Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
World Wide Tacos: Soul Food Worth the Wait
By Eddie North-Hager/ Special to LAist
Sometimes near the corner of Arlington Boulevard and Martin Luther King Jr, Boulevard you’ll see them huddled outside in the dim of the fluorescent light. They aren’t there to smoke a cigarette and it’s not an Alcoholicos Anonimos meeting.
Soul food tacos are the objects they desire.
They are waiting for one of Fredrick Sennie’s World Wide Tacos. This place, also known as Best in the West Tacos and King Tacos, has more names than P-Diddy. There’s no indoor or outdoor seating and it can be 90 minutes for two tacos. At least now they will call you when your order is ready. Individuals still can’t preorder.
Support for LAist comes from
The regulars who forget to leave their phone number or first-timers end up waiting in the parking lot. They stare at the white ticket stub with their number on it as if it was a lottery ticket because any taco you wait an half hour for is a very valuable taco. These tacos are worth the wait. No matter how much you swear that you’ll never wait that long again for a taco, eventually you will come back. You can’t get these anywhere else.
It starts with a menu of more than 150 different tacos. Turkey pastrami. Vegetarian barbecue "chicken". Ground lamb. Vegetarian orange "duck". Belizean shrimp. Mango chicken. Vegetarian teriyaki "chicken". Grilled crab. Potatoes and cheese. The list is like three-feet tall. That’s not including the very tasty sandwiches and hamburgers and burritos.
Served in a hard shell unlike any other. It seems lightly toasted, yet it has all the taste of a traditional greasy, deep fried shell. And it rarely breaks in half. These aren’t even really what you think of Mexican tacos - they don’t have beans. Sennie calls them Soul Food tacos. They are so much more than that. They taste fresh, homemade and not nearly as heavy as traditional Los Angeles Soul Food and there isn’t an emphasis on gravy, but on sauces and spice.
From a vegetarian’s view, the selection of 70 different veggie products are spiced and cooked from scratch in the kitchen is probably the best in the city. The best in the city. From a meat-eaters point of view, many of the veggie imposter products are just as good as the real thing. That isn’t to say the meat and fish and shrimp and scallop tacos aren't great in their own right. But the texture of the tofu and the sauces he infuses into them, or whatever magic he does, is not just a rare success, it’s something that is rarely tried.
After waiting so long, you may want to eat these tacos in the car on the way home. But these are not ready made tacos, ready to go and eat in the car Pollo Loco tacos. They need instructions. They are the only tacos worth instructions.
Hold the still-wrapped taco and push down on the top of yellow wrapping paper. That pushes the fresh lettuce, onion, cilantro, tomato and cheese into the shell. Otherwise these are messy tacos. Don’t eat them while driving. Instead put them on a plate and use a fork, because that romaine lettuce, cheese, tomatoes cilantro, red onion with the house taco sauce is sliced and diced by hand. And you can taste the difference.
Still how can a taco take that long?
Support for LAist comes from
Though Sennie’s heard the question before, he doesn’t try to explain.
“Everything is prepared fresh and we have a small kitchen,” Sennie said. “One order can complicate everything and it can take 45 minutes.”
Not a satisfying answer. He’ll expand when he’s ready, he said. He’s trying to keep a low profile until then. And he’s not going to rush.
So, honestly, no tacos are worth waiting 90 minutes. But if you try them once, you’ll be back.
World Wide Tacos 323-291-1500
2419 W. Martin Luther King Blvd.
Leimert Park, Ca.
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.
Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.
Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.
Chip in now to fund your local journalism
(
LAist
)
Trending on LAist
-
If approved, the more than 62-acre project would include 50 housing lots and a marina less than a mile from Jackie and Shadow's famous nest overlooking the lake. -
The U.S. Supreme Court lifted limits on immigration sweeps in Southern California, overturning a lower court ruling that prohibited agents from stopping people based on their appearance.
-
Censorship has long been controversial. But lately, the issue of who does and doesn’t have the right to restrict kids’ access to books has been heating up across the country in the so-called culture wars.
-
With less to prove than LA, the city is becoming a center of impressive culinary creativity.
-
Nearly 470 sections of guardrailing were stolen in the last fiscal year in L.A. and Ventura counties.
-
Monarch butterflies are on a path to extinction, but there is a way to support them — and maybe see them in your own yard — by planting milkweed.
Best of LAist