Photo-finish Friday: Buen día

Chano's Original, 3309 North Mission Road, Los Angeles

Found myself in East LA most of yesterday and when lunch time came around, the GPS sent me here for some Mexican fast food. A great thing about LA if you love Mexican food. It's authentic and it's everywhere.

Chano's is home of "World Famous Burritos" (I'm still trying to grasp that concept). This place doesn't quite match up to Tito's Tacos in my old neighborhood, almost under the 405 freeway and where there's always a line at the window. But in deference to the ever-widening range of LA lifestyles, Chano's makes the extra effort. It has a hand-picked menu for vegetarians.

I went for the chile rellenos (cheese-stuffed chile peppers), which came with refried beans, rice, a good helping of excellent pico de gallo, and a fist full of steaming hot tortillas. When I opened the take-out container and saw how much there was, I said, "I'll never eat all this." Some time later, I was eating those words, too.

A mixed clientele added the ambiance, including city employees, construction workers, men in security uniforms with side arms, and a girl with a guy covered in tattoos (without seeming to look too closely, I spied a larger-than-life-size set of brass knuckles across the back of his neck). Everybody friendly and laid-back, of course. Hey, it's LA.

Only one problem. No cerveza. A Negra Modelo would have made it perfect.