Nuvia's Pupeseria

It began as an accident. I remember the day quite clearly: I'd been back in the city for just a few weeks after taking a year and half sabbatical in Portland, it was an unusually balmy afternoon for even Los Angeles' January and Park (1400 W. Sunset, $5 burgers on Wednesdays, really nice staff and you can bring your own wine!) was closed. We shuffled away disappointedly, stopping only to block the entryway to our fun to piss off friend Neal's house with a grocery cart and were seconds away from resigning ourselves to yet another overpriced-though-I-still-love-it meal at Brite Spot when something in someone acted on a then potentially and now undoubtedly life changing instinct and uttered what I now look back on as the sweetest string of syllables, a unique combination of words that when delivered with the right intonation is not altogether unlike a lovely river's gurgle or a precious kitten's meow: "whuttabout there?" to which we grunted in response (someone might have farted) and plodded into what would become more than a staple, less than an addiction but precisely the pleasantest of necessities. 

Formerly known as Nuvia's Restaurant and Pupeseria, currently sporting a banner above its' door announcing its' perhaps preferred moniker of La Botana (though the menus are yet to be updated with said request), the food here is authentic, plentiful and cheap. Amongst other delights one can enjoy $1.50 tacos, $2.50 pupusas, $4 beers or $5 burritos. Breakfast is offered until 3 p.m., or later if you flirt well, as well as such American options as hamburgers and french fries, the latter of which come very highly recommended from this anonymous glutton, and a variety of fresh and unusually delectable juices. Located between hair salon Goodhead and music venue Echo Curio at 1525 W. Sunset Blvd., this nondescript and slightly decrepit looking building is family owned and operated by a charming bilingual staff who, though occasionally forgetful, participate in, as well as plain encourage, the creation of a fun fiesta atmosphere, particularly as evening sets in and their karaoke hands arrive. Who these men are no one seems to know, but croon and dance into the night they do, a treat I've realized to be one of the questionably many factors behind the establishment oft being fully lit, as well as emitting cries and woops, well past midnight despite the posted hours of 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. My favorite waitress, whose name I embarrassingly still don't know though my roommate hits on her incessantly, calls me "baby" and always winks at me when I am in the company of a male, once even chiding an accomplice of mine for not being a "real" gentleman and all but bullying him into buying my meal. (How did she know I was broke?) What was once a mere excuse to exercise my junior high humor amidst a restaurant mispronunciation and incorporate the word "poop" (try it!) has become a daily, if not every other daily, commitment to free chips and salsa, friendly banter, an ever growing knowledge of Spanish sports commentating courtesy of the always on flat screen and that rare special feeling of being where everybody knows your name.*

*Perhaps an exaggeration. 

Note: Since this article's "publication" "La Botana" has updated their menu, in turn proving wrong just about every (excessive and perhaps not even initially deserved) compliment this piece once (so kindly) offered. It now looks like a lame brochure and is covered in pictures of scary fish. Don't go, try Little Caesars' $5 cheese pizza or $1.50 Crazy Bread instead (1625 W. Sunset Blvd., open conveniently for you 7 days a week from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.) or die a lonely rotten fish nightmare ridden death.