The Brief

Thousands of Southern California students have walked out of school to protest the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants since January after the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis.

Some students have told LAist their teachers and principals supported their participation in the walkouts, for example, by allowing them to make protest signs in class. Others said their administrators shared confusing messages about potential discipline for leaving campus.

Broadly speaking, California law requires minors to attend school, but it also protects students’ rights to speak out.

 ”The fact that some students may have a controversial point of view that might make others upset, that's not a basis to restrict the speech under the education code,” said Peter Eliasberg, chief council with ACLU of Southern California.

LAist cannot offer legal counsel but created this guide to help students, families and educators better understand these rights. It’s based on:

• Information from Eliasberg and the ACLU of Southern California. 
• A February webinar hosted by Compton nonprofit Community Lawyers Inc., with the Law Offices of Hirji, Chau and Rodriguez. 

Tl;dr of best practices for students at protests

When preparing to walk out, you might consider the following:

• Have a clear civic and political purpose. 
• Walk out peacefully. Do not create additional disruptions for other students, vandalize school property or physically harm others.  
• Document the purpose of the walkout in writing but be cautious about recording video of participants who may not want to be identified. 
• Ask your principal for school and district policies related to student walkouts and free speech and compare them to district policy and state laws. 
• Request an excused absence for civic and political event (more on how to do this below).  

An overview of the (many) rules

The rules at your school are likely shaped by a larger organization, such as a school district or a charter network. Beyond that is California’s education code, a part of state law that is dedicated to schools.

Apart from that, you have federal policy, like the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees the First Amendment right to freedom of speech.

Ideally, all of these sets of rules should agree with one another, but that’s not always the case, said Rosa Hirji, an educational, civil and disability rights attorney. Hirji said the information shared by school administrators also may not align with the policy of their school, district or California’s education law.

“You need to do your research and identify all of those things that you can do to protect yourself after the fact,” Hirji said. “Make sure that you disseminate that information amongst your peers and friends.”

California’s education code states students have the right to exercise freedom of speech and press, including by:

• Distributing printed materials
• Wearing buttons, badges or other symbols
• Expressing themselves in school publications

Hirji said schools cannot legally prevent students from expressing themselves, but they can make rules for when, how and where that free expression can occur. For example, a school may designate time at lunch for students to march and hold up signs with political messages.

But there are no protections for speech that incites students to create a “clear and present danger” of:

• Committing unlawful acts on campus
• Violating lawful school regulations 
• Disrupting the operation of the school

Does calling for a walkout constitute inciting students to break rules? Not necessarily, Hirji said.

“ The question is — is that advocacy or calling for the walkout so inflammatory that it provokes some kind of disturbance in the school environment?” Hirji said. What qualifies as a “disturbance” is must be defined in policy and is not simply the opinion of the administrator, she added.

Speech that is obscene, libelous or slanderous is not protected.

How can I get an excused absence for walking out?

There are limited circumstances when schools will grant a student an excused absence to participate in a walkout, even when parents are supportive of the action.

California allows middle and high school students one excused absence per school year for a civic or political event. Students must notify the school in advance of the absence. School administrators may grant more than one excused absence related to protests, but they are not required to do so.

Community Lawyers Inc. created a template for this notice that students can print and fill out.

Can I get suspended or expelled for walking out?

Students can't be suspended or expelled solely for walking out, but students can be marked tardy, truant or absent. Multiple incidents may lead to more severe discipline.

Let’s define these terms:

• Tardy means a student has arrived late to class. 
• Absent means a student is not present in class. 
• Truant means a student has missed more than 30 minutes of instruction without an excuse three or more times during the school year. 

Eliasberg said that missing class to attend a protest can’t be punished differently than any other kind of absence.

“The government can't say, 'Well, we think it's worse for you to go out and protest than it is for you to skip class,'” he said.

Truancy, tardiness or absence from school is not a basis for school suspension under California’s education code.

“So if a school district wants to engage in a disciplinary action against a student that walks out, they need to find another reason, another behavior that has occurred,” Hirji said.

For example:

• Causing, attempting or threatening physical injury or violence 
• Possessing weapons or drugs
• Stealing or damaging school property 
• Bullying, intimidating or sexual harassment 

California passed a law in 2023 that prohibits schools from suspending middle and high school students for “willful defiance,” which includes disrupting school activities or defying school personnel.

But there can be consequences for walking out

Once a student is considered truant, the school district is required to notify the student’s family, provide information about alternative educational programs, available mental health support and the right to meet with school staff to discuss the student's absences from school.

The penalties for truancy can escalate the more often a student is absent and may include:

• Attending makeup classes
• Referral to an attendance review board, a group of people whose goal it is to help get students back in school 
• Community service 

What should I do if I get in trouble for walking out?

Before a student can be suspended, they must be informed of the reason for the suspension and whether other means of correction were attempted, Hirji said. Examples of those other forms of correction include additional school, community service or communicating with a parent.

 ”School is not supposed to suspend you on your first offense,” Hirji said.

Hirji said the school should provide evidence of the offense allegedly committed and allow students to provide their version of events. This is due process.

Students may be able to appeal a suspension, which means asking the school to reconsider the punishment.

Where can I find my school district or charter network’s policy?

Here are examples of documents a school or district may have related to students' free speech and protest rights.

School board policies and administrative regulations

• What they are: rules approved by a school district’s elected board
• Where to find them: your local school board’s website

School safety plan

• What it is: a plan for each school and required by California law that addresses potential risks and emergencies.
• Where to find them: You may find it on a school’s website or request it directly from an administrator. 

However, schools and districts may have outdated policies that do not comply with existing law.

Hirji suggests comparing what a teacher, principal or other administrator says with the school, district and state’s rules.

Can the police get involved? 

In mid-February, the Los Angeles Police Department warned that protesting students may face legal consequences for violating a city law that bars minors from public places during school hours.

The city of L.A.’s daytime curfew law states it is unlawful for minors under 18 to be in public places when they would normally attend school. There are several exceptions, including for emergencies and minors accompanied by a parent or guardian.

At one point, LAPD was issuing thousands of tickets a year during curfew sweeps, but the agency agreed in 2011 to ease enforcement after pushback from civil rights attorneys, parents and community activists.

Hirji said students who have excused absences for civil and political reasons should not be subject to the daytime curfew law and suggests protesting students carry proof of their excused absence with them — for example, a copy of the letter or email provided to the school to excuse the absence.

The story first appeared on LA Local.

A week after an underground pipeline near East Cesar E. Chavez and North Eastern avenues was punctured, questions remain about who was responsible.

Officials said early reports indicated a boring crew conducting directional drilling for a fiber optic line struck the 16-inch petroleum pipeline, which sent an estimated 2,400 gallons of crude oil onto nearby streets and into storm drains and the Los Angeles River. Streets in the area reopened Thursday after days of closures that disrupted nearby residents, businesses and schools, though more soil remediation remains ahead.

Spill report updates from the California Office of Emergency Services indicate that the reported cause of the spill was a “human error.”

Here’s what we know about the companies involved:

Who operated the pipeline?

The pipeline is operated by Pacific Pipeline System, which since 2006 has been owned by Plains All American Pipeline.

Who was drilling?

In the hours after the spill, Boyle Heights Beat reporters witnessed a truck labeled Camarillo Drilling Inc. A Camarillo Drilling representative told the Beat they were seeking counsel and could not confirm if they were working at the site.

A February 2026 report from the state Department of Water Resources notes that Camarillo Drilling Company, in April 2020, punctured the Santa Ana Pipeline in Riverside “while performing directional and horizontal boring during installation of an underground communications cable.”

The Department of Water Resources (DWR) filed a complaint against Camarillo Drilling in Riverside County Superior Court in April 2022, seeking damages of about $1.2 million to cover pipeline repair expenses and DWR staffing costs, according to the report. 

Why were they drilling?

NBC4 reported that HP Communications was behind the drilling of the fiber optic line. A representative with HP Communications told the Beat they could not comment or confirm that they were working at the site. 

HP Communications is one of the companies awarded a contract for the Broadband for All plan, a $6 billion state and federal investment to close the digital divide. 

The plan involves building a network of high-capacity fiber lines that carry large amounts of data at high speeds over long distances, according to LAist. About 10,000 miles of fiber optic cable is being installed throughout California, including more than 500 miles in Los Angeles County. The state owns and manages the system.

Another company that was awarded a contract for the plan is Arcadian Infracom, which in 2023, held a groundbreaking event in Boyle Heights for the California portion of its L.A. to Phoenix fiber route, LAist reported in 2024.

The project will help serve residents in East L.A. and extend to communities in Barstow and Needles (The route totals 306 miles, but only 40 are within L.A. County limits).

What remains unknown?

It’s not clear if the drilling that led to the pipeline rupture is linked to the Broadband for All effort. Arcadian Infracom has not returned a request for comment regarding any potential involvement with the pipeline puncture. 

The California Department of Technology did not respond to Boyle Heights Beat’s questions in time for publication.

Pacific Pipeline System (PPS) has also not responded to questions regarding the third-party companies involved. 

A state investigation into how the pipe was struck remains ongoing. Supervisor Hilda Solis on Thursday said she’d work with the Board of Supervisors to ensure “every responsible party is held accountable and advancing stronger protections for impacted residents, communities, and small businesses.”

How to file a claim

Claims of damage believed to be caused by the spill can be submitted to PPS by calling (877) 817-5465. Callers will be prompted to leave their name and contact information in a voicemail for a representative to return the call.

According to the pipeline operator, some examples of claims that may be considered include: 

• Property damage
• Business interruption or loss of access
• Cleanup or remediation expenses
• Equipment, vehicle or inventory damage
• Other documented costs directly related to the incident

PPS will request contact information and a description of the claimed damages. The timeline for any potential compensation depends on the urgency of the claim, according to the spokesperson.

How to report air quality concerns

To report excessive odors, smoke, dust and other air contaminants, East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice advises residents to contact the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) by calling (800) CUT SMOG or (800) 288-7664. 

Residents can also access South Coast AQMD’s online complaint system by clicking here. 

To report health concerns related to odors, residents can also contact the L.A. County Department of Public Health by calling (626) 430-9821 or by emailing DPH-OEJCH@ph.lacounty.gov.

You might have braved the process to get a seat at SoFi Stadium for one of the eight FIFA World Cup 2026 matches in L.A., or maybe you’re gearing up to head to a community watch party.

Either way, you can maximize the celebration, avoid traffic and save your wallet by taking transit.

LAist prepared the following guide to help folks get to and from the stadium, L.A. city watch parties and tips on using bikes and scooters to get around the region.

Getting to the stadium

L.A. Metro is the countywide transportation agency and is the official public transit provider for the World Cup matches in the city. It’s partnering with more than 10 regional transportation and charter providers to get people to and from the stadium.

Where is the stadium: All eight of the matches will be at SoFi Stadium, or L.A. Stadium, as it will be called during the World Cup. The address is 1001 S. Stadium Dr., Inglewood, CA 90301.

How do you get there on Metro: Metro is offering direct shuttle service to the stadium from several locations in L.A. and Orange counties:

• Hawthorne/Lennox Station
• Crenshaw Station
• LAX/Metro Transit Center
• Near LAX hotels
• El Camino College
• Harbor Gateway Transit Center
• Culver City Transit Center
• Torrance Transit Center
• Union Station
• Downtown Long Beach
• Downtown Santa Monica
• North Hollywood Station
• Pierce College Station
• ARTIC Anaheim Station 
• Newport Transportation Center

You can catch a stadium-bound shuttle at locations throughout L.A. and Orange Counties.

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L.A. Metro

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When: Shuttles to the stadium begin service at least three hours before kick-off depending on which location you’re leaving from, and they’ll run up to 90 minutes after the matches end.

How often: The shuttles will generally run every 10 minutes. For the Pierce College Station and Newport Transportation Center, the shuttles will run every 30 minutes.

How to pay: You can tap the fare machines directly with your credit or debit card. Or you can go old-school and use a physical or digital TAP card. There are several ways to get a TAP card, including using your smartphone or picking one up at a Metro station. Here is a page with more details and instructions.

How much: The same as usual: $1.75 one-way.

Ok, but how do I get to the shuttle locations?: There are a few different options.

The shuttle pick-up and drop-off locations are well-serviced by existing transit. You can use the Transit or L.A. Metro mobile apps to help with trip planning.

And yes, you can drive, too. For most of the shuttle locations, you can reserve parking via SpotHero on Metro’s official World Cup page. You can also use ride-share or taxi services.

The only pick-up and drop-off location that doesn’t have any kind of vehicle access, including rideshare, is the LAX Metro Transit Center. But that station is accessible by five different Metro bus lines and two rail lines.

Bonus: If you’re looking for a souvenir to commemorate your time on transit during the World Cup in L.A., make sure to pick up a special TAP card. You can see the designs and where to find each one here.

How to get to the watch parties

There are going to be more than 100 free watch parties in the city of L.A. at different park locations. It’s part of an initiative called Kick it in the Park. You can find out more about the watch parties here.

Some of the locations are accessible on Metro rail.

• MacArthur Park. You can take the B or D line to the Westlake/MacArthur Park Station.
• Seoul International Park. The D line stops at the Wilshire/Normandie Station, which is about a half mile away from the park. 
• Sycamore Grove. The A line stops at the Southwest Museum Station, which is less than half a mile from Sycamore Grove. 
• Stoner Recreation Center. The E Line stops at the Expo/Bundy Station, which is about half a mile away from Stoner Recreation Center.
• Cheviot Hills Recreation Center. The E Line Palms Station is just less than a mile away. 

Check out the city’s interactive website to learn which Metro, L.A. Dash or other regional transit can take you to the Kick it in the Park events.

Other cities in the county are also hosting watch parties, including Santa Monica, West Hollywood and Culver City.

Micro-mobility solutions

Taking a bike share or scooter could be helpful to get to and from transit stations or to go a short distance that isn’t well-served by transit. There are a few different options here:

• Metro Bike Share. Metro operates a fleet of regular and electric bikes that you can find at docking stations throughout L.A. Use the L.A. Metro app to find docking stations near you that have available bikes or to find stations where you can return the bike when you’re done using it. There are different prices depending on how long you anticipate needing a bike, and you can pay with your TAP card. 
  

• Lime. The private scooter and bike-share company recently expanded into the Valley and now offers a total of 15,000 vehicles in the city of L.A. Its vehicles are also accessible in West Hollywood and Long Beach. You can use the Lime or Uber apps to book the vehicles.

  The company is launching a “fan pass” this summer that includes 90 minutes of riding over the course of five days for about $13. You can purchase the fan pass more than once. It’ll be available between June 5th through July 12th. If you don't have access to the internet on your phone but still want to use a Lime vehicle, you can text "Unlock" to 415-463-3473. You will receive a text back with instructions on how to proceed from there.

The soft hiss of fat dripping onto white-hot binchotan. The alchemical smell of both sweet tare sauce and charred meat. If you closed your eyes, you could easily imagine yourself parked at the counter of any number of South Bay yakitori joints.

But this is Three Pigs, a Long Beach-based pop-up and catering operation, that roves around the region, one week perhaps at a street fair, another in the parking lot of a donut shop.

It’s the work of partners Allison and Vasili Tavernakis. In just under two years, they’ve built a community of dedicated diners from Orange County to Los Angeles, drawn to their personal market-inspired take on traditional Japanese cuisine.

Three Pigs owners, Vasili (left) and Allison Tavernakis.

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Yakitori is what first launched Three Pigs, so. So there are always skewers on the menu, like a juicy beef kushiyaki skewer dabbed with wasabi.

But there’s also always something special and even ephemeral to be had. Maybe it will be hearty kakuni don, a bowl of rice topped with meltingly tender soy-braised pork belly, a jammy soft boiled egg, and daikon and bok choy sprouts. Or perhaps you’ll find a hyper-seasonal dish like nowhere else: yuzu-scented whipped tofu, charred broccolini, sake-cherry agrodolce, and sprouted watercress.

Three Pigs is restaurant-quality cooking unbound from the financial and creative trappings of a brick-and-mortar space.

“The challenge is what keeps me excited,” Vasili said. “I want our pop-ups to feel like if you changed our bamboo plates, you’d feel like you were at a restaurant.”

A restaurant-quality dish at Three Pigs.

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Organic growth

Allison and Vasili are both hospitality veterans. The pair met while working at a restaurant in Torrance: Allison as a manager and social media director in the front of the house, Vasili as a chef in the back of the house. After their shifts, there were few options for late-night bites. Inevitably, Vasili said, they’d find themselves at Japanese izakayas, where they and their coworkers could build camaraderie over skewers and small plates.

It was during those post-work meals that Vasili became enamored with yakitori. But it wasn’t until the pandemic lockdowns that Vasili ever attempted to cook it himself. It was a slow process, learning the techniques and honing the recipes that called back to those late-night meals that he sorely missed. For Allison, who is Japanese-American, the dishes spoke to her own flavor memories and family traditions.

Eventually, they became confident enough to invite friends over for dinners to try out new dishes.

Still, the idea of a pop-up seemed far off. It wasn’t until a friend who owns a store in downtown Long Beach offered a pop-up opportunity that Three Pigs started serving the public. After that first smashing success, which saw their entire menu sell out, the operation has grown organically ever since, building on community connections and word of mouth to find new avenues to share their food.

Evolution and ambition

If you pay enough visits to Three Pigs’ pop-ups, you can watch the pair continually push boundaries.

“On a recent visit to Japan,” Vasili recounted, “we saw a vendor with a gorgeously long irori-style grill with fish standing on skewers. In Japan, irori is a multifunctional space in the home for both heating and cooking. I hadn’t seen a vendor do that before, so I thought I could try building one.”

So he did. Then he sourced ayu, small fish prized in Japan for their sweet, delicate flavor. The fish were skewered whole and arranged vertically around lengths of charcoal stacked in the center of the grill. The result was not just an approximation of that inspiration from Japan, but an homage to the craft and care of Japanese cooking. Even attempting such a cooking method is something no other pop-up, let alone a brick-and-mortar restaurant, is likely doing in Southern California.

Casual pop-ups are only part of the Three Pigs experience. Allison and Vasili also host a dinner series. And it’s at those dinners where Three Pigs’ creativity is truly at play.

At a Santa Monica nursery a few months ago, Three Pigs paired an ambitious tasting menu dinner with an ikebana class hosted by Tiger Blossom Studio. In between flower arranging lessons, Allison and Vasili served a farmers market-driven menu that saw dishes like a hamachi crudo in a pool of strawberry ponzu, spiny lobster in a caviar and white miso beurre monté, and a hojicha panna cotta with craggy, dehydrated black sesame cake.

“We try and create an experience, not just food on a plate,” Allison said. “We see this as an entire restaurant experience that happens to be outside in the community. We get to interact with customers in a more intimate way, ask questions, and have a conversation.”

But that conversation isn’t just one with customers old and new. It’s a dialogue between memory and place, Southern California and its seasons, and tradition and evolution.

No matter where you find Three Pigs, you can always guarantee there will be something new on the menu.

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Four years ago, Adan Matul was selling a Guatemalan sweet bread called pan de Xela, out of a street cart in the San Fernando Valley. Now, Matul and his family run El Sabor Auténtico de Xela, a Guatemalan restaurant and bakery in Chatsworth.

Matul opened the restaurant in February with his partner, Yolanda Barrios, and her daughters, Hellen Rodas and Selena Barrios. The family works together every day to bring dishes and pastries from their ancestral home of Quetzaltenango.

“Everything we serve here is a reflection of our roots — the dishes our parents cooked, what we snacked on, the bread we had with our coffee,” Matul told The LA Local. “We want our bread and dishes to evoke memories of home, the warmth that we felt eating our mothers’ food.” 

A basket of Guatemalan breads from El Sabor Auténtico de Xela.

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Andrea G. Mendez Ochoa

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The demand that led to El Sabor Auténtico de Xela opening its doors reflects a broader shift in L.A. Los Angeles County is now home to the largest population of Guatemalans outside of Guatemala, with more than 280,000 residents as of 2025 — a roughly 35% increase over the past decade. As the community has grown, so has the visibility of its food, even as many Central American immigrants face increased immigration enforcement and political pressure.

“We’re living in a time where so much systemic harm has been done to our people,” Rodas said between greeting customers at the restaurant. “We’re told we need to assimilate to thrive in this country, and that mindset took so much of my cultural identity when I was a child. Part of my healing has happened through working here.”

Growing up Guatemalan American in Los Angeles, I know that feeling. For years, food from our homeland was hard to find — even in one of the most diverse food cities in the world.

That’s no longer the case.

Across L.A., dishes like pepián, garnachas and tapado are moving from the margins to the mainstream. What was once hidden is now defining neighborhoods.

These five restaurants capture that shift.

No. 5 Puchica Guatemalan Bar & Grill

Tapado, a Garifuna recipe popular among the Guatemalan community residing in the Caribbean coast, served with rice and a Mojarra Frita.

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Andrea G. Mendez Ochoa

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Walk into Puchica and you’ll likely spot a wall of photographs — Lake Atitlán, Antigua, Tikal. There might be live Chapin music filling the room. There will definitely be some of the best Guatemalan food in L.A.

Owner Ronan Lurssen, a native of Suchitepéquez, and his wife, Taryn, have made it their mission to bring regional Guatemalan cooking to Los Angeles — and that means going beyond the usual menu.

Puchica is one of the few restaurants in the area serving tapado, a coconut-based seafood stew from Guatemala’s Caribbean coast. The dish traces back to Garifuna communities — Afro-Indigenous people whose roots come from West African survivors of shipwreck and the Indigenous Kalinago and Arawak people. 

The tapado here delivers on that lineage. The broth is rich and creamy, the seafood layered with deep umami flavor. It arrives with rice and mojarra frita — a whole fish, scored, garlic-lime marinated and fried until the skin shatters and the meat pulls clean. The plate comes with tortillas to make fish tacos that you should definitely dip into the broth. It’s a dish that demands you slow down and find comfort in the experience of finishing everything on the plate.

No. 4 Mi Cocinita Chapina

Carne Guisada from Mi Cocinita Chapina served with a salad, rice, and mash beans. The Guatemalan dish on the left corner is called Hilachas, a shredded beef stew.

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Andrea G. Mendez Ochoa

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The LA Local

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Mi Cocinita is a little hole in the wall that serves some of the best traditional Guatemalan dishes in the area. Nestled on the corner of Malvern Avenue and Venice Boulevard, it is known for its authentic Guatemalan breakfasts. 

Put some pep in your step with Mi Cocinita’s desayuno tipico — eggs, savory mashed black beans, fried plantains, queso fresco and your choice of chorizo or puyaso steak, a cut of sirloin with a thick layer of fat. 

You can also start your day here with carne guisada, a savory stew featuring beef simmered in a thick, rich gravy and potatoes. 

No. 3 Amalia’s Restaurant

Sopa de Mariscos served with rice and the Plato Amalia’s with rice and homemade tortillas.

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Andrea G. Mendez Ochoa

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The LA Local

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Amalia’s Restaurant is a rarity in L.A. — a Guatemalan spot that’s been holding it down since 1994. Long before the current wave of regional Central American cooking, Amalia’s was serving Koreatown’s Guatemalan community, quietly becoming a neighborhood staple.

The sopa de mariscos is the move here. Built on a deeply seasoned tomato broth, the soup is loaded with fish, shrimp, crab and mussels, simmered down into something rich and restorative. It’s the kind of dish that hits immediately — briny, citrusy, just enough lime to cut through the depth.

If you’re hungover, it’ll fix you. If you’re not, it’ll still feel like it did.

No. 2 Shucos LA

Shucos’s churrasco plate offered a variety of assorted meats served with a Russian salad, rice, beans and homemade guacamole. The bistec encebollado at the top with Agua de Jamaica.

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Andrea G. Mendez Ochoa

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The LA Local

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Shucos started as a backyard setup near Jefferson Boulevard and 41st Street in 2020. Within a few years, it grew into a storefront in Commerce, fueled in part by a steady rise on TikTok, where staff showcased their Guatemalan-style hot dogs to a wider audience.

Those hot dogs — known as shucos — are a staple of Guatemala’s street food scene. Built on a toasted bun, they’re loaded with grilled meats, guacamole, cabbage, grilled onions and the classic trio of ketchup, mayo and mustard. Messy, smoky and fully loaded, they eat more like a full meal than a snack.

But the menu goes deeper. Shucos also serves a range of traditional dishes, including bistec encebollado, salpicón de res, pollo en crema and churrasco.

The churrasco features meats that are tender with a strong char, the seasoning pulling everything together without overpowering it. On the side, garnachas — crisp, saucy and so delicious, they were consumed in a matter of minutes. 

No. 1 El Sabor Auténtico de Xela

A shuco mixto from El Sabor Auténtico de Xela. A shuco is a street food staple from Guatemala that combines multiple meats in a single toasted bun. Above left is carne adobada and above right is Pepián.

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Andrea G. Mendez Ochoa

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The LA Local

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A true one-stop shop for Guatemalan food, El Sabor Auténtico de Xela earns the top spot on this list. The restaurant and bakery showcases dishes from the Quetzaltenango region alongside a lineup of nostalgic snacks like Tortrix chips and Chiky cookies and sodas like Tiky.

Matul often points first-timers to the Pepián, Guatemala’s national dish. The stew is rich and layered, rooted in both Mayan and Spanish traditions, with slow-cooked meats and vegetables in a thick sauce made from roasted tomatoes, tomatillos and toasted seeds. It’s served with rice and tortillas — simple on paper, deeply complex in flavor.

Rodas recommends the caldo de res, a hearty beef soup packed with corn, cabbage, zucchini and potatoes. It’s the kind of dish that hits even on a 100-degree day.

But the standout is the carne adobada. The meat is tender, deeply seasoned, with a subtle smokiness that lingers. It’s served with Russian salad and Guatemalan chow mein — a local adaptation shaped by Chinese immigrants in the late 19th century that has since become a staple of the cuisine.