La Mascota Bakery
While tamales are available city-wide in LA, I’m extremely particular about having good tamales. Tamales Elena has been my favorite “go to” place, but since they aren’t always parked in the same location, I decided to go to a regular brick & mortar establishment. Because I was interested in going to a tortilleria in Boyle Heights, I selected La Mascota as my destination.
La Mascota has been around for over six decades and yet remains a popular bakery in the Boyle Heights. It changed hands about a year ago and fortunately, the new owners vowed to keep the original intent. They’ve largely retained the menu and recipes, but significantly upgraded the interior to make it more modern and welcoming.
Entering the bakery, I was happy that there were only about 6 people in line. It is stocked with a huge variety of pan dulce, but what I looked forward to wasn’t behind a glass case. Looking at the menus on the wall, they had a nice selection of Mexican breakfast offerings. I decided to order a torta sandwich and take home a dozen tamales.
A hot champurrado with a lomo asado torta
I paired my Lomo Asado torta with a Mexican hot chocolate commonly known as a champurrado. The champurrado hit the spot on the chilly morning, but the torta ended up making my day. The bread was fresh and slightly crisp on the outside. I thoroughly enjoyed each bite as the pork loin was moist, tender and paired nicely with the lettuce, tomato, avocado and mayo.
Fresh made tortillas at La Princesita Tortilleria
There is a growing trend for Mexican restaurants to support authentic Mexican tortillas. Rather than using yellow 2 commodity corn from Monsanto, Pioneer or Dow, La Princesita Carniceria y Tortilleria makes their tortillas from the blue cónico variety of maize from Mexico. Once you’ve tried corn tortillas sourced from this region, you’ll agree that they really elevate the taste experience.
Los Cinco Puntos is widely known as place to purchase carnitas in East LA. Fortunately, it is only a block and a half from La Princesita. There are a couple of tables on the sidewalk, but most people understand that this is a “to go” operation. Most of their customers purchase their meat by the pound and pick up tortillas and salsa. I picked up a pound of carnitas to go.
For dinner, my wife reheated the carnitas in a pan so that they had a nice crispy finish. She also reheated a few of the tamales. A taco bar using the La Princesita corn tortillas and chopped lettuce, tomatoes, cilantro and salsa was set up that evening. The tamales were fluffy, moist and flavorful. The taste of the tacos was truly amazing and I savored every bite.
If you do the research, you can find these great gems in small neighborhoods that feature a certain cuisine. It could be Vietnamese, Thai, Armenian or Ethiopian. I encourage you to discover LA on your own!
La Mascota. 2715 Whittier Blvd, Boyle Heights, CA 90023
http://lamascotabakery.com/
Los Cinco Puntos 3300 E. Cesar E. Chavez, Boyle Heights, Ca 90063
http://www.los5puntos.com/
La Princesita Carniceria y Tortilleria, 3432 East Cesar E Chavez Ave., Boyle Heights, CA 90063
http://www.laprincesitaylablanquita.com/