Yuca’s is a James Beard Award-winning stand that’s been serving excellent cochinita pibil tacos and Yucatán-stye tamales to its community for the past 45 years. Now with a second location in Pasadena, this family-owned operation still makes their shredded pork stew that’s moist and dripping with achiote and citrus flavors. Instead of the usual pickled red onion on the cochinita pibil, Yuca piles on a pico de gallo salsa for added brightness against the rich pork. The tamales arrive stuffed with minced pork filling and bright tomato sauce, the soft masa covered by ladles of an acidic tomato-onion mixture.

This East Hollywood spot is a great neighborhood taquería offering everything from tinga to chorizo, tripa, asada, and more. Some highlights include the excellent tacos de cabeza full of wonderful bits of buttery fat and a cochinita pibil that has become a local favorite. This Yucatecan recipe has the earthiness from the achiote paste, some warmth from its sweet/savory spice blend, and a nice tartness from its citrus juice. Order El Zarape’s cochinita as a taco or a torta that comes on a fluffy telera roll that’s slathered with refried beans and a tangy chipotle cream sauce that packs a decent amount of heat.

Located a stone’s throw away from Downtown’s Union Station, Chiguacle Sabor Ancestral de Mexico (or Chiguacle for simplicity’s sake) is LA’s answer to a traditional Mexican cantina with its excellent bar and varied menu of southern Mexican specialties. Besides its delicious cochinita pibil, Chiguacle serves a wonderful mixiote de borrego, slow-cooked lamb in a thick marinade made from Yucatecan staples like allspice, oregano, chiles, annatto, and garlic. The creamy sauce burns low and slow and straddles heat, sweetness, and a savory smokiness. The whole dish is enjoyed with handmade tortillas that have nopales mixed into the masa.

It’s all about the cochinita pibil at this roving mostly eastern San Gabriel Valley pop-up. Yucatortas serves its version spicy, with tons of pickled red onion and habanero chiles, and customers can choose whether they want their pulled pork in a taco, torta, or yucalita — an open-faced taco with shredded cheese. The tortas come in a soft bolillo that’s filled to the brim with shredded pork before it gets a spoonful of the stew’s broth. Besides pickled escabeche for added acidity, the sandwich is very flavorful with just its meat filling as the tart achiote paste’s flavors and coloring seep into the bread roll.

Located inside Mercado La Paloma, this staple vendor is all about Yucatecan classics like cochinita pibil, the famed shredded pork dish that’s marinated in tangy achiote paste and citrus juice. Find it here as its own standalone plate, in a taco, or stuffed inside a soft baguette to create an intensely flavorful torta. The meat is tender and balanced between sour, sweet, and mildly spicy, with pickled red onion rounding out the flavors. The poc-chuc, another marinated pork dish that’s grilled rather than stewed, makes for a great alternative here.

Bomba! is a roving pop-up that serves regional specialties like the Yucatecan version of Lebanese kibbeh (a result of waves of Middle Eastern immigrants dating back to the early 20th century) and crunchy panuchos with spicy habanero salsa. The kibbeh, a beef and bulgur wheat mixture, gets an extra dose of moisture and tang from pickled red onion and a punchy habanero salsa that is dangerously hot and tasty. Bomba’s panuchos are also a must-try, with a fried tortilla base coming out nicely crisped but with enough bend to hold its black bean filling. These bean and tortilla discs taste even better with the stand’s tender and smoky cochinita pibil and some more of that habanero salsa. Find them across LA, including at spots like Three Weavers Brewing in Inglewood.

Balam Mexican Kitchen does not simply offer a typical taquería experience. The menu at this Lynwood destination pulls influences from across Mexico (and other even communities in Los Angeles), with options like a Korean carne asada taco pulling attention. The restaurant’s specifically Yucatecan dishes include a very good keek’en taco, which consists of slowly rehydrated chicharron in salsa verde, the spicy and slightly sour stew pairing well with the taco’s white onion, chopped cilantro, and creamy black beans.