Top Ten Unusual Dishes In Los Angeles

Los Angeles has some of the best food in the country, if not the world. Even here, however, you can get tired of eating the region's greatest mainstay dishes: tacos and great Chinese food. Fortunately, there are even more less well known foods to explore including more obscure dishes from Mexico and China, as well as dishes from other places around the world. Here is our list of more obscure dishes from around Los Angeles.

Turkey Tacos @ Paloma Market

Turkey in Tacos? Are there turkeys in Mexico? I don't know. Maybe. In any case, Paloma Market, located near USC, is home to a number of great Mexican Restaurants. Chichen Itza, a Yucatanese restaurant, offers turkey on their menu. Another Mexican restaurant located in this indoor market, Taqueria Vista Hermosa, was rated the best Mexican restaurant in L.A. Oaxacalifornia, the third Mexican restaurant in this market, sells turkey tostadas. You used to be able to buy shark tacos at this market as well, but I'm not sure if this is still the case. It's still definitely worthwhile to drop in and try from any of the stellar restaurants this market has to offer.

Snail Cocktails @ Tacos Baja Ensenada

This is a stellar seafood restaurant located in Whittier, CA. They offer a wide range of tacos, as well as seafood cocktails that include octopus, clams, and shrimp, scallops and snail. You used to be able to buy stingray tacos here as well; I'm not sure if this is still the case. Still, Mexican style snail is pretty exotic. For great French style snail or escargot, on a somewhat related note, visit Cafe Beaujolais in Eagle Rock.

Lamb Tacos @ My Taco in Highland Park

This restaurant specializes in "barbacoa de borrego", or lamb tacos. Their website describes their lamb tacos as coming with "a cup of hot goat consommé" so you are getting two unusual taco meats in one taco. We highly recommend this colorful and cheerful restaurant located in Highland Park. They also have a great selection of seafood dishes, again including octopus, but no snail.

North Central Chinese Food @ Shaanxi Garden and Shaanxi Gourmet

Most Chinese food available in the U.S. is styled after Hunan, Sichuan, or Cantonese region cuisine. Shaanxi Garden and Shaanxi Gourmet, two restaurants named after the region from which it hails, has a very different menu. Their dishes feature hot stews with a reddish color and viscous consistency, lamb, frog, and thick handmade noodles. This stretch of Valley Blvd is a great place to stop on a cold evening.

Western Chinese Food @ Omar's Restaurant

This restaurant, from the arid Xinjiang region in Western Chinese, offers a cross between Central Asian food and Chinese food. Omar's offers large handmade noodles, meat pies, kebabs, lamb soups, naan, Xinjiang milk tea, and Xinjiang chow mein, making it a very unique and eclectic style restaurant.

Tacos with Cactus @ La Cabanita Restaurant

Did you know that cactus is edible? Well it is, but it's better to have someone else prepare it, so you don't have to eat around the sharp pointy things or try to figure out how to remove them. If you are in the mood to try some flavorful tacos, stop by La Cabanita Restaurant in Glendale, and order the taco de nopales, or cactus tacos. This restaurant also offers a number of other great dishes, including their pozole soup with fresh radishes.

Burmese Food @ Yoma Myanmar and Dee Yaw Myanmar

Do you really, really like coconuts? Then Burmese food might be your new favorite cuisine. This region offers a number of entrées ranging from cold noodles to hot stews and fried dumplings, often mixed with coconut, a common fruit in Burma, also known as Myanmar. Both restaurants, Yoma and Dee Yaw, are located on Garfield Avenue in Monterey Park.

Sturgeon Salad @ Urban Dacha

This next dish doesn't make our list because of the obscurity of the country from which it hails. Most people have heard of Russia, a very large country that starts in Eastern Europe and ends near Japan. However, fewer people have heard of the dish, sturgeon salad. So the next time you are in the mood for sturgeon, in a Russian salad, stop at Urban Dacha in Valley Village. This restaurant also offers an assortment of meat dishes, pelmeni (dumplings), Cornish hen, and off course, gorgonzola escargot, which rounds up our snail endorsements. We also recommend Solidarity (formerly Warszawa), in Santa Monica for excellent Polish food.

Guerrero Style Tacos

Mexico has many different states and regions, and different regions have different styles of tacos. Guerrero tacos, hailing from the eponymous southern coastal state of Guerrero, features denser tacos with richer and heavier salsas. Stop by Guerrero Taco in downtown L.A. to see for yourself.

Malaysian Food

Malaysian food offers a number of interesting and amazing dishes based off of crispy fried rice, and soggy noodle soups. There are also ramen like dishes with eggs and crispy meat, with bottles of home made hot sauce on the side. You should definitely try Borneo Kalimantan, which describes itself as Malaysian-Indonesian-Singapore cuisine, the next time you are in downtown Alhambra.