Food in Santa Monica

Carmen and Gilberto Rodriguez bought an existing Pico Boulevard place called El Indio in May 1974 and added Gilbert's name to the sign. Both founders have since died and their nine children own it together. Tortillas are pressed in house and the bar runs on margaritas for people who live within a mile of it.

Monday to Saturday 8am to 9pm. Sunday 8am to 2pm

A counter-service storefront two blocks off the Third Street Promenade cooking Michoacán and Purépecha food, with corn tortillas pressed in the building. Chips and pickled carrots come with the meal and the aguas frescas change daily. Order the taconazo and they griddle cheese under the adobada or the asada.

Monday to Friday 9am to 9pm. Saturday 10am to 9pm. Sunday 11am to 6pm.

A turquoise diner that opened on Pico in 1958 and has never been redecorated, down to the matching turquoise stools and the red booths. Tarantino shot a scene of True Romance in it and Lords of Dogtown used it too. Breakfast runs all day and the plates are cheap.

Daily, 6:30am to 2pm

The oldest restaurant and bar in Santa Monica, on Main Street since 1934 and the first place to open on that street. Ron Schur has owned it since the first day of 1989; he bought it after a waitress would not give him the salad dressing recipe. The bar has not been changed since 1946, the Christmas lights stay up all year, and the phone number ends in 1934.

Daily from 5pm until close, which listings put at 11pm Monday to Thursday, 12:30am Friday and Saturday and 10pm Sunday. Happy hour 5pm to 7pm at the bar and the front patio.