El Borrego De Oro

• Cuisine(s): Mexican
  Hours: Sun, Sat 6am-7pm, Mon-Fri 8am-5:30pm
  Price: $$
• Payment Types: Visa, American Express
  Features: Catering, Takeout
  Serving: Breakfast, Dinner, Lunch
• Alcohol: None
  Reservations: Accepted, Not Necessary
  Parking: Lot Available

Description

In the neighborhood of Boyle Heights, which is thronged with businesses selling carnitas, fried seafood, grilled beef, El Borrego de Oro -- the Golden Sheep -- stands out as a specialist in mutton, specifically mutton pit-roasted with maguey leaves in the style of the central Mexican state Hidalgo, a savory mess known by the rather generic term barbacoa: slivers and shards and nubs hacked from a steaming carcass, some of it attached to the bone and some of it not, some crunchy, some soft, some greasy, luscious and dark. This is pungent, powerful stuff, sweetly reeking of the gamy underbrush, like lamb that bites you back. See full review.