What sets this hidden gem apart from other shops specializing in corn husk tamales are the regional recipes from Maria Luisa Esparza’s hometown of Zacualpan, Nayarit. The chicken in red sauce includes sliced vegetables, the chicken in green sauce is made with jalapeños, and there’s sweet corn and cheese that Esparza learned from her mother. There’s no rice and beans here, a combo plate-free zone — just warm champurrado (chocolate and corn masa drink) to pair with delicious, heartwarming gifts wrapped in corn husks. 

You can tell that tamal season is here by the long lines at the shop in front of a 10,000 square-foot tamal factory on Van Nuys Boulevard, at the beginning of Pacoima’s Chicano restaurant row. Old school Mexican-American flavors of green and red salsas fuel a range of fillings from meats, pineapple, chile, and cheese, to sweet corn and vegetarian that satisfy their San Fernando Valley customers, as well as tamal lovers nationwide. 

Yunia Funes Mata’s tamal pop-up is a passion project offering popular guisos from the Guadalajara native. She offers stringy, beef birria tamales stained with spicy adobo, carnitas in a tangy salsa verde, and a fruity date mole with mushrooms and butternut squash. Mata’s tamal a la Bestia is a nod to her day job at Bestia restaurant in the Arts District, where a mole gifted by chef Ori Menashe is paired with roasted duck lifted straight from the Bestia cookbook. Check Instagram for the pick-up location.

Chef Wendy Centeno of this popular Salvadoran food truck is making chicken tamales for the holidays, cooked in a tomato and sweet pepper sauce, sliced potatoes, carrots, in fresh masa wrapped in banana leaves. Centeno’s modern Salvadoran approach means vegan versions of her chicken tamales are on the menu. Call your order in to reserve a dozen and throw in some pupusas while you’re at it.

Right in front of the Honduran Consulate, next to La Troca Catracha, a folding table lined with bags of Zambos (banana chips) and a cooler is where Doris Caballero proudly sells banana leaf tamales and montucas (fresh corn tamales). The stand is named after her children, Jeseel and Eileen. These tamales catrachos (also known as nacatamales) are super moist because they are boiled instead of steamed. They come with chicken (catrachos), or as tamales de puerco, flavored by a recado (stew) of tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic, and achiote for color. Fresh corn tamal fans are in for a treat, as Caballero’s montucas are filled with chicken in a tangy recado mixed with sweet corn. There are also straightforward tamalitos de elote, or sweet corn tamales. Snack on Zambos preparados — a prepared bag of plantain chips that’s like a Honduran Frito pie — before picking up a dozen tamales. Monday to Friday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

There are two kinds of Colombians: team tamales vallecaucanos (tamales vallunos) or team tamales tolimenses from the Tolima region. At the best Colombian restaurant, tamales tolimenses are made with seasoned corn flour mixed with cooked rice and filled with pork, chicken, hard-boiled eggs, carrots, and peas, served with hot chocolate and bread, or an arepa. Tamales vallunos are formed with ground corn and filled with pork, chicken, tomatoes, and onions. Clear your schedule for these behemoths as they are meals unto themselves.   

Salvadoran home cooks count on this streetside market for bamboo shoots, fresh loroco (herb), blood clams, green mango, curtidos (pickled cabbage), and carao (fruit) among a multitude of imported and prepared foods while they snack on typical Salvadoran cuisine. Among the bountiful options, you’ll find sweet corn tamales wrapped in green corn husks, chicken and pork tamales boiled in banana leaves, and tamales pisques filled with Salvadoran-style refried beans also boiled in banana leaves. While snacking on blood clam cocktails, and pupusas. Finally, save room for riguas, or flat corn cakes and a relative of the tamal that’s a mixture of corn masa, cheese curds, and cream fried on a comal and then served in a banana leaf.

For the last year, a woman named Elia from Sierra Norte de Puebla has been selling tamales from a small cart shaded by a rainbow umbrella alongside the O’Reilly Auto Parts store on Venice Boulevard, just west of Western Avenue. This cart has found a following for having extra moist corn husk tamales, which go for $30 a dozen. The cart has tamales rojos and tamales verdes, both filled with chicken, as well as rajas con queso. On the sweet side, she serves a tamal dulce of pineapple, raisins, and strawberry. Pull up to the curb next to the stand early for delicious, hassle-free tamales without the long waits. Monday through Saturday, 5 a.m. to 12 p.m., Venice Boulevard just west of Western Avenue.

During the holidays, a pre-dawn line of Eastsiders cue up for red and green pork tamales, three kinds of sweet tamales, and chicken with a vegetable medley in red sauce, while the team of veteran cooks spreads, fills, wraps, and steams nearly 18,000 tamales a day. All tamales are wrapped in corn husks and are beloved for their flavor, moist texture, and consistency over decades.

Oaxacalifornia’s best restaurant, famous for its Valles Centrales barbacoa, is also your destination for artisanal moles. Steamed in banana leaves for two hours, the tamales de mole negro (black mole) with shredded chicken yields moist bites of palate-pleasing flavors: Mexican chocolate, dark and smoky notes of dried chiles, and a mélange of sweets, savories, and spices. 

You’ll find everything to make your own tamales at one of the city’s most established “Mexicatessens,” but upon seeing the impressive large-scale production amidst fragrant fumes of steaming masa, it’s better to leave it to the pros. Perfect for large orders, the beef in red sauce and the chicken in green sauce, are perfect sides to Mexican-American holiday meals, where turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and tamales belong together.

Karina’s home in Pomona has a rotating menu of Guatemalan tamales made with regional recipes from one of the greatest tamal cultures in Latin America, known for their variety of delicious tamales. Chuchitos are petite corn husk tamales filled with chicken or pork in a tangy recado (stew) beloved by Guatemalans for the holidays, while another corn husk classic, tamalitos de chipilin, is made with lardy corn masa blended with the bitter, leguminous plant.

Karina’s patches, which are tamales made with a potato-based masa, show up on her menu from time to time, and there are always tamales guatemaltecos, banana leaf tamales filled with pork or chicken in a recado of mild Guatemalan chiles and tomatoes. While you wait for your order, try traditional Guatemalan food on Karina’s full menu of soups, stews, and antojitos guatemaltecos. Call for more information.

The “best-kept secret,” according to its website, is no secret at all to Angelenos of all stripes when the holidays arrive. If you’re looking for a large number of the standards: chicken, pork, beef, green chile and cheese, corn, and sweet, head to East LA where the tamalada (tamal-making party) never stops. Durango-born Luar Salcedo Ramos took over the business in 1979 and has made its mark as a stalwart producer of Mexican-American tamales. 

The most difficult-to-find Mexican tamales in Los Angeles hail from Sierra Norte de Puebla from owner Lucia Ortega, who uses hoja de papatla for her tamales. The dark green perennial plant is used by Totonacas, an Indigenous group of which her grandparents were a part. The supply of leaves is limited, so place an order of tamales de mole adobado, made with chile guajillo and chile ancho with a sweet, starchy corn masa finish. Ortega also makes corn husk tamales made with mole dulce (with chocolate and sugar) and queso con rajas with diced tomatoes. There are even rare specialities as frijoles enchilados, a spicy frijol con chicharrón that’s available every day. In addition to the tamales, Ortega has a street stand selling tacos de guisado, and she just opened a permanent location in September 2023 where she serves tamales en hoja de papatla as a tribute to the Totonacas.

Head to South Gate, in one of LA’s local Sinaloan communities, for the simple pleasures of sweet buttery corn tamales, beloved by Sinaloans all over Los Angeles. Tamales are not its specialty, but the limited offerings are well made, including a pork tamal in red sauce with green olives and potatoes if you’re looking for tamales out of the ordinary. 

Available for pick-up in Norwalk — or delivery (depending on the size of your order) — Oaxacans Melquiades and Elizabeth Silva offer rare tamales from Pinotepa Nacional in the Costa region of Oaxaca. There’s a $5 delivery fee within ten miles of Norwalk, and $10 beyond ten miles in the Los Angeles area. Family recipes from this Mixteco family include pollo en mole, a spicy mole from their hometown, a milder pollo en chile guajillo, rajas con queso, pollo en salsa verde, and puerco en chileajo, which is a guiso of spicy chile costeño, tomatoes, and garlic. All tamales come wrapped in banana leaves, with a cost of $30 for a dozen. They’re a unique taste of regional Oaxacan tamales in Los Angeles. Call their number to place an order and get more information.