Where to find the best tamales in Los Angeles Los Angeles Times

Table Of Content

• See chocolate-making in action at Bitzel’s Chocolate, opening in Suwanee
• Savor the Flavors of Mexico
• Column: Cal-Mex is having a moment in New York. But how does it taste?
• Try our most popular items
• Feast on Our Most Popular Items
• Celebrate the holidays with 22 of the best tamales in L.A. and O.C.
• Matriarch in isolation, but La Mixteca’s Oaxacan cuisine still superb

A San Fernando Valley institution, Me Gusta’s street-side stand in Pacoima doubles as the retail outlet for the 10,000-square-foot tamale factory behind it. During the hectic holiday season, ordering tends to involve a quick conversation about which flavors are available hot and which are being sold cold to prepare later. These are hefty bundles, soft-dense and satisfying. Count on chicken in green sauce, pork verde or roja and rajas con queso to be ready to eat in the car, packaged with three salsas of varying heat. Look for special fillings that include squiggly chicharrones bathed in red chile and strawberry in addition to the usual sweet pineapple variation. There’s a wonder-inducing quality to the process of opening the tamales made by South-Central Oaxacan pop-up gem Poncho’s Tlayudas.

See chocolate-making in action at Bitzel’s Chocolate, opening in Suwanee

Chef Mario Alberto, who grew up preparing corn husks and making masa dough for tamales that his mother would sell every holiday season, thought he wanted nothing more to do with making them. But after offering them last year at his vegetarian restaurant Olivia in Koreatown, Alberto gained new respect for his mother’s craft and decided to commit more fully to carving out his own perspective. Armed with his ancestral skills, Alberto concocted a masa recipe that substituted lard with coconut fat and avocado oil and layered in aromatics such as thyme and turmeric. Crafting tamales is a laborious process that requires one to shape the dough by hand, shroud it in a corn husk (sometimes a banana leaf) and steam it.

Savor the Flavors of Mexico

The beef offers a pop of surprise, with deeper sweetness in its red. The sweet tamal, whether it is your taste or not, is a crumbly treat of pineapple and raisin. In all, La Mascota may offer the most perfectly balanced modern tamales on this blast of a search/survey for the current state of things. I took several home and had La Mascota tamales for breakfast and lunch for two days, their flavors holding up well after careful reheating. I enjoy topping my reheated tamales with a fork’s slap of crema mexicana.

Column: Cal-Mex is having a moment in New York. But how does it taste?

As noted in our Advent calendar, Tamales Elena y Antojitos will be taking orders online and in person until Dec. 24, when it will switch to first-come, first-served until the wrapped delights run out. Irra admits that she likes eating her tamales cold — “I don’t know why; my palate is already used to it,” she explains with satisfaction — and that sometimes her regular customers will request their tamales frozen, so they can complete the tamal at home. “I make them by hand here,” Irra tells me. “I’m doing them as we speak.” – D.H. Among the three best I’ve tried at La Mixteca are the shredded pork with green sauce, chicken lightly dressed in red mole, and an exceptionally juicy rajas (with mild green chiles, slivers of sweet onion and cheese). On the Sunday morning we stopped by for a late breakfast, my friend complained that I was being a little too grabby with the rajas.

We’re lucky to live in the historic center of Tamale America.

If you ask what kinds of tamales are available, you may turn up a few things that aren’t on the menu on the wall behind the counter. La Mixteca Tamale House impresses with its beautiful blend of industrial and Mexican-themed decor. The breakfast burrito with chorizo was not only tasty but a highlight. The tamale was delicious, showcasing authentic flavors.

This is the top tamale in New Mexico, according to Yelp - KRQE News 13

This is the top tamale in New Mexico, according to Yelp.

Posted: Mon, 08 Jan 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]

The treasures of Oaxacan cuisine, including its tamales steamed in banana leaves, are a well-documented fundament of modern L.A. I point out brothers German and Valentin Granja’s staple in Koreatown both because it is relatively underrated (even though it occupies the original location of Guelaguetza) and because its kitchen makes two styles of tamales. Its Oaxacan tamal is textbook — a cloud of masa, slick and a little crumbly and slightly herbal in fragrance, giving way to inky innards of chicken in complex mole.

Though I’m crazy about chilaquiles, I like my tortillas rather wet, preferably baked as a layered casserole almost like lasagna. Truth is, chilaquiles can vary from region to region, and some — like the chicken and green sauce version I had at La Mixteca — are dry and crunchy. Almost like nachos; not my personal fave.

The action you just performed triggered the security solution. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. In the rich kaleidoscope of Los Angeles, eaters can find multiple forms of tamales from the cuisines of Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Colombia, among others, each representing distinct culinary subcultures within each nation’s boundaries.

I went in the morning and everything was so fresh and delicious. If you like to eat out, I bet you often drive by restaurants and wonder if the food is any good. Maybe I've just discovered a fantastic pita pocket sandwich in Gwinnett, when all of a sudden I spy a tamale joint across the intersection. We’re lucky to find nearly all of them here in Southern California, plus inventive options spearheaded by a new generation of chefs who are reclaiming the tamal as a canvas for creativity. Just as prevalent as traditional tamales, these reimagined versions tout local produce and often play on the multicultural backgrounds of their makers. This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks.

Additionally, the small selection of baked goods adds a delightful touch to the overall experience. A place that successfully combines ambiance and flavorful offerings. Clean atmosphere, DELICIOUS SOPES AND TAMALES. I truly cannot believe anyone would rate this lower than 5 stars. I got the pork green tamale and the al pastor sope.

I was delighted to find lengua tacos here, but the beef tongue was dry, as if it had been reheated on the griddle rather than left to stew in the unctuous fatty tissue that gives it all its flavor. Frankly, all the street tacos we tried — al pastor, chorizo, carnitas, lengua — were a little chewy; and all were eclipsed by the sensational tamales. On March 24, La Mixteca announced that it was suspending operations temporarily. It was a Taco Tuesday, so the restaurant offered 99-cent tacos and free coffee and aguas frescas.