Antojitos La Cosa Nuestra

🇲🇽 MÉXICO (Jalisco)

📍 2620 Vermont Avenue, Adams-Normandie, South Los Angeles

🅿️ Metered parking on street, free parking in plaza.

💲 Cash Only.

🥤 No Alcohol.

If you came upon this business at one of a few locations over the past eight years, you may have identified it first by the (altered) Godfather logo they used to emblazon their signage. In combination with a name that comes straight from the Sicilian mafia (Cosa Nostra in Italian), you might wonder what kind of sinister background the family-run quesadilla trailer has made for itself.

But you will soon learn that there is nothing to be afraid of here, except maybe for the pounds you start packing on when you become a regular. The logo has disappeared, maybe a copyright infringement, but the quesadillas are as good as ever and the guisados that they stuff them with from a family recipe back in Jalisco are always delicious.

Crispy fried quesadillas stuffed with these guisados are the only current offering at the trailer parked just south of the 10 on Vermont. In fact on Google Maps, the business is accidentally named "Antojito La Cosa Nuestra" which is not technically wrong since there is only the one. Tacos and other antojitos have been taped over for now on the menu. One quesadilla ($6, above and below) is a thick and filling treat, if you are a 4 to 6 taco kind of person, 2 or 3 of these will be plenty.

When you receive your order to go (there is a wall to sit on if you want, but most people head back to their cars), the bag includes both a red and green salsa which are obviously homemade. They are both full of flavor and heat, but guisados in general do not actually need them and honestly most should not be tampered with except maybe the plain chicken or asada.

This is probably just the result of too many explanations to USC students that do not know any better to leave their guisados alone and expect salsas like at one of the three birria trucks that share this block with La Cosa Nuestra. But do not turn them down, keep them sealed and stash them for when you get home and need salsa for something else because these are top notch.

Tinga de pollo sometimes makes its way onto a taco menu, but tinga de res (above) is more rare and one of this family's best offerings. It should not be missed if this is your first visit, and is hard not to re-order even on a return trip when there are things you have not tried yet. The shredded beef in a chipotle salsa is the perfect choice for quesadillas, pairing so nicely with the crisp lettuce and multiple cheeses.

Guisados like those tingas and the otherworldly rajitas (above) are cradled by the fried masa wrapper, which itself goes through a couple steps before filling. These are fried to order, first stuffed with cheese and sealed to fry, then opened back up when ready for stuffing. Plan for 15 minutes or so even when the trailer is not busy, because everything is made only when you order it.

It is hard to pick a guisado that you will not crave each time you come, which certainly happens with the exquisite chicharrón en salsa roja (below). These are soft and slippery, full of flavor, heat, and love. If you eat this one standing up, keep your container close below and ask for a fork to pick up all the delicious pieces that will inevitably find their way out of the quesadilla.

Diving further into the menu, no weaknesses are found in either the mole (below, top), which uses chicken and a mole pour-over when ordered, or the chorizo con papa (below, bottom), which bursts with so much more flavor than you would guess. Grab a bottle of Coke from their cooler and you have yourself just about the perfect meal.

Time your trips to La Cosa Nuestra with the sun setting behind Vermont Avenue Elementary across the street and even the heavy rush hour traffic does not seem overbearing as that first guisado drip stains your shoelaces or pants. As per the L.A. Taco article linked above, the family plans to expand soon, so look out for news of that when it happens. Whichever neighborhood they expand to will be all the better off to receive such delicious and unique antojitos in their area.

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