LOS ANGELES — Evelyn Flores, a roadside vendor in the Whittier Narrows, sparks up with mischief as she prepares the drink that her family has been selling from the same spot for decades: tejuino, a rustic beverage from Mexico.
First, she grabs a large foam cup and rams it with ice; then she squeezes the juice from several limes into the cup and adds a spoonful of salt. Next, Flores pops open a barrel-sized container filled with a slushy brown liquid. She dunks a mug inside to stir it around, fills the mug and then transfers the fluid into the foam cup and back again, mug and cup, cup and mug, swishing and sloshing.
Already, from a few feet away, the funky smell of the drink reaches me.
