Two Tickets on the Hot Tamale Train

If you don't watch So You Think You Can Dance, the title of this post sounds pretty stupid. Actually, even if you watch SYTYCD, it's still pretty stupid. But you still want to read about the tamales we ate today, right?

As an apprentice-operated business and job-training restaurant, Mama's Hot Tamales Cafe (2124 W. 7th Street, Los Angeles) welcomes local low-income residents who are home caterers and street vendors and prepares them for jobs in the food service industry.

When you visit the bright and cheery cafe, you will dine on fresh delicious homemade tamales, and you will feel good about supporting a great cause.

I started off with a fresh jamaica ($2.00). The refills were plentiful.

Mr. Monkey had an Inca Kola ($1.75).

We ordered six different types of tamales to share ($2.75 each, $2.50 each if you order three or more): chicken with black mole, chicken in green sauce, turkey, pork in green sauce, beef picadillo, and cheese and jalapeño.

The types of tamales vary daily, depending on which vendors contribute, but the array generally includes offerings of Mexican, Oaxacan, Honduran, Peruvian, Guatemalan, and Salvadoran origins.

Chicken with black mole. My favorite, hands down. The mole was rich and smoky.

Beef picadillo. Spicy and yummy.

Pork with green sauce. Good but not as good as the others.

Cheese and jalapeño. Loved this one! Cheese! Cheese! Cheese!

Everything was delicious, but we particularly enjoyed the tamales wrapped in banana leaves. These were especially moist and amazing. They were so outstanding that we got four banana-leaf-wrapped tamales to go: another chicken with black mole and another turkey, as well as a chicken with vegetables and a mixed vegetables. We had them for dinner, and they were fantastic!

We ended our meal with a shared pineapple tamale. I loved how the sweet cinnamon tones paired with the warm tang of the pineapple.

This was a lovely neighborhood find in a not-so-lovely neighborhood. I promise it's worth it. I only wish we'd taken home more than four extra tamales.