[CLOSED] Ribtown BBQ

🇺🇸 UNITED STATES
📍 2125 W. Jefferson Blvd., Jefferson Park, South Los Angeles
🅿️ Trailer is in a parking lot with spots for customers
🥤 No Alcohol

EDITOR'S NOTE: This business has closed permanently. An updated version of this article (21 March 2025) is available as part of the Free Friday Favorites section of our Substack page. Check that out here:

https://eattheworldla.substack.com/p/ribtown-bbq-los-angeles-closed

The opening hours of Ribtown BBQ say 12:00 noon on Google Maps, but people start wandering up to the window closer to 11:30 to see when orders can be placed. Barbecue obviously takes a while to prepare, and the smokers behind this small trailer have been sending plumes and the delicious smell of pork into the Jefferson Park lot they live in and its surrounding areas.

On Friday and Saturday only, people who live or work nearby come to this lot to swap Los Angeles barbecue stories, their long-gone favorites, and order from this husband and wife duo. They specialize in spareribs and the charred tips that have long been seen as the throwaway cuts of proper pork barbecue in many places.

As has often happened in the history of the United States, what some people have decided to throw away as waste has been turned into something incredibly delicious by those of lesser means. Rib tips have become a staple in the lexicon of some places like Chicago, where barbecue traditions migrated from the south and twisted in their own directions.

At Ribtown, the proprietor and pitmaster is from Los Angeles and has family that came from Texas, but he would not name any of these places as a style. In the spirit of California and the city of Los Angeles, this can be considered truly local barbecue, born from everywhere that folks have lived before coming. Purity is often demanded from people and their barbecue, but none of that is necessary here.

Despite being former cast-offs, rib tips are not easy to cook. They are generally thinner and can dry out easily, but since the cuts all have different sizes and thicknesses, a pitmaster has to constantly move them around and turn them over. If you have the means, the best order here is to make sure you get some of both; those lovely, grisly and fatty tips, and part of a rack of spareribs.

Some pieces here have dried out a bit while most are fantastic. Gnawing off slightly charred juicy bits from its small bones is a pleasure, you will start to wonder why the rib-tip plate ($14, below) is so much less expensive than the other cuts. As you lick the slightly sweet sauce from your fingers and dig into the serviceable sides, life is pretty good.

The pile of meat in any order is enough to make the styrofoam container bulge, but these rib tips are enough for two since you also get two sides and white bread with any combo. Try the collard greens and house beans, both of which have plenty of pulled pork and its smoky flavor in them. The beans also contain bits of the beef hot links.

For a wider sampling of what is smoking behind the trailer, they offer a combo plate ($24, below) which contains one of those hot links, two big spareribs, and two pieces of chicken. The links are snappy and offer good variety to orders here, but the chicken might be the one to skip if you only have so much room. As expected, the ribs are the star here, and you will be picking those bones clean down to the very last bit.

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Restaurante Y Pupuseria El Maná

EL SALVADOR 🇸🇻

EDITOR'S NOTE: An updated version of this article (28 October 2024) is available as part of the Historical section of our Substack page. Check that out here:

https://eattheworldla.substack.com/p/restaurante-y-pupuseria-el-mana-salvadoran-los-angeles

It may not be the most beautiful stretch of Jefferson Blvd. in South Los Angeles, but the blue and white metal bars on the window, awning, and hand-painted signs are just a wave of what is in store for diners who choose to stop in and eat. Inside the door, and on the other side of the unused bullet-proof glass partitions that seem made for a different era, a small five table dining room is surrounded by paintings and pictures of El Salvador, a few Guatemalan handicrafts, and most interestingly a wide photo of Jerusalem.

But the menu does not stray from la patria salvadoreña, starting with breakfast, a wide range of pupusas, soups, seafood, and carne asada. Originally the business began in a local home, but got popular enough almost a decade ago that it needed to expand into its own space.

Opening at 09:00 six days a week, El Maná is a great and popular place for breakfasts, with many different options for enjoying your eggs. One of the most delicious ways is a plate of huevos con loroco ($11, above), which also comes loaded with beans, fried sweet plantains, crema, queso, and a slice of avocado like any reputable Central American breakfast should.

Loroco only grows natively in El Salvador and its neighbors, but thankfully Los Angeles is close enough and has enough demand to make sure that the edible green buds of this flowering vine are available for pupusas and scrambled eggs at Salvi restaurants. They are often enjoyed in pupusas but may be allowed to shine brighter when eaten like this in eggs.

Whether with loroco or with cheese, beans, and chicharrón, pupusas ($3 each, above) are all freshly patted out with the ingredients of your choice and expertly griddled. They tend to leave them on just a bit longer here, giving you plenty of crispy cheese oozed out and fried.

A tub of zesty curtido and squeeze bottle of tomato salsa are brought out automatically with any pupusa order and should be applied liberally. While there may be a fork and knife on the plate as well, do note that the proper way to eat these are with your hands, risking burning your fingertips when they come out fresh.

On a recent visit, another customer was receiving an order of camarones al mojo de ajo ($14, above), which looked and smelled irresistible. These freshly prepared big shrimp are zesty with a thin gravy of garlic sauce and are served with rice and beans. Spritz on a few slices of lime to play with the heavy buttery nature, and combined with bites of rice and beans there is pure bliss.

Next visits once the heat subsides just a bit will explore soups like the always satisfying sopa de gallina, more of the tasty ways they prepare shrimp, and pollo en crema. And of course more pupusas, which can also be ordered here with chicken, carne asada, shrimp, and flor de calabaza and made with rice flour if desired.

📍 2511 W. Jefferson Blvd., Jefferson Park, South Los Angeles

🇸🇻🇸🇻🇸🇻

I COULD USE YOUR HELP

Eat the World Los Angeles is and always has been free. It is a hobby born of passion and never solicits money or free food from restaurants. No advertisements block the content or pop over what you read. If this website has helped you explore your city and its wonderful cultures a little better please tell your friends about us and if you have the means to contribute, please consider doing so. Eat the World Los Angeles is a labor of love, but also takes a lot of money and time everyday to keep running.

Thank you!

VENMO: @JAREDCOHEE

CASH APP: $JaredCohee

PAYPAL: (no account necessary, use link)