Tamales wrapped in corn husks and banana leaves are back on the menu at Tamales Elena y Antojitos, an Afro-Mexican restaurant in Bell Gardens that was set to permanently close but reopens today. In mid-May, after nearly one year of questioning their restaurant’s future, the Irras family announced they would close Tamales Elena, a restaurant that expanded upon their decades-old …
A takeout window seems an apt location to begin thinking through some of the Los Angeles restaurants that managed not only to open in 2020, but also to enrich the city’s culture with creative achievement and personal narrative. Between Angry Egret Diner and Pearl River Deli in Chinatown sits Katsu Sando, Daniel Son’s ode to Japanese convenience-store sandwiches he’s evolved …
The pozole verde at Tamales Elena y Antojitos in Bell Gardens is a dish to savor in stages. Lorenzo’s recipe, like each of the two dozen menu items at Tamales Elena y Antojitos, illuminates the Afro-Mexican cooking of Costa Chica, a hilly stretch along the southern coast of the state of Guerrero between Acapulco and the border of Oaxaca. Tamales …
