Cena Vegan - Mission

"There’s this pop-up every week in Downtown LA that brings together vegan food trucks. I found Cena there. I had an event recently where I wanted to have some Mexican food, so I hired them. It was incredible. We had birria tacos. They serve the best quesadilla I've had in my life—it’s dangerously good. With vegan Mexican food, a lot of it can be mock meat-based, but Cena had mock meat, and they also made jackfruit tacos and mushroom tacos, all with such different flavors. It's taken us a while to get good vegan cheese. Bad vegan cheese can scar someone for life and make them never want it again. But I think a lot of these restaurants have really tried with the cheeses that melt, and with the textures of the fake meat proteins to make sure that it hits the spot in the same way. Cena made it a little bit greasy too. Sometimes you just want that indulgent feeling with food." - brennan carley

"One of the more established plant-based taco vendors in LA, Cena Vegan has a cult following for its seitan-based “meats,” like pollo asado, carne asada, and al pastor that are marinated using family recipes and grilled for smoky flavor. We’re also big fans of their saucy jackfruit barbacoa and their tofu skin birria tacos, which come with a side of vegan consomme for messy dipping. Along with tacos topped with guacamole, salsa, and pickled red onion, they also do giant oversized tortas, and nacho boats covered in a river of chipotle cashew cheese. You’ll find Cena popping up at various breweries around LA (check their Instagram), at Smorgasburg on Sundays, or doing pickup orders nightly from their kitchen space in Lincoln Heights." - sylvio martins, garrett snyder, nikko duren

"One of the more established plant-based taco vendors in LA, Cena Vegan has a cult following for its seitan-based “meats,” like pollo asado, carne asada, and al pastor that are marinated using family recipes and grilled for that smoky flavor. We’re also big fans of their saucy jackfruit barbacoa and their tofu skin birria tacos, which come with a side of vegan consomme for messy dipping. Aside from tacos topped with guacamole, salsa, and pickled red onion, they also do giant oversized tortas and nacho boats covered in a river of chipotle cashew cheese. You’ll find Cena popping up at various breweries around LA (check their Instagram), at Smorgasburg on Sundays, or doing pickup orders nightly from their kitchen space in Lincoln Heights. " - Garrett Snyder