Comedor Tenchita

"Comedor Tenchita’s Mid-City backyard restaurant is usually packed, and that’s because the 76-year-old Doña Hortensia “Tenchita” Melchor prepares some of LA’s most unique Oaxacan food that varies weekly, but handmade tortillas piping hot from a comal are always on hand." - Eater Staff

"On Sundays in her Mid-City backyard, Doña Hortensia “Tenchita” Melchor, a traditional zapoteca cook from Tlacolula, Oaxaca, serves higaditos, a ball of beaten eggs, shredded chicken, onions, and tomatoes cooked in stock and seasoned with a tangy salsa. She also makes taquitos bathed in sweet mole coloradito, large empanadas filled with mole amarillo, and well-seasoned molotes, masa fritters packed with chorizo and potatoes. Ask about specials, which can include various moles like segueza (mole of broken corn), chichilo, or mole verde, not to mention soulful Oaxacan-style enchiladas." - Bill Esparza

"Every Sunday, 76-year-old Doña Hortensia “Tenchita” Melchor opens up her Mid-City backyard for diners hungry for home-style Oaxacan cooking from the Valles Centrales; she and a cadre of other cooks work under a tent, pressing handmade tortillas and ladling broth over higaditos (a hard-to-find egg dish with shredded chicken, onions, tomato, and chiles cooked in broth). A lingering Sunday lunch at the checkered tablecloth-covered tables under the tent found dishes like empanadas filled with fiery yellow mole and hearty potato-and-chorizo molotes dressed in a black bean puree. But some of the best bites came courtesy of a special of two chicken picadillo-stuffed chile rellenos with chicken broth ladled over top. The liquid softened the crisp outer layer of the chile and, as the pepper and chicken were shredded apart, put the dish somewhere between a soup and stew. On a cool Sunday afternoon, it was pure, warming comfort. —Karen Palmer" - Eater Staff

"Doña Hortensia “Tenchita’’ Melchor, runs one of the best Oaxacan restaurants in the United States, offering a rotating menu of handcrafted zapoteco moles, homey stews, Oaxaca breakfast dishes like higaditos, and antojitos from Tlacolula de Matamoros." - Bill Esparza