That's one hot tamal!

Mama's Hot Tamales Cafe & Gallery 2112 W. Seventh St., Los Angeles Hours: Mon.-Sat.: 11a.m.-3:30p.m. Sun. Tel. 213.487.4300

By Camille Garcia
¡Sabor!

A favorite dish among patrons is the Honduran tamal wrapped in banana leaves (shown above). The banana leaf lock in the flavor and moisture.
The cafe is also an inviting place, filled with rich colors, papel picado and original artwork. Check out the maiz queen on the inside wall.

Five years ago, street vendors at MacArthur Park were targets of police crackdowns because they were unlicensed.

The vendors, many of them immigrants from Latin America, had no where to turn until Sandi “Mama” Romero opened her café.

“What we try to do is bring them back inside from the informal economy—making foods at home, selling them on the streets—into the formal economy,” said Carmen Cejudl, the café’s manager.

She says that at Mama’s Hot Tamales, workers have the opportunity to take job-training and business training classes; the café has helped more than 1,000 employees get on their feet, some of who went on to open their own restaurants.

“We really needed to help them learn what it was to run their own business and help them take their business to another level,” said Romero.

Because of the diversity of cooks, the café features a diverse menu with tamales from all around Latin America including Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico. On the daily, hundreds of customers come in to indulge the delicious aromas and tastes, and we can guarantee that Mama will always be there to make sure you’re treated like family.

The café’s next project is to bring in local artists to display their work and get a foot in the spotlight.

Tamale Crime-fighting
Mama’s Hot Tamales was co-founded by Sandi Romero in collaboration with the Institute of Urban Research. The non-profit group has channeled its focus and energy to improving the MacArthur Park area, which for years has been hampered by crime.

The café partnered with the Los Angeles Police Department in a program called “Weed and Seed”—the police department weeds out illegal activity and the café sweeps in to seed positive activities such as the annual tamale festival.

“My job, I feel, as an ambassador to the park is to let people know it’s safe, it’s beautiful, and don’t be afraid,” said Romero.

So far, the café’s work has seen results.

“For the last two years, there’s been zero arrests or incidents related to gang activity or drugs. We still have our little problems, but it’s not like it was when we first came here,” Romero said.

Mama said she’s seen more families strolling around the park’s lake and shopping around; and if they’re hungry they’re craving tamales, there’s no place like Mama’s.