If you have a hankering for Mexico City street food while you’re on the Westside, you’ll want to drop into a little hole in the wall on Centinela between Washington and Culver. This little dive is only a 5 minute drive from the neon cheese and cardboard tacos at famous Titos Tacos –and it doesn’t have the long lines and conveyor-belt production line that makes you feel like a robot consuming a bucket of nuts and bolts.
At Taqueria Sanchez there is no table service. You order from a window. You’ll get a soft taco loaded with the meat of your choosing on a double corn tortilla. So big you need an extra hand to hold it. Plus a load of fresh chips and a salsa bar that would make any mamsita proud. I like their green tomatillo salsa which is not so much spicy as it is crammed with flavor. I usually drizzle their avocado sauce on those crispy chips. Beware of the dense red salsa, it’s a hot one, tastes of chipotle maybe? This is Mexican comfort food, perfect for those cold winter nights and you only have a couple of bucks to spend for dinner. Other items I can recommend are the tortas al pastor, large, tasty and filling. Try a chorizo gordita, but beware, the sausage is spicy and made at the Sanchez Carniceria a couple of blocks away. It’s a killer. Speaking of filling, the chicken enchilada plate with rice and beans is a sure thing. Drawbacks? They close too early – 8 PM.

On my “go-back” driving scale of 0 –10 miles, I give this place a 5. Definitely worth a 5 mile drive just to eat there.