Los Angeles’s 2025 Eater Award Winners | Eater LA

"Opened after a year and a half of nixtamalizing corn in a backroom at Michelin-starred Holbox, this pocket-sized, tiled stall across South LA’s Mercado La Paloma channels chef Fátima Juárez’s memories of Mexico City and Oaxaca and pre-Hispanic cooking into a menu centered on Indigenous corn sourced directly from farmers in Mexico and nixtamalized on-site. Antojitos lead — golf ball-sized fried plantain molotes filled with cheese resting in mole; oval tlacoyos with a thick pocket of masa filled with ayocote beans, topped with cactus, queso fresco, and salsa verde — alongside the Taco Sonia, a deep purple-tinged tortilla stuffed with seared beef, homemade pork chorizo, and mashed potatoes or cactus. Quesadillas come blanketed in Oaxacan cheese with fillings like flor de calabaza, oyster mushrooms, mashed potatoes, or pork longganisa, and dessert brings a tender slice of pan de calabaza crowned with sour cream. In the bustling market hall, the corn hits the alkaline solution, hands press a tortillera, and her stories reach a city ready to listen." - Rebecca Roland