El Gaucho Meat Market

Best meat in the whole Southbay!
Their Lomito sandwich is spectacular and so are the empanadas. Best place to get your BBQ to the next level. Try their winning combo of costillas, vacío and entraña.

Ok, so have you tried the Carne Asada? Very well marinated, minimal fat. Take a few pounds home with you tonight, fire up the charcoal grill, cook and enjoy. Hint: I find cutting the meat into smaller pieces makes it easier to manage on the grill. Every time I have purchased the meat, it’s been top notch. Been a more-​than-​satisfied customer for over 12 years. I tip my cowboy hat to their great customer service too. Oh, and don’t forget to pick up some fresh Tortillas while you’re there.

Best empanadas in town. Our family always gets the dozen (or two dozens) of empanadas from here when we have our craving. I also get my meats from here because it’s top notch. They have various Latin American products that I can’t find anywhere else.

Empanadas are great! And the chimichurri sauce is plentiful. I come to get my Argentine salts here. They keep raising the price on them! But they still have a great selection of meats and salts that make anything awesome.
I’ve always found the staff to be helpful and friendly. they have multiple TVs playing games there, with plentiful seating for inside dining. I’ve yet to try their sandwiches and drinks, but I do see many people ordering pretty awesome looking meals.

I left this place with pulsating hearts in my eyes. Ordered 2 dozen empanadas which were devoured at our Xmas party. Beef, chicken, and spinach, no empanada was left behind! The pastries and desserts were delicious as well. Perfect for parties.
The market has a wide selection of Argentine wines, as well as jarred delicacies, foods, fresh meat market, and a café in the back. I had the vegetarian sandwich and my friend had the milanesa. The French roll was perfect, toasty and soft. Had half my sandwich and ate the other half before the party, it was so good!
The café is something serious, Argentines love espresso! Definitely worth the trip. Special thank you to the owner and his business partner. Such great vibes and even better food.

First the very good: meat and milanesa sandwiches. Great quality, good price and amazing bread!
The not so good: the variety of argentine products. Found a lot of latin-​american products but not as many argentine products as I would have liked.
It’s OK if you want the basics: yerba, jalea de mebrillo Esnaola, dulce de leche (not a lot of selection) and Traviata crackers (shame they didn’t have Criollitas)
So, for me it’s just OK.

Great spot for lunch. The chicken and spinach empanadas is what I shoot for. But they also have a great selection of samis. They also sell a ready to eat whole Lechon that I highly recommend for a house filled with hungry people.

This place is great! First, this place is a market. You can get all kinds of different items here that you can’t find at a regular supermarket. My family always comes here for pao de queijo mix and not too long ago they started selling picanha! They also carry guarana soda! We come here regularly for these items.
On the side, they also have a little kitchen cooking up empanadas and sandwiches. Their empanadas are actually quite good. Soft, flaky dough with a good amount of filling. They also have sandwiches. I’ve tried their choripan which is basically a chorizo sandwich. It’s really good — perfectly salty and toasted bread. YUM!
If you’re looking for a quick spot for lunch, definitely try this place out.
If you’re looking for meat for a BBQ, you can check this place out too!

Marginal empanadas :(
First visit, busy Sat morning, bought 2 dozen for a gathering (waited 40 mins). Got the beef, chicken & spinach. These are baked and the crust was not flaky, quite dry really. (I’ll take fried empanadas any day!) Each are filled about a quarter full and each filling was.meh. Not flavorful as I had hoped for. The beef was overpowering with olives. Didn’t really like any of the flavors.
Bright side, good customer service. Thanks!

I was in the area for a notary appointment and was hungry, so of course I Unilocaled somewhere to eat. I stopped by this Argentinian market. I had their Lomito Steak Sandwich, no mayo, instead I added the chimichurri sauce. This steak in the sandwich is so juicy and flavorful it made this sandwich heavenly with the chimichurri sauce. I had their empanadas and they were good, but the sandwich outshines them. I will definitely come here again for the sandwich. Happy Chomping!

little market on the corner.
Ordered carnitas that were really dry. But the nice people working there have me thinking I will be back to try more of their food that’s already prepared… great for a day at the beach or park.
Typical little MA and pa Hispanic store /​pantry.

Had the chicken empanadas with chimichurri sauce, were really tasty and would come back again!

where else can you get vacio, entraña…real chorizo and morcilla… un sandwich de miga… or some Brazilian goodies…
I am STILL waiting to get one closer to San Diego…
Try the Lomito or the Choripan (no mayo PLEASE)…try a Brazilian Guarana… or a Quilmes… fell like you are in the middle of the game of soccer day…

We found this place while searching on Unilocal as we arrived at LAX. It is conveniently located near a Walmart Neighborhood Market which we stopped at to gather supplies for our trip. What looks like a small market is really a hidden gem.
Above the meat counter is the menu with all the specialty sandwiches. If the are looking for more American style sandwiches look to the right hand side where the cash register is.
Pro tip: Order an empanada and the lomito sandwich and you will go home happy!

Its the best place in California to eat empanadas and sandwiches! I tried all the sandwiches and the best one was with milanesa. Their tuna empanada is awsome! You shold DEFINITELY but the meat they sell, ask for TAPA CUADRIL, VACIO and MORCILLA or blood sausage, its unbelievable!

Great meat. Best sausages .
Parma ham it super good but .
I only give 4 stars they need a better ham slicer to cut the Parma ham

This is one of the best kept secrets in all of Los Angeles, without exaggeration. The lomito sandwich is ridiculously good, I can’t wait to try the other sandwiches.
But those empanadas… man oh man, those empanadas. Porto’s tends to be the household name in LA when it comes to empanadas, but the ones here are better. I’ve had both. I shared the ones I bought here with someone from Burbank who grew up with Porto’s, and she said that no question were the El Gaucho empanadas better. They’re that good.
And don’t even get me started on that chimichurri sauce…

Lomito to die for! I often come here for lunch and I’m completely addicted. The sandwiches are strangely plain but are packed with flavor. Seems a little counter intuitive, eh? I’d say 90% of the time my sandwiches are made well but every once in a while they over cook it and I have to ask for it to be remade. Which they happily do. It’s usually the lovely ladies that cook it on point and when the guy makes it… It’s a little overdone. So just FYI…
As for the grocery side; we get our carne asada here and it is always a hit! Everyone just loves it. A bit pricey but very yummy.

After experiencing an OK type of Lomito sandwich (steak sandwich) at Continental Gourmet market I was in the look out for another place that did a decent Lomito. A quick search on Unilocal threw up El Gaucho Meat Market. Well a meat market is not exactly the ideal place for getting a sandwich but I decided to try it for kicks.
I landed up here at lunch time on a Saturday afternoon. I entered what looked like a typical neighborhood grocery store so I was not sure if I came to the right place. It seems that the left portion of this is market section and the right side is like a mini restaurant with a counter and a couple of tables facing a television. I was not sure where I needed to order as people seemed to be randomly ordering stuff from whoever they could get hold of behind the counter. The restaurant section was so packed that I would probably need to stand on top of someone if I wanted to reach the counter. Really disorganized does not even begin to describe this place. Anyway I managed to get the attention of a gentleman behind the meat counter and asked for a Lomito sandwich ($ 7.99) to-​go. After what seemed like an eternity (actually only 20 minutes or so) I got the sandwich along with a packet of Doritos. I guess the sandwich here comes with chips and the gentlemen behind the counter read my mind that I would prefer Doritos over Lays. Anyway all this would be worthwhile if the sandwich was good and it was not just good but very good. The French roll was perfectly toasted with a nice crunch. The sandwich itself was minimal just some dressing, lettuce, tomatoes and two nicely grilled beef steak strips. The beef could have been better quality as it had a lot of fat but the overall sandwich came together very well.
A couple of days later I returned at lunch time on a normal weekday. The place was not overflowing with people like last time which allowed me to place my order at the counter of the restaurant section. This time around I got the a Beef Milanesa (fried breaded beef steak) sandwich ($ 7.99) to-​go and specifically asked for a Doritos not wanting to leave it to chance. At this point it also became clear to me why the counter area is so crowded all the time. There is only one line to order and to pick up so after you order you have to keep hanging out at the same place till your order is ready. Another oddity is that they take your card when you order and hold on to it till your order is ready and then process your payment. This is just wrong. A simple change in process where you have two lines one for ordering and the other for pick-​up along with a token number will make life much easier not just for customers but for people behind the counter who all seem to be more tightly wound than me. Wishful thinking as this simple change will never be implemented here. Lastly, why the instance on speaking in Spanish? I can understand being mistaken, but even after hearing me reply in English coupled with my ascent if you insist on speaking in Spanish then there is something wrong. Let’s move on to the good stuff. This time the sandwich was ready pretty fast in about 10 minutes and was again excellent. The same minimalistic build with dressing, lettuce, tomatoes and a perfectly fried crispy beef steak. Very enjoyable.
Despite the service failures the sandwiches here are very good so yeah I’m a fan. I will be back to try some more stuff off their menu.

Simply one of the best sandwich places. Very seldom have I eaten at a restaurant and can’t stop thinking about their food… 3 days later and it’s a sandwich of all food.
This unassuming market/​restaurant is no joke. The sandwiches are simply fantastic.
There’s meat, there’s tomatoes (two slices), there’s lettuce, there’s mayo and there’s bread. Oh the bread. Simply indescribable in their soft and chewiness. It’s nothing like a french baguette, nothing like Subway bread. The menu says it’s Italian bread but I’ve never had italian bread quite like this either
I’m pretty sure everything on their menu is delicious. But we ended up trying 1 Choripan, 1 Lomita, 1 Chicken Empanada, 1 Beef Empanada and can’t wait to come back to try the rest. No longer do I have to drive all the way to Van Nuys (Buenos Aires Mercado), to get my empanadas.
The dining area is small and pretty unusual where they have a 50″ HDTV, with 2 32″ HDTV on either side. Yes! 120″ of viewing goodness. I can only imagine what the atmosphere must be like during a soccer game.