Pleasure Palate Tour of El Mercadito August 27, 2006

IMPORTANT: You can not just show up for this tour. To RSVP,please join MEETinLA, a free to join social group!

Time to tempt your palate with all the pleasurable flavors that Southern California has to offer. Join Pleasure Palate as we do some culinary exploring of restaurants (both high-end and holes in the walls), various food and beverage tastings, cooking classes, potlucks and so much more. From savory to sweet, from salty to sour, from spicy to tangy, from exotic to All-American, we'll taste it all, so come along and take your taste buds on the ride of their life. This morning, we will be taking a cultural and culinary walking tour of one of East LA's busiest Mexican marketplaces, El Mercadito!

(from AOL CityGuide)

Since April of 1968, this vibrant three-story maze has offered mariachis, leather goods and the best gorditas this side of the LA River. You’ll know you’re in the right place when you see a large public outdoor shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe. La Virgen is decked out in Christmas lights, fresh-cut roses strewn at her feet. On your way inside the three-story building, you’ll see mango carts and makeshift booths selling Homies t-shirts and baby strollers. Inside, stop at Botanica Reina de Mexico Local #3 for some love potions, Yoruban saint candles and “bad-luck- go-away” soap.

Further into the marketplace, Libreria Independencia sells the newest banda megamixes as well as greeting and phone cards. La Chapala offers authentic Mexican food -- fat plantains, nopales (cacti) and pasilla chiles -- and lays them out the way the mercados of grand ol’ Mexico do. Hungry shoppers can sample the tasty carnita gorditas and agua de Jamaica at La Cocina-Antojitos Michoacanas. Music floating down from the third floor comes from the coolest (and probably the oldest) mariachis in all of East L.A.

To help us get a peek into Mexican culture and its culinary offerings, we will have our own personal tour guide, Raul Rodriguez. Raul, owner of Nevera Fresh Fruit Creations, will actually be guiding us through the market. For a couple of hours, he'll give us some insight into Mexican cultural traditions as well as introduce us to many authentic Mexican foods that you'll certainly not find at your local Taco Bell or Acapulco.

So be sure to bring cash for any shopping or eating you may want to do because it'll certainly be an eye-opening morning learning about a Mexico that we thought we knew about, but actually didn't, so hopefully you'll come out and join us.

Please note: To help compensate for Raul's time, gas, food for this tour, everyone will be chipping in $5 each.

Official Website: http://www.meetin.org/city/MEETinLA/EventsDetails.cfm?EventsID=38060