Living in Las Vegas, I’ve been going to LA for years, but in the past year I’ve discovered King Taco. King Taco is a quick-service, no frills chain eatery with 21 locations in the Los Angeles area.

King Taco’s usually have a long line to the counter and not enough seating–which is a good thing. They also make the delicious sopes–which is like a Mexican open-faced taco with a thick masa base–crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside.

With these sopes as my inspiration, I ventured to my local Mexican food market, Mariana’s, in search of a few ingredients, including fresh made masa (the dough to make the sopes), salsa verde, a head of green cabbage, a can of refried beans.

That’s it! that’s all you need from the store. At home, I had oil for frying and additional hot sauce. One pound of masa made eight healthy-sized sopes–depending upon the size. This is an inexpensive and easy-to-make meal.

See my first attempt at making sopes from scratch in the gallery below: