The Best Places In Los Angeles To Get Holiday Tamales

If you grew up in or near the city of Los Angeles, chances are you've always associated tamales with the holiday season. The doughy dish is a long-held Christmastime tradition that showcases the myriad of cultures and customs that make up one of the country's most diverse metropolitan areas. Just as the smell of gingerbread seems to evoke the holiday spirit, tamales take a starring role on festive tables across the city. Holiday tamales are a mouthwatering symbol of LA's melting pot, where traditional recipes are celebrated and seamlessly integrated into the city's foodie culture.

While the best tamales undoubtedly come from abuelitas, the culinary landscape in LA offers a good mix of trendy restaurants, late-night eats, and family-owned spots offering special servings of holiday tamales. Each little corn husk-wrapped treat tells its very own tale of heritage and flavor, highlighting the ways in which the city never ceases to celebrate and evolve its cultural customs. 

Whether you're a tamale aficionado or an adventurous foodie, the city offers countless options to satisfy your cravings and celebrate the season. To create this list, we culled local websites, news sites, and Reddit threads to come up with a collection of some of the best places in the city to get your holiday tamale fix. These are our favorites.

Koreatown's Guelaguetza is one of the buzziest Mexican restaurants in the city, and for good reason. This James Beard Award-winning eatery specializes in Oaxacan favorites such as molcajete de guacamole, meat platters, and tlayudas, but what it's best known for is most definitely its homemade mole. Made from a mix of Mexican spices, nuts, and chiles, Guelaguetza offers up six different types of mole: mole negro, mole rojo, mole verde, mole amarillo, coloradito, and estofado.

Since mole is the name of the game at Guelaguetza, it's no surprise that its holiday tamale offering includes some of its most famous secret sauce. The Tamal Oaxaquenos Tray includes six of the restaurant's famous banana leaf-wrapped tamal de mole. These little pockets of masa are filled with shredded chicken tamal in mole negro sauce made from rich, flavorful ingredients like Mexican chocolate and cinnamon. The tray also comes with rice, beans, and 16 ounces of black mole for a perfect little feast. Orders can be placed on the Guelaguetza website. Just be forewarned: Koreatown is one of the worst places to find parking in America, so make sure to plan ahead!

What started as a food truck, Guerrilla Tacos is now a trendy restaurant in the heart of DTLA Arts District. Run by LA-born Latinas Chef Crystal Espinoza and Managing Partner Brittney Valles, Guerrilla Tacos proudly adds a flavorful punch to the diverse food culture of the city. Hailed for their elevated take on the California staple, the taco, your taste buds will be delighted with creative offerings such as wild boar picadillo and kabocha squash tacos. In addition to all the delicious eats, Guerrilla Tacos was also named one of the best agave mezcal bars in Los Angeles by LA Times, just one of the many reasons we love this locale.

And as if we needed any more reasons to wax poetic about Guerrilla Tacos, the restaurant added another with its DIY Tamale Kits that are perfect for those wanting to try their hand at making their own. Whether you want to start a new holiday cooking tradition with your family or prefer to gather a few of your closest pals for a tamale-making party, this kit is a fun way to get in on the action. Each kit includes 5 pounds of masa, 2 pounds of filling (options include beef, chicken, veggie, or mixed), 30 corn husks to make 30 tamales, and instructions on how to make them. Tamale kits are available directly from the restaurant's website.

La Mascota Bakery has been an LA staple for a minute. Established in 1952, this cafe is best known for its classic assortment of pan dulce, divine coffee drinks (like the tres leche latte and mocha Mexicana), and, of course, tamales. After a thoughtful renovation by owners Francisco and Patty Aparicio, La Mascota Bakery has updated its look without losing its decades-old commitment to quality Mexican favorites.

If you're looking for a destination with a rich history (it still boasts the same tamale recipes that have captivated the city for decades), as well as more options for fillings, La Mascota is your spot. Select from chile rojo con puerco (pork), chile verde con pollo (chicken), chile rojo con res (beef), chile verde con queso (cheese), vegetal (veggies), and dulce con piña (sweet with pineapple). Just like the other spots on our list, you can pre-order your tamales (although these are served à la carte) directly from the restaurant's website.

The Mercado La Paloma is a bustling food court that has been all the buzz ever since Holbox (which some Angelenos may say is one of the best local restaurants in LA) was awarded its Michelin star. And while Chichén Itzá might not have the glitzy accolade of its neighbor, this Yucatan-inspired food stall will most certainly delight your taste buds just as well. Award-winning chef and current owner Gilberto Cetina Jr. has made quite a name for himself with his near-perfect cochinita pibil, which attracts crowds in droves. That said, the tamales are also top-notch.

Savor the tamal colado for its moist, banana leaf-steamed masa and achiote chicken; the tamal horneado for its crispy baked texture and hearty filling of chicken, eggs, tomatoes, and epazote; or the vaporcito for its banana leaf-wrapped chicken or veggie filling. You can order them à la carte on the restaurant's website, or grab a dozen of the vaporcito tamales (with your choice of chicken, pork or vegan filling) from the catering menu online. And while you're at it, why not add a build-your-own taco bar or tray of that famous cochinita pibil?

There's a healthy heaping of vegan restaurants around the city, but no one does Latin vegan quite like Mama's International Tamales. Located across from MacArthur Park in Westlake, this local favorite is known for its vegan Salvadoran pupusas but also, most notably, its tamales.

Not only are the restaurant's offerings exceptionally vegan friendly but there are also a ton of different options to make your holiday tamale basket flavorful and robust. Highlights include jackfruit verde, mole with cactus and potatoes, sweet corn and jackfruit, vegan cheese jalapeño, "Salvadorean Jackfruit," and a holiday mixed dozen. Other holiday specials include a pupusa platter that includes your choice of bean and vegan cheese or jackfruit and vegan cheese (all are served with a pickled cabbage slaw and salsa), as well as ceviche and plantain appetizer trays. All holiday bundles are available to pre-order via phone.

These destinations for holiday tamales in LA are not listed in any particular order. We selected these locations based on rankings and reviews on reputable publications including L.A. Taco, The Infatuation, Time Out, Discover LA, and more, as well as personal experience. Our selections were then narrowed down with the help of rankings and reviews published on user-generated platforms such as Reddit, Yelp, and Google Reviews. There are countless incredible establishments that serve tamales throughout the city. We chose to highlight destinations that received the most mentions and highest reviews throughout our research and took into consideration special holiday menus and offerings.