La Despensa Latina

Great food! Reminds me of home cooking when I lived in Mexico! Plus they have Mexican Coke!!!

As Amy C. said, this is a hole in the wall type restaurant combined with a small market which has wonderful Mexican pastries.  I prefer these type of Mexican restaurants because they taste good and are cheap!  Ordering is done at a counter and you sit down at the few booths they have; they serve you if you dine in.

I ate the smothered burrito with barbacoa meat which was literally smothered with cheese; I wonder if I asked for it not to be smothered, whether the burrito would not have a heart attack's worth of cheese.  Served with refried beans, rice, and the sides of lettuce, tomato, and sour cream, it still tasted great, especially if you are very hungry since the portions are large.  At $6.50, this plate is quite the steal during dinner hours compared to other sit-down restaurants.  My kids shared a steak and cheese quesadilla, and my mother dined on a platter of cheese enchiladas.  If you dine in, you get a large bowl of tortilla chips, which I think they make there, and a bowl of spicy, hot salsa.  I am not sure whether the chips and salsa come with a take-out order.

Of course, I took home an amazing arrangement of pastries and some biscochitos...and promptly stuffed myself further as soon as I came home from dropping my mother at the airport.  Delicious!  If you have never had Mexican pastries, do not expect them to be as sugary sweet as American pastries; they are much in line with Asian pastries.  They bake the pastries right in La Despensa Latina, so you know they are fresh; I witnessed four trays of sweet buns coming straight from the kitchen.

If you are in search of a carneceria, La Despensa Latina offers this as well.

The only con, as with many markets, Asian, Mexican, etc., is that there were a few pesky flies messing with our dinner which terrified my daughters.  Honestly, do not let this deter you, at least from getting take-out.  The flies do not get on the food and they are natural to the fact that the door opens and closes often from all the customers.  I suppose the flies are just as attracted to the food as us since the bakery smells delicious.  I assume that this is a problem only due to the summer heat and the impending rain of the day; in the winter, I doubt there are any flies.

Another note - they have a $5.00 credit card minimum.

La Despensa Latina place reminds me of the mercados in New Mexico and is well worth enjoying before or after the airport.

This is exactly the kind of Mexican I've been missing since moving from San Diego a few years ago. It would be affectionately known in SoCal as "hole-in-the-wall" Mexican - this place has combo plates and daily specials.

I'm partial to the Bistek Ranchero. I think it's awesome that they walk over to the butcher side of the small shop to get the meat they will use on your meal.

This is your basic mercado with Mexican brands and foods. They have a nice butcher section and make their own red and green salsa which you can purchase in tubs.