la.foodblogging

For all of the great Mexican food I eat around town, my quest for the perfect breakfast burrito remains unfulfilled. Admittedly, my search has mainly consisted of driving around in the morning, looking first for an open restaurant, and then to see if the menu offers a morning burrito. I have had some good burritos at sit down breakfast places, but I am looking for a great burrito to go, one that I can pick up occasionally on my way to work. My biggest problem is finding somewhere that is open before 8:00 am.

That’s where Cinco De Mayo Tacos comes into play. Located on the corner of Sepulveda and Washington Pl (not Blvd), sandwiched between Johnny’s Pastrami and Tito’s Tacos, Cinco De Mayo is open 24 hours a day. No matter how early I leave for work, I know that I can pick up a burrito. There are three main offerings for the breakfast inclined, a machaca burrito, a breakfast burrito with your choice of meat and the #19, a burrito with eggs and onions. Shame on me, but I always order diez y nueve, their most basic burrito. For $3 you get what you expect, scrambled eggs and soft onions wrapped in a thick flour tortilla. There is a mild salsa inside the wrap and some spicy salsa on the side to apply with each bite.

The tortilla is what makes this burrito for me. It may be because I don’t eat it until I get to work, but it is soft and chewy, like a steamed tortilla and probably made with lard to give the thick consistency that I enjoy. The chips served in the bag are greasy enough to coat the top of your mouth and salty enough to make you salivate.

I haven’t tried anything else at Cinco De Mayo other than the #19, which I have enjoyed maybe a half dozen times. Surely, the Tito’s Taco cabal will poo poo the idea of eating at Cinco De Mayo. It’s obvious that there is a rivalry, with warning signs in the parking lot and entering the restaurant about using Cinco’s property to enjoy Tito’s gut bombs. Tito’s isn’t open at 6:30am though, and eggs aren’t on the menu, so give Cinco De Mayo a chance.

Cinco De Mayo Tacos
11204 Washington Pl
Culver City, CA 90230
(310) 391-5354

By Jonah (see more of his posts). Jonah is the founder of la.foodblogging and also created Digesty, a food blog aggregator and Cheww.com, a spam free foodblog search engine.