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Attention, all dessert lovers in Los Angeles: Consider this your sign to make your way to Echo Park for some deep-fried, cinnamon-sugary goodness. Mexico City’s most popular churrería, El Moro, has finally made its L.A. debut, serving not only churros but consuelo ice cream sandwiches, hot chocolate, milkshakes, coffee and tortas.
First announced in late 2024, Echo Park’s El Moro is the first Los Angeles location of the Mexico City churrería—and only the second U.S. location (the first is admittedly not too far, in Costa Mesa’s Mercado González). It was originally slated to open in May 2025 but finally opened its doors last week, on January 29. The family business has been serving churros in Mexico City since 1935, after patriarch Francisco Iriarte emigrated from Spain and started selling his version of the traditional delicacy from a cart. Today, there are 18 locations in Mexico and, now, two in SoCal.
Located across the street from Monty’s Good Burger and just down the block from Donna’s and Lowboy, the blue-and-white Echo Park shop (El Moro’s classic branding just happens to coincide with the colors of nearby Dodger Stadium) sits on the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Laveta Terrace, in the former home of old-school burger joint Patra.
On opening day, there were lines down the street (the offer of free churros for the first 50 guests was surely a draw), so I expected it to be beset with daunting lines for the foreseeable future. But when I stopped by on a late Tuesday morning, it was a very manageable level of busy: There were only four or five people ahead of me in line, and a handful of couples and families enjoying treats on the outside patio. The interior feels crisp, clean and welcoming, with indoor tables, two cashiers, a huge window where you can see the magic happen, and a pickup counter where the churros are bagged and handed to you after being cut and coated in cinnamon sugar.
As an obsessive dessert eater, I’ve been eagerly awaiting El Moro’s opening for months. I fancy myself a bit of a churro connoisseur, and it can be harder than you’d expect to track down a truly satisfying fritter: not undercooked or overcooked, crisp on the outside and soft, but not wet on the inside, and covered with enough cinnamon-sugar that you never get a bare bite. They’re hard to come by in the city (and some I’ve sampled on vacation in Germany, France and even San Diego were truly awful), and after years of searching I’d come to accept that the only time I’d get a perfect churro would be when I made the drive and financial commitment to visit Disneyland.
Enter El Moro: On the menu, besides churros—you can buy just one, four, a whole dozen or a bag of bite-size “moritos”—there are a variety of dipping sauces: cajeta, guava, condensed milk or chocolate and hazelnut, plus a rotating seasonal flavor. To drink, you can choose one of six sipping chocolates—served hot or iced—crafted using cacao sourced from the state of Tabasco and also designed for dipping. There’s also coffee, lattes, agua frescas and milkshakes, which I saw a lot of people ordering.
For my first visit, I stuck to basics; I like a simple churro that’s perfect on its own and doesn’t to be dipped or filled. I ordered one (but the friendly server gave me two), and paid an extremely reasonable $3. I took a bite and, to be honest, “orgasmic” was the first word that came to mind. It was, by far, the best churro I’ve ever eaten outside of Disneyland (not to mention half the price, minus the $104-plus ticket price).
Given its central location at the end of the main Sunset Boulevard strip of Echo Park and its all-day hours (it’ll stay open late seven days a week and past midnight on Fridays and Saturdays), the new El Moro is an amazing option for a post-show-at-the-Echo or post-taco-truck dessert. I will be back—many, many times.
El Moro is located at 1524 Sunset Boulevard. Its hours are 8am to 11pm Sundays through Thursdays, and 8am to 1am on Fridays and Saturdays.