At this weekend-only tortas ahogadas stand located inside the Molina Tires and Wheels parking lot is a true Guadalajara experience of tortas ahogadas, which are doused with salsa roja from a ladle into plastic to-go bags. Be sure to get an order of tacos dorados covered in carnitas and drowned in the same mouth-numbing salsa. The motto here is “mañana si amanese crudo vengase a curarsela con una rica torta ahogada” — if you wake up hungover in the morning, a delicious torta ahogada will cure it.

Under a shady ramadita, or little thatch roof (here it’s an overhanging roof) with a Chivas emblem on the sign sits North Hollywood’s temple of Tapatío street foods. Featured dishes include shredded beef and potato tacos, pig’s foot tostadas, and tortas ahogadas made with extra sturdy rolls. Enjoy one of the best tortas ahogadas in LA, then have the fine jericallas (a custard-like dessert) in this regional Mexican oasis off the dry, cracked, barren stretch of Vineland Avenue.

This Tapatío restaurant serves classics like pozole, carne en su jugo, and tacos de barbacoa, but it’s also a destination for festive molcajetes of grilled meats, cheeses, and seafood swimming in a hot, coarse lava stone mortar filled with a pool of bubbling salsa. They also make a beautiful sloppy torta ahogada filled with a generous portion of carnitas in a coarse birote salado served in clay plates. Drinks are served in jarritos (clay mugs), for a touch of Mexican charm in a Rialto strip mall.

For almost a quarter-century, Gerardo and Maria Dávila’s East LA cenaduría has been offering fine enchiladas, tacos dorados, beef barbacoa tacos, and other antojitos as good as you’ll find at the town plaza of Ameca in Jalisco. Most regulars go straight for their punishingly spicy and tangy tortas ahogadas of carnitas jammed into an elongated, football-shaped birote salado. And if you feel like going off the menu, ask Dávila to make you a shrimp torta ahogada, another popular filling in Jalisco.

Built on the solid foundation of housemade birote salado, using a recipe developed by founder Santiago “Chago” Laguna and Chago’s first panadero (baker) Don Ángel Solis, this tortas ahogadas specialist originally opened in Guadalajara in 1985. Chago is the only vendor in town that does it all in house from the bread to the meat. The Montebello location opened in 2006 with a ‘50s-style soda fountain design just like in Guadalajara, with black and white checkerboard floor, shiny red vinyl booths, and memorabilia providing a novel setting for stiff rolls drowned in tomato sauce and salsa de chile de árbol.

Fillings include classic carnitas, and for a couple of quarters more, the tasty pork tongue. The Laguna family still oversees production of birotes salados, now made by panaderos Francisco Javier Calvillo and Omar Calvillo, a dedicated father and son team making bread rolls that sets this torta ahogada stand apart.

Mario and Allegra Pérez have developed a menu for everyone: Po’ boys, hamburgers, ceviche, and hefty volcano nachos. Before it opened in 2008, the Pérezes worked at numerous other restaurants, hence the eclectic menu. Inglewood denizens are guaranteed a super spicy torta ahogada in a crispy sourdough roll, which holds up very well under the bath of salsa roja.

One of the many outstanding vendors that’s gathered at the Patata Street market in Cudahy, driven by the publicity of the popular Los Sabrosos al Horno, this stand serves delicious tortas ahogadas on a plate, or en bolsita (plastic bag), just like in Guadalajara. Open on Saturday and Sunday only, this street stand also offers antojitos tapatíos like pickled pork skin tostadas, in addition to the traditional torta ahogada stand option of tacos dorados — deep fried tacos that are covered in the stand’s tomato sauce and salsa de chile de árbol.

Opened in 2020, Eidy “La China” Cardona’s small Wilmington stand is everything one wants in a traditional torta ahogada vendor. Guadalajara native and veteran tortero Rigoberto Escobedo brings this recipe from Guadalajara, where he previously worked making tortas ahogadas. Tortas ahogadas and tacos dorados are the main attraction here, so go for the combo. The dense birote salado is made by a local Tapatío baker while the salsa imparts a viscous tang to the tomato sauce. The simply spiced salsa thins at the edges while delivering throat-clearing ferocity. 

This exciting mini-chain with locations in Pomona and Santa Ana conjures images of giant tortas inside of Guadalajara’s Mercado Libertad with their La Vikinga — a lonche de lomo (pork loin sandwich) is nearly the size of a duffel bag. La Gigante is the length of Shaq’s forearm, and the tortas ahogadas are just as impressive in their sloppy yet appetizing plating that might require a fork, but the mess is half the fun.