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 …
Maria Lorenzo, center, with four of her five daughters, from left, Judept, Maria, Heidi and Teresa Irra outside their family-run restaurant, Tamales Elena y Antojitos in Bell Gardens. “My daughters can show what they’ve learned from me about food, cooking, and my recipes,” Lorenzo, 58, said in Spanish. Friends affectionately referred his mother, Chen Fong, now 71, as “Mama Fong.” …
As we try to deal with the 2020 pandemic freight train that continues to barrel over us, we should note a few bright spots— including the opening of a bricks-and-mortar location, in Bell Gardens, of Tamales Elena y Antojitos, which had for years operated out of a truck in the Watts neighborhood. In this episode of “Off Menu,” host and …
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 …
