LAReview
photo credit: Jakob Layman
Cilantro Mexican Grill
Included In
Angelenos have toxic relationships with gas stations. Our livelihoods depend on them, we feed them our hard-earned money, complain about them, and then do it all over again the following week. They’re bastions for our vices - a late-night pack of cigarettes, a case of sh*tty beer, room-temperature Twinkies inevitably salted by the steady stream of your tears. We’re surrounded by them at every turn, and yet, the only reason to ever seek one out specifically is because gas is 12 cents cheaper there.
That is, unless it’s the Chevron at the corner of Sherman and Whitsett in North Hollywood. What appears to be another run-of-the-mill gas station from the outside is actually hiding a not-so-well-kept secret inside - Cilantro, a tremendous counter-service Mexican restaurant with food worthy of a crosstown detour, regardless of the price at the pump.
Food counters are fairly common in gas stations, serving everything from sandwiches to day-old pastries to neon pink hot dogs spinning on into infinity, but the first indicator that Cilantro is different is the crowd that begins at the counter - and stretches out the front door. You’ll have a better chance of winning $5,000 from a scratch-off at the register than snagging a parking spot out front, so just plan on doing what everybody else does and find street parking on Sherman Way. It can be an admittedly tedious process, and we’ve parked well over five blocks away before, but when push comes to shove, we’d walk ten for food this good.
photo credit: Jakob Layman
What everyone is here for are Cilantro’s burritos, which are big and, frankly, among the best-built in town. Restaurants tend to treat burritos with an attitude of “Let’s cram everything we can inside and see what happens!”, and the results are usually overstuffed, unbalanced wrecks of wasted ingredients. At Cilantro, everything’s deliberate. Whether it’s an egg and turkey sausage-filled breakfast burrito, the off-menu surf and turf with Angus beef and seared shrimp, or house carne asada served enchilada-style, these are well-composed, high-quality burritos that make you realize how many other places are simply phoning it in.
Customization is also a big component at Cilantro, but if the idea of choosing between chile lime corn, serrano pesto, or queso fresco fills you with order anxiety, know this - you can’t go wrong here. Just follow your heart and plan to come back next week to try a new topping combination.
All that said, if you come to Cilantro and only order a burrito, you’ll be doing this place, and yourself, an injustice. If you’re looking for a slightly more manageable lunch, head to the taco section, where you’ll find fresh, straightforward tacos (cilantro, onions, salsa, and a protein of your choice) that are among the most underrated in The Valley. The flour tortillas are soft and translucent, and if you’re looking to add a kick, there’s a separate salsa bar with every kind of heat level you could want. This might be a service counter inside a North Hollywood gas station, but we’d put the carne asada and beef barbacoa tacos up against the best Mexican restaurants in LA. And we bet none of those places have unleaded under $4.
Food Rundown
photo credit: Jakob Layman
Carne Asada Burrito
photo credit: Jakob Layman
Tacos
photo credit: Jakob Layman
Surf And Turf Burrito
photo credit: Jakob Layman
Breakfast Burrito
photo credit: Jakob Layman