Topline:
From Egyptian cuisine to Yemeni dishes, from eating on sofas to take out at food trucks, we went on a multi-national gastronomic adventure through Little Arabia.
What's the deal? As LAist reporter Yusra Farzan says, "the world needs to know about my little food paradise. It’s too good not to share." See this is as your Mid-East food 101.
What's on the menu? Succulent shawarma, labneh with honey, lamb soaked in yogurt and spices... need we go on?
[Editor's note: This story was first published in August 2024.]
LAist reporter Yusra Farzan invited food editor Gab Chabran to go on a tour of one of her favorite SoCal neighborhoods. Here's where they went, and what they ate.
Yusra: When I moved to Southern California seven years ago, I lived on the Westside. Anytime I craved shawarma or manakeesh, I would be disappointed when I looked up “Arab” restaurants on Yelp. They were ethnically ambiguous, with kebabs, hummus and wraps masquerading as a region so rich in culture, history and most important to my belly, food.
Then I learned about Little Arabia.
On a stretch of Brookhurst Street, my heart sang. Here, I could tell which restaurant was Egyptian because they had terms like hawawshi and mahshi korom.
Shawarma wasn’t just a wrap stuffed with vegetables, pickles and charred meat; instead, the meat was full of flavor and the star of the show, taking me back to nights in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates where I would devour shawarmas from a little Lebanese bakery at the Yasmin intersection.
(I never knew the name of the place, you almost never do and it has since closed but they made the best shawarmas. Period.)
And so I proposed a tasting tour to Gab because the world needs to know about my little food paradise. It’s too good not to share. I suggested going on a Friday, because after the afternoon Jummah prayers, a lot of the community makes their way to the Anaheim/Garden Grove area. This means specialty dishes make an appearance on the menus.
Gab: I’d only been to Little Arabia a few times recently since moving to nearby Long Beach, and each time, I was taken by the depth of culture. So when Yusra suggested that we try different dishes from some of the nations represented in the neighborhood, I knew I was in for a real treat.
Yusra: My first taste of Nadoosh Shawarma was a single bite in the wee hours of the morning at the Islamic Society of Orange County after Qiyam prayers during Ramadan. The food truck had closed up and left but a friend was kind enough to share a single bite. The chicken was not charred, the spices not burnt. Instead the flavor came through as did the hint of smokiness from the spit. And thus began my quest (shout out to my friend Yasmine whose help I enlisted) to find this shawarma. Yasmine took me to one restaurant, dropped a few names but that was not it. Then one late night while scrolling on Instagram I came across Nadoosh. This was it. My second time trying it, I was not disappointed.
The shawarma is slender and simple at this Palestinian-owned food truck, not overstuffed and busy. Meat is paired with tahini sauce while chicken is paired with toum, a velvety garlic sauce — this distinction is key. Red onions and flecks of parsley are a must with meat while chicken shawarma without pickles is a travesty — Nadoosh ticks all these boxes and more. It's relatively new and I am reluctantly sharing my best-kept secret, so sahtein!
Gab: Street food in SoCal is so varied. Yes, plenty of places take up your social media feed, but it was so refreshing to see a place that honored its traditional Middle Eastern roots smack dab in Little Arabia. The soft flatbread was rolled tightly with the expertly cooked chicken, with the perfect caramelization on its edges. The beef was mixed with acidic brine from the pickles and red onions, all topped with a deliciously creamy tahini sauce.
Address: 817 S Brookhurst St, Anaheim
Hours: Monday, 5 p.m. to midnight; Tuesday, 9 a.m. to midnight; Thursday, 5 p.m. to midnight; Friday through Saturday; 5 p.m. to 1 a.m.; Sunday, 5 p.m. to midnight
Yusra: You know how you have those restaurants on your weekly roster and those whiny children who exclaim, “Not again!” when you suggest one of those said restaurants? I was that child for a long time, because in our home, we would eat mandi so often. And now, as an adult I regret and miss those times my family and I would gather around to enjoy mandi, a Yemeni dish where meat and rice are slow cooked in delicate spices. It’s a great meal for a family because it's a communal meal.
In the UAE where I grew up, it's so common to see families or large groups at mandi restaurants on a Friday at lunch time after prayers.
You sit cross-legged on “Majlis sofas,” low lying sofas with this large plate in front of you, where in the middle of yellow, spiced rice accentuated with plump golden raisins and crispy shards of deep-fried onion slices sit tender lamb or chicken that falls off the bone depending on your preference. The dish's richness is cut by the spicy tomato and chili sauce it's paired with, shatta as they call it. For those with a low spice tolerance, the cold yogurt and mint sauce beckons, but not to me. I want extra helpings of shatta.
Gab: I can honestly say that I’ve never been to a place like House of Mandi. Immediately entering the restaurant, I saw groups of families sitting on the sofas enjoying a meal together. The sofas were extremely comfortable. My daughter was along for the ride that day and loves taking her shoes off any chance she gets them, so it was perfect.
We immediately both felt extremely comfortable because of the delicious food and the hospitality. The large plates of chicken, rice and lamb contain multitudes of great flavors that tasted familiar and new simultaneously. While it was a lot of food, it still gave the impression of a light meal that complimented our surroundings.
Location: 518 S Brookhurst St #1, Anaheim
Hours: Sunday through Thursday, 11 a.m to 1 a.m., Friday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 2 a.m.
Yusra: Forn Al Hara specializes in manoushe (or manakeesh, plural), which is to the Arab world what burritos are to Californians. You can eat it for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or even at 1 a.m.; there are no rules with manakeesh except that the bread dough has to be rolled thin but still have enough body to hold the different toppings. For breakfast, I prefer the herbaceous za’atar which has a zing from the sumac. Pro-tip: ask for labneh or jibneh (a cheese that is sort of a cross between halloumi and mozzarella) on the side. I dip the za’atar manoushe in labneh and olive oil sometimes or add the cheese and pickled turnips as toppings for the days I want a salty hit.
Gab: This was my second time at Forn Al Hara, but each time I visit, I’m struck by the ambiance they manage to achieve within their space. The informal atmosphere makes it feel like a neighborhood pizza shop. Which is, in part, because it offers pizzas. The manoushe is soft and warm when it arrives, making it feel extra special. The spices, such as the extremely fresh-tasting za'atar drizzled with quality olive oil and a sprinkling of lemon that is served on the side, provide for a distinct experience. But it also offers a variety of delicious flatbreads, like labneh with honey, as well as Safeeya, another favorite of mine, made with lamb meat soaked in yogurt and spices, that delivers an extra delicious tangy flavor that I found to be extremely memorable.
Location: 512 S Brookhurst St Ste #5, Anaheim
Hours: open daily, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Yusra: Meat and chicken tend to dominate conversations around Arabian food but given the region’s close proximity to water bodies, seafood dominates some regional cuisines including Gazan, Emirati and Iraqi. So Al Tannour had to be a part of our food tour, specifically for Masgouf Zbeidi.
The grilled fish made its way to the table, the crisp, spicy and golden outside belying the soft flesh on the inside that yielded to our forks without any resistance.
Pita is ubiquitous to the Arab world but the region is also home to papery thin regag, sponge-like taboon and the mini boat-shaped samoon. At Al Tannour, we were treated to a bread that is typically made in a “tannour” or clay oven. This bread was a staple in our home growing up in the UAE. The bakeries are small — the size of a window — with a man typically squatting in front of the oven shaping the dough. He will then use a long metal stick to cook the dough on the oven walls. In our home, we ate this bread with everything: Sri Lankan chicken curry, labneh and za’atar, peanut butter and jelly and masgouf. Forget spoons, tear a piece of the bread and use it to coax the soft flesh of the fish off the bone and then use it as a scoop.
Gab: I had a wonderful experience here. It felt as if we were in someone’s living room. The dish masgouf zbeidi, one of the only seafood dishes, very much reminded me of another dish from Mexican cuisine called pescado zarandeado. Similarly, it’s a grilled butterflied fish that’s rubbed and then grilled. The Iraqi recipe is made with carp instead of red snapper, and consumed with tannour bread instead of tortillas. I could have eaten the whole thing but unfortunately, I was starting to get very full at this point.
Location: 2947 W Ball Rd, Anaheim
Hours: Monday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Wednesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Closed Tuesday
Yusra: Life of the party, the center of attention, the light that everyone gravitates towards — that’s what Egyptian food is like. When the rest of the region calls a dish one name, the Egyptians do it differently. Egypt is born to stand out and so does its cuisine. Gelatinous molokhia (jute leaves stew) is served with a grilled piece of chicken, bamia (an okra and tomato stew with the most tender lamb) and my personal favorite, the kebda eskandarani, peppery morsels of liver served with pillowy puffs of pita. As for the sausage, I will let Gab weigh in.
Gab: What I learned during this trip was that anytime there’s a daily special that’s being offered with your visit, you should order that. A case in point was the sausage that the owner encouraged us to try. It’s called mombar and is made with sheep casing stuffed with beef sausage meat, rice, tomatoes, onion, garlic, coriander, oil, and spices. The flavor was exceptional, and again, I could barely stop eating it. Yet we still had one more place to try.
Location: 930 S Brookhurst St, Anaheim
Hours: Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 1 a.m.; Friday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 3 a.m. Sunday, 12 p.m. to 1 a.m.
My memories of Palestinian food are in friends' homes: the dance to flip the maqluba, the heaping servings of mansaf, sneaking dawali (grape leaves) before dinner is served.
So, walking into Al Baraka I was a little apprehensive. Would it give me the comfort and camaraderie of having dinner at a friend’s home? Any feelings of apprehension were soon dispelled when Aref Mohammad, the owner, took Gab’s and my order, and later, when he brought over juicy slices of watermelon and qahwah to wash down our meal, and introduced us to other business owners in the area as though we were longtime friends.
Our stomach muscles worked overtime that day, so we couldn't try every restaurant we wanted. Here are some others on my must-have list:
Msakhan, which is tannour bread drenched in olive oil and chicken stock layered with caramelized yet tart purple onions (plus the tartness from the sumac), as well as half a chicken that was literally falling apart and almond slivers, sat next to the maqlouba. Mohammad’s version of maqlouba — a highly personalized dish, families can have a different take — came with deep fried eggplant, cauliflower and chicken delicately seasoned with allspice and cumin.
My favorite dish, however, was one I had never eaten, that Mohammad recommended we get: charshat (stuffed lamb tripe and trotters). The charshat had been cooked down so beautifully that our knives cut right through it as though it were a soft-boiled egg.
Gab: This was another place where the hospitality from the owners, Aref and his wife, chef Layla, made us instantly feel welcome. Aref was worried we were ordering too much food, which I found highly endearing, but Yusra and I told him we were journalists and wanted to get a little taste of everything. I, too, was taken by the charshat dish, which was another daily special that day. It was one of the most memorable dishes I’ve had this year, and I can’t wait to visit again with friends.
Another thing I was struck by is that Aref had opened up his front outdoor space to two pop-ups, another shawarma vendor (Kimo Catering) and another one selling knafeh (Knafeh Kingdom), the spun phyllo dough-like pastry between a helping of stretchy white cheese. Both vendors had family members in Palestine who had fled to Egypt, and they were raising money to send back to them. Seeing how these folks participated in these small acts was heartwarming, hoping for a better future for their brethren.
Location: 413 S Brookhurst St, Anaheim
Hours: Open daily, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
A group of employees at the Los Angeles region’s homelessness authority says hundreds of frontline workers will face layoffs as L.A. County transitions funding away from the agency.
The staffers from the L.A. Homeless Services Authority, or LAHSA, wrote an open letter to the county Board of Supervisors this week, demanding that no county-funded workers be displaced.
They’re demanding that existing LAHSA employees be transferred directly to the new department, instead of having to reapply. They’re also asking the board for a full public disclosure of staffing cuts related to the transition.
Read on ... for details from the coalition's letter.
A group of employees at the Los Angeles region’s homelessness authority says hundreds of frontline workers will face layoffs as L.A. County transitions funding away from the agency.
Staffers from the L.A. Homeless Services Authority, or LAHSA, wrote an open letter to the county Board of Supervisors this week, demanding that no county-funded workers be displaced.
Its members say the transition would hit workers and unhoused clients harder than county officials have acknowledged.
“ A lot of the workers are in this because we care and we want to help our fellow neighbors and don't want to see see all kinds of people homeless on the street,” Jacqueline Beltran, a LAHSA employee who signed the letter, told LAist.
County officials said they are committed to “clearing pathways to employment” for county-funded LAHSA workers within the new Department of Homeless Services and Housing.
“We are continuing to explore all available options,” new department director Sarah Mahin said in a statement.
Mahin said funding and staffing will be finalized in the FY 2026-2027 Measure A spending plan for the fiscal year that ends in 2027. The county released a draft of that plan last month.
County authorities have said they would fully integrate the services performed by LAHSA into the new Department of Homeless Services and Housing by next July.
In April, the county Board of Supervisors voted to pull more than $300 million from LAHSA and create a new county homelessness department to administer the funds.
That motion also directed county agencies to consult with Service Employees International Union 721, which represents county-funded LAHSA employees, to try to keep them employed — or prioritize them for transition into the new department’s workforce.
But the LAHSA Workers Coalition said that’s not happening.
The group demands in its letter that the county halt all staffing reductions at LAHSA and argues the county has a legal obligation to protect the workers. The group is made up of employees represented by SEIU 721, but the union’s leaders did not cosign the letter.
The union did not immediately respond to LAist’s questions about it Thursday.
In February, an L.A. County report said the agency had 900 staff positions and nearly 200 vacancies. More than half of the positions were funded by L.A. County, according to the report.
LAHSA reported last month that it employed 686 people.
Last year, county voters approved the Measure A sales tax to fund homeless services and affordable housing. The ordinance says that contracts funded with Measure A revenue "must not result in displacement of public employees.”
In the letter, the coalition argues the county is out of compliance with that requirement and is urging the board to discuss the matter at its next meeting.
Mahin said Measure A does not prevent the county from restructuring programs but instead “protects public employees from being displaced by outside service providers funded through Measure A.”
The county is facing a deficit of more than $300 million in funding for homeless services, Mahin said, adding that it must make “difficult but necessary decisions about how we invest our limited resources.”
The workers coalition is demanding that existing LAHSA employees be transferred directly to the new department, instead of having to reapply.
They’re also asking the board for a full public disclosure of staffing cuts related to the transition.
In addition to the Board of Supervisors, the coalition sent the letter to several other county and state oversight entities, including the county office of the inspector general, the civil grand jury, the state auditor and the attorney general.
Topline:
A 250-year-old grapevine at Mission San Gabriel is leaning into L.A.'s oft-forgotten identity as California's original wine capital, producing Angelica — the city's oldest wine — for sale to the public thanks to local winemakers and volunteers.
Wine description: Angelica, once made by Franciscan friars at Mission San Gabriel, is a fortified wine, made with fresh grape juice and brandy. It’s sweet, viscous and strong — a glass (or two) is all you need after a holiday meal. Winemakers from Angeleno Wine company have made a small batch, following an old recipe found at the Mission. Each bottle costs $75.
The backstory: The Mother Vine at Mission San Gabriel, planted around 1775, supplied cuttings that built the state's wine industry. By the mid 20th century, L.A.’s winemaking industry had virtually disappeared. Recently, a group of local winemakers have been reviving the tradition. When they were called to the Mission to help cultivate the vine, they realized they’d stumbled upon grapes that could be traced back to its establishment.
When Terri Huerta called local winemakers about a problem with a meandering vine at Mission San Gabriel in the city of San Gabriel, she thought she'd get gardening help. Instead, she sparked a revival of L.A.'s oldest wine.
The vine in question isn't your typical grapevine. It's a 250-year-old beast with a trunk so massive two people can't wrap their arms around it. Because it served as the source for cuttings that spread throughout California's early vineyards, it’s now known as the Mother Vine.
For centuries, it just sprawled across the mission courtyard like some ancient, living pergola that refuses to quit, with no one taking any notice of the grapes flourishing each season.
But now, thanks to a group of determined local winemakers, that fruit is being transformed into Angelica, a sweet wine fortified with brandy that Franciscan missionaries made there in the 1700s — making it the city’s oldest wine.
A limited edition batch was launched Nov. 28 by the Angeleno Wine Company. There are fewer than 200 bottles for sale, and at $75, it's not cheap. But break that down by the vine's age, and you're paying 30 cents per year of history.
The collaboration began in 2020 when Huerta, director of mission development at Mission San Gabriel, reached out to the Los Angeles Vintners Association looking for help to manage the grapevine.
The association — a partnership among three L.A. wineries: Angeleno Wine Company, Byron Blatty Wines and Cavalletti Vineyards — sent winemakers Mark Blatty, Patrick Kelly, Jasper Dickson and Amy Luftig to assess the situation. They found something bigger than a courtyard cleanup project. They found grapes. A lot of them.
"The vine was full of fruit, and I told them it was just a nuisance every year," Huerta recalls. "They asked, 'What are you going to do with all this fruit?' and I said, 'I really don't know.'”
That's when the group offered to help take it off Huerta’s hands.
Although the Napa Valley now reigns supreme as the region’s wine industry, L.A. once was the center for the entire state. Mission San Gabriel’s vine was planted by Franciscan friars after the establishment of the mission in 1775 to make sacramental wine to be used during mass. DNA analysis has since revealed its forebears: It's a hybrid of Spanish Listán Prieto grapes and native California Vitis girdiana.
This vine’s cuttings helped launch the many vineyards that began to crop up around the newly founded grape fields, which became numerous. By 1850, L.A. boasted over 100 vineyards. If you look carefully, even today, the city of L.A.’s seal has a bunch of grapes hanging at the top.
The wines were popular with fortune seekers headed north to the Gold Rush. The industry flourished until 1883, when an outbreak of Pierce's Disease destroyed thousands of acres of vines across SoCal. Urban sprawl replaced vineyards with housing through the mid-20th century.
Today, almost nothing remains of L.A. 's once-dominant wine industry — with the exception of the Mother Vine and a handful of its descendants scattered across the city.
Across from Union Station a direct descendant is still growing over tourist and vendor heads. It’s a 200-year-old vine at Olvera Street's Avila Adobe, the oldest standing residence in the city of L.A.
The winemakers started picking the fruit at the Mission in 2020. But it wasn’t enough to make a substantial batch of wine, so the grapes were stored. For the past five years, the winemakers, joined with volunteers, have harvested the fruit each season, carefully packing it away.
In the meantime, they began to dig into mission records for mentions of grapes and winemaking. One day they came across a document from the 1800s, which outlined a recipe for Angelica, a fortified wine made from grape juice and brandy.
"Angelica is said to be made by mixing one gallon of grape brandy with three of grape juice, fresh from the press," it said. "It is a thick, sweet and strong drink, yet of very delicate flavor."
The fortification wasn't just about taste — it was a necessity. In an era before refrigeration, adding brandy preserved the wine, allowing it to survive California's heat and long journeys between missions.
Two of the winemakers, Dickson and Luftig, were especially interested. They’d been making wine from grapes grown locally in the SoCal region since 2018 at their winery Angeleno Wine Company, which produces everything on-site near Chinatown.
They became intrigued by the idea of recreating Angelica. Following the historical recipe, they pressed fresh Mission grapes and fortified the juice with brandy before fermentation. Then they used the solera system — a traditional Spanish method that blends wines across multiple vintages — aging the wine in oak barrels for years.
Initially, they made limited batches solely for the company’s wine club members, which quickly sold out.
This year’s Angelica is the group’s third batch but the first to go on sale to the public. It includes grapes that have been harvested from 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024.
The wine pours a pale cherry color and has a syrup-like consistency. The brandy comes through right away, caramel and warm spices with refreshing acidity cutting through the sweetness. It's thick, decadent and undeniably strong — a small glass (or two) is all that’s needed after a warm holiday meal.
Harvesting the grapes doesn't look like the romantic wine country fantasy you see in magazines.
Instead of long rows of vines with grapes easily accessed, harvesters have to pick the fruit from below the canopy.
"Everyone has to bring ladders because we're picking like this," Dickson says, gesturing upward in the Mission’s courtyard. "We're literally placing ladders on ancient monks' tombstones to reach the fruit above the graves."
This year the harvest happened in October.
John Pryor, a volunteer, has done multiple harvests. He describes it plainly: "You're not in a vineyard. You're in a garden at a Catholic church. The vines are trellised 12 feet high and go on for a hundred yards."
For his daughter, 27 year-old Meg Pryor, seeing the massive trunk drove home what "old" actually means.
"Whenever we're there, I'm thinking, 'People were doing this a century ago, two centuries ago,'" she said.
Understanding who most of those workers were centuries ago means confronting some difficult issues. Huerta of Mission San Gabriel acknowledges the mission system relied on Indigenous labor, and the vine's hybrid nature suggests native plant knowledge may have contributed to its development.
But she doesn't shy away from the complexity.
"You can't tell Mission history without including all the parts," she says. "You can't tell one story without telling another story. Winemaking has always been a part of L.A. history. The grapes were brought by the Franciscans. They didn't just start here in California. They started in Mexico, so its complexity makes it interesting, but it also makes it controversial."
Going forward, Angeleno Wine Company plans to release a limited batch of Angelica as a seasonal offering each year, as long as the Mother Vine continues to produce fruit.
Topline:
The Supreme Court has cleared the way for Texas to use a new congressional map that could help Republicans win five more U.S. House seats in the 2026 midterm election. A lower court found the map likely is unconstitutional.
Why it matters: The decision released Thursday boosts the GOP's chances of preserving its slim majority in the House of Representatives amid an unprecedented gerrymandering fight launched by President Donald Trump, who has been pushing Texas and other GOP-led states to redraw their congressional districts to benefit Republicans. The high court's unsigned order follows Texas' emergency request for the justices to pause a three-judge panel's ruling blocking the state's recently redrawn map.
The backstory: After holding a nine-day hearing in October, that panel found challengers of the new map are likely to prove in a trial that the map violates the Constitution by discriminating against voters based on race. For the next year's midterms, the panel ordered Texas to keep using the congressional districts the state's GOP-controlled legislature drew in 2021. In November, after the panel blocked the new map, Justice Samuel Alito allowed Texas to temporarily reinstate it while the Supreme Court reviewed the state's emergency request.
The Supreme Court has cleared the way for Texas to use a new congressional map that could help Republicans win five more U.S. House seats in the 2026 midterm election.
The decision released Thursday boosts the GOP's chances of preserving its slim majority in the House of Representatives amid an unprecedented gerrymandering fight launched by President Donald Trump, who has been pushing Texas and other GOP-led states to redraw their congressional districts to benefit Republicans.
The high court's unsigned order follows Texas' emergency request for the justices to pause a three-judge panel's ruling blocking the state's recently redrawn map.
After holding a nine-day hearing in October, that panel found challengers of the new map are likely to prove in a trial that the map violates the Constitution by discriminating against voters based on race.
In its majority opinion, authored by a Trump nominee, the panel cited a letter from the Department of Justice and multiple public statements by key Republican state lawmakers that suggested their map drawer manipulated the racial demographics of voting districts to eliminate existing districts where Black and Latino voters together make up the majority. For the next year's midterms, the panel ordered Texas to keep using the congressional districts the state's GOP-controlled legislature drew in 2021.
But in Texas' filing to the Supreme Court, the state claimed the lawmakers were not motivated by race and were focused instead on drawing new districts that are more likely to elect Republicans.
In November, after the panel blocked the new map, Justice Samuel Alito allowed Texas to temporarily reinstate it while the Supreme Court reviewed the state's emergency request.
The mid-decade redistricting plan Texas Republicans passed in August sparked a counter response by Democratic leaders in California, where voters in a special election in November approved a new congressional map that could help Democrats gain five additional House seats. A court hearing for a legal challenge to that map is set for Dec. 15.
The rest of the redistricting landscape remains unsettled as well. Lawsuits are challenging new gerrymanders in places like Missouri, where there is also a contested referendum effort. And other states, including Florida, Indiana and Virginia, may also pursue new districts prior to the midterms.
Last week, a federal court ruled to allow North Carolina's midterm election to be held under a recently redrawn map that could give Republicans an additional seat.
Another wave of congressional redistricting may be coming soon depending on what — and when — the Supreme Court decides in a voting rights case about Louisiana's congressional map. After the court held a rare rehearing for that case in October, some states are watching for a potential earlier-than-usual ruling that may allow Republican-led states to draw more GOP-friendly districts in time for the 2026 midterms.
Edited by Benjamin Swasey
Copyright 2025 NPR
Topline:
Three L.A.-area chefs are reimagining tamales with high-end ingredients and global techniques, from a $27 Panamanian lamb neck version in Venice to a $21 dish with hyperlocal farm-grown ingredients in Orange County. These aren't replacements for traditional tamales — they're explorations of what happens when fine dining ambition meets this centuries-old form.
Why it matters: Tamales are deeply rooted in tradition, often tied to family recipes and holiday gatherings. These chef-driven versions respect that heritage while proving the dish can hold its own in upscale contexts beyond the Mexican versions most Angelenos know. They're expanding the conversation about what tamales can be without abandoning what makes them special.
Why now: The holiday season is tamal season in L.A., when families gather for tamaladas and local bakeries sell out daily. But this year, chefs across the region are offering versions that push beyond tradition — some available only as limited seasonal specials, others as glimpses of ambitious tasting menus to come.
Growing up in Whittier, tamales have always been part of who I am — whether from local bakeries like La Moderna, where my mother always orders the day after Thanksgiving, or our annual tamalada with family friends, where we churn out hundreds in slightly drunken assembly-line fashion.
Over the years, I've explored beyond the traditional Mexican versions: El Salvadoran styles from What's That You're Cooking in Orange County to the Chinese lo mai gai found at dim sum spots across the city. My pursuit of new tamal variations is relentless, especially this time of year.
So when I heard about a $27 lamb neck tamal in Venice, I had to know: could an elevated, chef-driven approach ever justify that price? Since a few other restaurants are also recreating the humble dish with a high-end approach, I decided to go and try them.
What I discovered was that these aren't replacements for traditional tamales — they're explorations of what happens when fine dining ambition meets this centuries-old form.
Si! Mon opened in 2023 in the former James Beach space, a collaboration between chef José Olmedo Carles Rojas and restaurateurs Louie and Netty Ryan, known for Venice-adjacent mainstays Hatchet Hall and Menotti's Coffee Stop. Si! Mon offers Carles Rojas' take on Panamanian fine dining, drawing on Panama's melting pot of Chinese, French, Spanish, African and Caribbean influences.
For the holidays, Carles Rojas is offering a $27 lamb neck tamal — a clear departure from the Mexican versions most Angelenos know. And while the price might cause some sticker shock, it’s worth considering what goes into it and how much food there is.
Wrapped in a banana leaf, the tamal uses a lighter, softer masa enriched with the lamb neck’s braising liquid. Rojas pulls the meat, tosses it with sofrito until it takes on a sauce-like consistency, then adds Indian-style quick-pickled dates for sweetness and olives for brine. Finally, the tamal is finished in Si! mon's wood-fired oven, adding subtle smokiness.
My verdict? After taking that first bite, I can tell you… it’s worth the splurge. One tamal is meant to be shared between two people, which partly explains the price point (though I had no problem finishing mine solo). I’ve had plenty of Central American tamales over the years — Salvadoran versions with their silky masa, Nicaraguan nacatamales loaded with vegetables and pork — but Carles’ take pulls out all the stops. This is a deluxe, bells-and-whistles vision: sweet, salty, and deeply savory all at once, comforting yet unlike anything I’ve tasted before.
Yes, it is a high price, but I’d say it reflects the time, technique and premium ingredients behind it.
Location: 60 N. Venice Blvd., Venice
Hours: Monday through Thursday, 5 to 10 p.m., Friday through Saturday, 5 p.m. to midnight, Sunday, 5 to 9 p.m.
KOMAL is L.A.'s first craft molino (mill), founded by Fátima Júarez and Conrado Rivera, former employees of Michelin-rated Holbox, who opened this masa-centric counter inside South L.A.'s Mercado La Paloma. The name is Nahuatl for "comal," the traditional flat griddle used to cook tortillas.
I wanted to try the chuchito ($11), a regular menu staple at KOMAL. Júarez refers to the dish as a gift — both for the unwrapping it requires and the labor of love behind it. Each one takes more than 22 hours to make, starting with nixtamalizing heirloom corn to create the masa. (Nixtamalization, an ancient Mesoamerican process, involves soaking and cooking corn in an alkaline solution to improve its flavor, texture, and nutrition).
The result is a fluffy steamed tamal filled with tender pork and crowned with roasted pepper and tomato sauce, pickled cabbage and vegetables, and crema. The dish honors her kitchen team, most of whom are from Guatemala, and it's KOMAL's way of putting their heritage front and center on the menu.
Beyond the chuchito, Júarez is offering three special tamales as holiday pick-ups for Christmas and New Year's: a deep, complex tamal rojo filled with sweet corn and squash calabacita, a vibrant tomatillo-based tamal verde filled with chicken, and a tamal de leche made with oranges and strawberry jam, a sweet version that hints at the pre-Hispanic tasting menu they're developing.
After the holidays, these tamales will transition to appearing exclusively at Komal's planned ancestral and ceremonial dinners in 2026 — making this a rare chance to try them before they become part of a more formal dining experience.
Available by the half-dozen ($45) or the dozen ($90), they can be ordered for pick-up at KOMAL on Tuesday, Dec. 23, or Tuesday, Dec. 30.
Location: 3655 S. Grand Ave, Los Angeles
Hours: Wednesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Closed Monday and Tuesday.
Aaron Zimmer, head chef of Campesino Café at The Ecology Center, works within a unique constraint: everything on his menu comes from the 28-acre regenerative organic farm surrounding the restaurant. That includes the corn he grows, dries, harvests and processes into masa for his tamales.
For the winter season, Zimmer is offering two versions that reflect what's abundant on the farm right now. The shelling bean and cheese tamal ($21) features beans from one of four varieties they grow on-site — shelling beans are harvested before they're thoroughly dried, prized for their creamy texture and delicate, earthy flavor. The cooked-down beans are incorporated into the fresh masa with cheese, then topped with chili con queso made with pickled giardiniera from their summer harvest.
The winter squash tamal ($21) features squash finished with a walnut mole sauce. The sweet, nutty texture, combined with the squash's sweet, earthy flavors and soft, fresh-tasting masa, creates a highly multidimensional bite.
Both are wrapped in masa and steamed in corn husks, then topped with whatever's available in the larder at any given moment, such as freshly grown cilantro or pickled onion.
It's a hyperlocal, intensely seasonal approach that makes each tamal a snapshot of what the farm is producing — versatile, sustainable, and entirely tied to the land it comes from.
Location: 32701 Alipaz St., San Juan Capistrano
Hours: Open daily, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
