4 SoCal Spots Named Among Greatest Mexican Restaurants In U.S. By NYT

LOS ANGELES — Four Southern California restaurants made The New York Times' recent list of 41 of the greatest Mexican restaurants across the U.S.

"There has never been a better time for Mexican food in the United States," the Times reported. "A culinary renaissance over the last 15 years has expanded the American palate well beyond Tex-Mex, tacos and game-night nachos.

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"Mexican and Mexican American chefs have brought their cooking, in all of its regionality and specificity, to nearly every corner of the country."

The four Southern California restaurants included on the list are Lugya'h, Mariscos Jalisco and Mercado La Paloma, all in Los Angeles — as well as Valle in Oceanside.

The Times praised Lugya'h's moronga, a delicate blood sausage and "local treasure" with onion, dried chiles and yerba buena.

The newspaper described the shrimp tacos from Raul Ortega of Mariscos Jalisco, whose white taco truck has been a Boyle Heights staple for decades, as legendary.

Mercado La Paloma was lauded by the Times for bringing together "a half-dozen interconnected restaurants and an unreasonable amount of talent, hospitality and sheer deliciousness" in South Los Angeles.

Valle, meanwhile, captures "the beauty, grace and diverse ingredients and techniques of Mexico," the Times reported.

See the Times' full list.