over 10 types of frozen margaritas to play with and a wide selection of tequilas and both domestic and import beers. It was a cold and rainy night, so we both started with soup. Mine was Albondigas (Mexican meatball soup) and hers was their Tortilla Soup (both $4.50 for a cup or $6.25 for a bowl.) Their tortilla soup is the best I have ever had. It's homemade down to the chips and tastes like someone grandma made it. Then again someone's grandma probably did.
She had the Tostada ($8.95) for dinner which tasted very fresh and had good quality ingredients. I had the Comida Completa. It's a great deal because for $15.75 you get soup or salad, a choice of either a taco, enchilada and chile relleno or tamal, enchilada and chile relleno plus rice, beans and tortillas. Oh and a house margarita. So basically I had a flat rate while I was there and that's always nice. Drunk people don't like to figure out how much each person owes for dinner.
Their chile relleno is out of this world. You can actually taste the chile, unlike some places, where you just taste cheese. But no matter what you order you can't really go wrong. They serve their entire menu until 3AM and stop serving drinks at 1:45AM. It's not cheap Mexican food, if you want that, there is a cart down the street by the shoe store that has what you're looking for. And of course there is the Casablanca fan club that prefers the Mexican restaurant caddy-corner from La Cabana. But given a choice, I'd pick La Cabana every time.
La Cabana
738 Rose Ave
Venice, CA 90291
(310) 392-6161
Hours 11AM-3AM
Takeout and catering also available
All pictures taken by Sloane Berrent for LAist