Hot Enough for You?

The important question at La Morenita: Do you like your chili green or red? This Cypress Park market and takeout place sells both styles. Green is carne con chile verde, a super-hot pork stew made with tomatillos and jalapenos. Red is carne con chile colorado, beef in a sauce that blends four dried chiles--California, guajillo, puya and pasilla. Despite all the chiles, the flavor is mellow rather than blazing hot like the chile verde. La Morenita makes its own tortillas from dried corn rather than masa flour, so pick up a stack of those to go with the chili.

Carne con chile verde and carne con chile colorado, each $3.95 a pint or $6.95 a quart. Corn tortillas, 55 cents for three dozen at La Morenita, 1157 Cypress Ave., Los Angeles (Cypress Park). (323) 222-7953.