The Best Los Angeles Street Food Market! 🌴 8 Unique la Street Foods at Smorgasburg LA Food Tour

Los Angeles is a melting pot of different cultures, and it's lucky for us because that means the food we eat is almost always insanely delicious and authentic. While I've had my fair share of interesting street foods in Italy, You need a what? from intestine skewers, I'm really nervous about this, to spleen lung and throat sandwiches, I've basically been living off of pizza and pasta for the last year. So I've definitely missed the sheer variety of dishes that Los Angeles has to offer. And to make up for it, today I'm eating my way through the best and biggest street food market in LA, Smorgasburg. Happy ice, happy life! Where my sister Lena and I try eight of the most unique foods you can find between the 100 stalls. Can't feel my lips. Smorgasburg operates the largest open-air food market in the country, and the Los Angeles location provides a platform for nearly 100 small businesses, curated from the next wave of Southern California's food, beverage, and shopping scene. With a free entry, it is open every Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at The Row in downtown LA. Subscribe to follow my adventures across Italy, South Africa, and America. So we just got to Smorgasburg market, and we are ready to eat! It even has a warning for your animals to tell you how hot everything it is. Wow, we just stepped in here and it's already like a whole vibe. It feels like a block party. Oh my goodness, ice cream alley. That feels trippy to look at. Okay, so we're gonna just do a lap, scope out the sitch. Oh yeah, we're already seeing some stuff we want to try. We got to get a lay of the land first though. They're filming something there. Stressed like a hot dog. Smells so good. All of these smells are just converging. It's confusing, but delightful. This is making me feel really nostalgic, because if any of you went to school, I don't know if it's just the Catholic schools in California, we had a thing called a fiesta, which would be one weekend in usually May before the school year ends. And they would turn the school ground into like, they'd have games, food, you know, the kids, the students of the school and the parents, like it was a weekend of just fun and like funnel cake. And I don't know why this is, maybe because we're in a parking lot right now, I don't know. But it's giving me, it's making me very nostalgic. Yeah, for like fiesta weekend. Love that. These are record fairs. This must be all the music. You ready to eat? Yes, because being an adult means you get to decide what's for breakfast. We're starting with sweets. I'm very excited about this first item we've chosen. We did a decent amount of research before we got here. And I think we came up with a pretty solid list. So we have a game plan, folks. So buckle up, maybe grab a water. You're gonna get thirsty. Okay, we're going there. Sometimes when there's a breeze, you get a little left of trash, but it's fine. Just keep walking and you'll smell something good shortly. All right. So this is where we're starting. Oh my goodness. That's octopus back there. How's the aesthetic of this place? Evil cooks. Pretty cool. It's very intense. That's us. Devil's sweet tooth. Hi, how are you? Can we do one flan taco, one churro taco, and the... The Poseidon. The Poseidon taco, please. Thank you so much. So this octopus taco wasn't a part of the plan, but when we saw the octopus like roasting on the skewer over there, I had to have it. Elena really wanted to try it, so we're doing it. This was a added bonus. Oh, that is very different. The octopus is really chewy. I'm trying to pinpoint what the spice is. I've never tasted anything quite like this before, so I'm really happy we're trying it. It's delicious. It's bursting with flavor. Definitely something unique to try. Octopus can get like gummy. It's like perfect. It's got like a blackened taste. It's got pickled onions on it, grilled pineapple, cilantro. It's so good. You've had them before? Yes. Oh, awesome. We're very excited to try them. This one. Okay, these dessert tacos are coming highly recommended. So now I'm extra excited to try them. All right, folks. Everyone around us is saying that these are one of their favorite foods, so I'm really excited for this one. I'm going to start with the flan taco. It looks like the bottom is almost like it's sitting on a crepe. Oh, and it's got this nice caramelized syrup on it. It really like the flan is delicious. It's really soft to bite into. It's very syrupy. It's really nice to eat. It looks kind of intense, but it's actually quite light. I just got a piece of mint. That is delightful. That is really, really delicious. I'm not gonna lie, this is the one I'm looking forward to the most. So, I mean, look at this. It's a churro sitting on top of a piece of cheesecake with strawberry. I'm assuming that's mint again. Oh, cheers. No way. Mishu just died and went to heaven. They deserve an award. The cheesecake is so creamy. The churro is just beautifully fried. The strawberries taste so fresh and jelly. I got a pinch of mint in there and the crepe is so soft. This is delicious. I'm so happy we got this. Shout out to the inventor of the churro taco. I need to stop so you can have some. I don't want to. I'm gonna get my bite in now before it's all gone. See what the hype is about. It's like orange feeling here. Long one's bomb. Of course it is. Which one do you like more? They're both so good. I think I like the churro one more. The churro cheesecake is just bursting with more flavor for me. They're both so bomb though. So good. You gotta get both. All right, Elena's gonna hold our bench here and I'm coming to get burrito tacos. Go mafia. So this spot is so good. It's also been on TV. Hi, how are you? Good, thanks. Okay, we'll just do the three burrita. Thank you. They roast the goat out here. Thank you. Got them. Look at this service. I know. This is about to get really messy. Wearing white was a mistake today. Get some lime on there. So we got the three burrita goat tacos. Burrita is typically made with goat. Some places swap it out with beef because, you know, it's just easier on the palate for most people. I actually don't even know how I'm going to start this thing. We squeezed a little lime on it. It is piping hot actually. Full, full, full. You're supposed to dip it in this sauce. Oh wow. Wow. I didn't know how I was going to feel about this because normally I don't like lamb or meat from other animals. I usually just stick to beef and chicken. But this is very smooth. I was worried it was going to taste a bit gamey. I really don't like gamey meat. There's a slight different flavor to it, but I didn't expect to actually enjoy it this much. Wow. I'm actually really surprised. It doesn't taste gamey or anything. It pulls apart when you bite into it. It's so beautiful to bite into. It's like butter and the sauce is delicious. It's got a spice to it. It's got a kick to it. There's a lot of flavor in this thing. I'm really happy we went for it. Initially I didn't want to because it was goat, but I'm happy we did it because it's delicious. So don't let the idea of goat put you off. Definitely think it's a must try. Beautiful. So far we are off to a very solid start. It's hard not to want more of these things, but we got to keep trying some more stuff. So next I think we're going to go get Happy Ice because it's very hot and we need something cold and refreshing next. And welcome to Ice Cream Alley. Oh my goodness. These look so good. What about Rainbow Rocket? It's all the flavors. Oh yeah, let's do that. Can we do a kid size of the Rainbow Rocket, please? These all look delicious, but we're going for that one. Is this considered sorbet or? This is Italianite. We're close to Italianite. Oh, Italianite. Look at all those flavors. This looks insane. How amazing does this look? I'm so excited about this. It's not even funny. As a kid, I used to love the rainbow ice cream and I feel like this is making me so nostalgic right now. Okay, so this is all the flavors. We just went for it. Doesn't smell like anything, but I'm sure it tastes great. Oh my god. This tastes like my childhood. It's icy, but it's also very smooth. Mixed between like an icy and a sorbet in a way, I would say consistency wise. And these guys started in Philly and they brought it to LA. Oh my goodness. Just looking at this makes me happy, let alone the taste. Let me get some of that. It's like a pack of Skittles and ice. That's actually an excellent way to describe it. Oh look, the color. The spoon changes color when it's cold. Everything that you see, it's like every flavor. So like cherry, strawberry, lemon, lime. It is. I think like all the candy flavors that you would get. It's like an ice pack of Skittles. Mateo would love this. You definitely have to try this. Brain freeze. Now it's definitely like we're back and we're kids again. The flavors don't even, they're not like watered down. Like they're very intense for the fact that this is like shaved ice or water, a water icy dessert. Yeah. Yeah, the flavors are bursting. It's very happy ice. As bright as a rainbow. It is very happy ice. You have to come try it. Happy ice, happy life. It's, that's why it's the slogan. It makes sense now, I get it. I get it. Now we're going to look at some shops, see what kind of stuff they have for sale here. Oh, I love the avocado socks. That's hilarious. These Bob Ross socks come with hair. Look at these avocado slippers. It's so funny. Didn't we have one of those growing up? Why does that look so familiar? These look so familiar. That's hilarious. That's so funny, sad news. Oh, what do we have here? That's really cool. Ooh, look how cool this stuff is. His wife designs all of these. Thank you so much for taking care. You're welcome. Lena got a couple things. Oh wow, that looks wild. Crystal infused ritual forming bath salts. These are crystal infused soap bars. That's so cool. I'm really excited to see what these guys have. Suitcase of sauce. What's a little more heat? Right? So this is the habanero you said? Next up, I got the Carolina. Is this getting hotter or less hot? They're relatively on the same spectrum actually. Oh, okay. These are maybe a tinge hotter, but if you can handle one, you can handle the other. Oh my god, the roof of my mouth is actually like going numb. That would be the Carolina. Oh, that's really not bad. How are you fine? I literally can't feel the roof of my mouth right now. I've tasted hot sauce where you have to sign a... A waiver? Liability, yeah. Next up, we're actually getting milder. Oh god. I was gonna say the ghost one was actually nice after the Carolina. It's all relative. That's the smoked, that's just a really clean barbecue sauce. Oh, I like that one. From what I can still taste. I can't feel the inside of my mouth right now. Really? It's not that bad. Really? What is up? Nana drinks hot sauce, so I would take that with a grain of salt. That's cute. There's a four-pack sampler for 30 bucks. Or this one for 50. If you're looking for hot sauce, this place is it. Thank you so much. Thank you. I can't feel my mouth. Should we get more shaved ice? This would have been a good time for it. Wow, if you're looking for hot sauce, that place is really good. Can't feel my lips. They're not kidding when they say there's like a hundred stalls here. I thought I had a good layout and now we're just finding more and more stuff we haven't seen. So it's really great. The shops here are seriously so cute. There's such a lovely variety of things to just, even if you're not buying, just to look at. A lot of them are handmade, handcrafted, and it's really interesting. I feel like there's a whole, this market is like a beautiful cultural melting pot. I think it really speaks to how diverse LA is. Not only with the food, but also with these little merchant stalls and everything. These little mom and pop handmade crafted items. So there's a lot here to enjoy. Hi, how are you? Look at all this stuff. Yeah, this looks, so this is marinated jackfruit is the main thing here. That looks beautiful. So we got the Cuban sandwich. This is all plant-based Cuban food. Because looking at it, I would not think that this is vegan at all. It looks like a beautiful meat sandwich. The bread is so crispy. Oh my goodness. If someone's put this in front of me and I ate it and I didn't know it was plant-based, I wouldn't be able to tell. I'm actually blown away by this. The inside is made out of jackfruit, which I've just learned recently being back in LA. It's a big substitute for meat. The jackfruit is used to replace the pulled pork. And honestly, you could not like, this is wild. They won awards, like now they're really up and coming and you can definitely taste wild. This is at the top of my list right now. I would come back to this market just to get this. Even the cheese is vegan. Like this thing is ooey and gooey. It looks like a normal Cuban sandwich, pulled pork, cheese, all of it. All vegan. So it also comes with plantain chips. That wasn't what I was expecting. Very thick. The seasoning's really good. The outside has the consistency of a fry, but the inside is really dense. Flavor's good though. But the sandwich, the sandwich is the winner of the day so far. I can't recommend this enough. It smells so good. Kind of has like a garlic bread smell. Oh yeah, it does. So juicy and so flavorful. That is good. Oh, that's different. I've never had plantain chips like this. They work with the sandwich. That's wild. This place also has mac and cheese and more stuff. This is all vegan. That's crazy. Since we wanted to try a few vegan things here, you've got Champignon Eats, which means mushroom in French. And all of their dishes are mushroom-based. So we're gonna give it a go. I'm Mignon. Mignon. Nice to meet you. Awesome. They're known for the one and only place to do enoki mushroom-based sandwiches. So you can get the classic or with a little bit of spice. So we went with the spicy one. So it's the enoki mushroom, topped with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, spicy aioli on a buttery bun. The owner came up with this crispy enoki sandwich. It looks huge, but it's actually very light. It smells delicious. It looks delicious. And these vegan places are really surprising me. So I think this is gonna be a good one. Oh my god, I kind of hate the whole life. This is a perfect little example. Enoki is a type of mushroom. And it's like a long stem and the top of it's like, yeah, but it's very like long. There's a little baby piece of it. Cute and fried. That's so bizarre. But like in a really cool way. The texture is very interesting. It tastes really good. The texture is definitely different. That's like the one thing I will say. But the flavors are really good. And there's like, this sauce is so creamy also. There's no mayo. There's nothing here. This is all completely vegan. I seriously can't tell the difference. That's crazy. Oh, it's so good. I love it. I love mushrooms and it tastes so good. I generally don't like things that are too breaded and fried. I love just the way these come out in the sandwich. And now on their own, they're so good. There's a little kick. I like it. Lena's saving our table and I'm coming to get the next treat. I'm very excited about this. All of their cinnamon buns are named after rappers. So you got the Big Papa, Ice Cube, Little Kim, the DMX, Slick Rick, and the Fat Joe. But I think we were scoping this out. And I think we're gonna do the Little Kim because that Fruity Pebbles one looks incredible. Although, oh my god, they all look so good. Yeah, this is a tough choice. But I think we're gonna go with the Little Kim. Oh my goodness. There's more. The Tupac. Let me see. Elliot. Oh, Strawberry. The Puff Daddy. Oh, Mateo would totally go for that one. The Drake. This is amazing. You can also get a gluten-free or vegan. This is an incredible selection. You guys are the best. Thank you. So excited to try this. This is the prettiest cinnamon roll I've ever seen in my life. Oh my goodness. It's so warm. I'm so excited. So it's got Fruity Pebbles on top, fresh strawberries. Oh my goodness. That is thick. I kind of actually want to go for the inside, like, goopy part. I want this. I want, like, the inner, the good bit because I'm running out of tummy space. Cheers. That is a beautiful cinnamon roll. It's so warm and gooey and cinnamony and, like, exactly what you want a cinnamon roll to be. I love the sprinkles of the Fruity Pebbles. Oh, this is like a child's, child's, like, dream breakfast. The strawberries are so fresh. I feel like this looks more intense than it tastes. Like, it looks like it's going to be a super sugary overload. But the sweetness level is actually really good. Funny enough, the strawberries are, like, the sweetest thing on it. It's not overdone. They really did a nice job of giving it the effect without you feeling like it's too much. This is the most refreshing cinnamon roll I've ever eaten. You like it? I just ate a piece of the ooey gooey middle. It's so good. So many things to choose from. Our bag is getting full of everything we can't finish. But we will not waste it. We're gonna enjoy it all later. Next up, we're doing the croissant taiyaki. Is that how you say it? Taiyaki. Those look so good. Let's do a custard one, please. Thank you. So we got our croissant taiyaki. It is a fish. They have, like, a fish press where they make the batter looks like a fish. The traditional way to do it is with pancake batter. But this place, they put a twist on it. And it's actually done with a croissant. So it's like a croissant dough. And they've mixed up the variations. Traditionally, it's filled with red bean. But they've added different flavors. So you can get custard, Nutella, mango, apple. There's a bunch of different ones. So we went with the custard one. And it looks so cute and delicious. The outside feels a bit sticky. There's, like, some sugar granules on it. Maybe it's a syrup. But it's so crispy. I'm very excited to dig in. The dough is, like, perfectly flaky. It's got a very nice, like, crisp to it. Crunch to it. But the inside is still soft. I haven't gotten any of the custard yet. So let me dig in a bit more. So it's filled right inside. This is delicious. It's really light. And the, like, syrupy glaze on the outside. The flakiness of the croissant. And, like, the squishiness of the inside with the custard is really, really nice. I love this. That's delicious. Oh, I love the middle. Tastes like a donut. Oh, yeah. Not only are we full, but our bag to take home is also getting full. But we got one more place to check out. And we are both very excited about this one. So let's do it. We're here. Everything looks so good. We were gonna get the lobster nest. But it's too much for us right now. So we decided to go for the lobster garlic nudes for 15 bucks. Which is the same thing, just pre-peeled. Our order is ready. That's me. Yes, thank you. The final event. We got the lobster garlic nudes. We were gonna go for the lobster nest. But it is way too hot to be digging through half a lobster right now. So this version is if you just want it simple. You want the lobster already good and ready to eat. Which is much more convenient. It smells delicious. Oh my goodness. This is wild. Garlic noodles are so good. This lobster tastes so fresh. Mixed together. My goodness. I actually can't believe it was only like 15 bucks. There's a generous serving of lobster. These noodles are perfect. It has a freshness to it. A creaminess to it. I love garlic. So the taste is just like boom. It's a very generous portion too. I'm wildly impressed. Yeah, so worth it. Oh yeah, the lobsters are so good. It's like perfectly cooked. Perfect. Tastes amazing. I could smell it when you were eating it. And I just couldn't wait to have a bite. It's so good. I'm so full but I like can't stop eating. Seriously, you're gonna take this away from me. Intervention. Don't be like me and not wear sunscreen. I totally forgot to put on sunscreen this morning. And now my shoulders are fried. So don't forget your sunscreen, folks. All right, I need a coffee. So we're coming here. I'm gonna have the stupidest tan line. It's 3 p.m and I need my pick-me-up. Offshore coffee. That's delightful. I got it with oat milk. Oat milk's become my new favorite in coffee. And I'm appreciating now that they don't do straws anymore. They've made like the lids sippy cups. Which I much prefer over having a paper straw. Because yeah, after two sips it just dissolves in your mouth. So this is great. We all done? I'm happy. There we go. This market seriously surprised me. I don't know what I... I mean, I knew it was going to be big. But the people, everybody, like the business owners are all lovely people to chat with. So highly recommend if you're in LA. This is a definitely add it to your must-do.