When our shelter at home life relaxed and we could once again eat our way around the city, Mel led us on bang bangs. We’d travel in our own cars, grabbing food from places she’d missed or had been waiting to try. With school online, the extended bang bang school lunch was at times the most inspired part of the day. The first stop of our food tutorial was Burritos Las Palmas in Boyle Heights (and then Mariscos Jaliscos down the street.)
So we were thrilled to learn that Burritos Las Palmas is now selling frozen burritos. These Zacatecan-style burritos are wrapped in Mejorado’s prized flour tortillas and filled with either refried beans and Chihuahua cheese or shredded beef birria, refried beans, and cheese. They come four to a pack with a side of salsa roja. Jonathan Gold, once referred to these birria burritos as one of the "finest bites in all of LA."
Also for your freezer (and the kids, stoners, and foodies among us) are Delmy’s pupusas; classic bean and cheese pupusas in the familiar white masa, and shredded zucchini and cheese pupusas in Kernel of Truth’s organic blue masa. The pupusas come frozen, three to a pack, with accompanying salsa and curtido (cabbage slaw). They’re also great with a drizzle of El Salvadorean crema, which we are selling as well.
Carnitas are back! We’re cooking pork shoulders for hours, shredding, and cryovac packing it so all you need to do is reheat and crisp it in a pan. You can stuff your carnitas in Tehachapi grain project’s tender Sonora flour tortillas, or all-natural corn tortillas, made fresh for us on Wednesday morning by La Gloria Foods, a multigenerational tortilla dynasty that’s been a Boyle Heights institution for 67 years. Or stuff your tortillas with El Mexicano brand Oaxaca cheese for quesadilla times.
For meat we’ve got local, wild halibut, skirt steaks from Wanderer Beef that’s pasture-raised and barley fed, and free-range chicken thighs, all of which would also be great with tortillas and our classic green tomatillo salsa. (I like to sear chicken thighs along with any odd and ends of onions, garlic, peppers, and cilantro in my vegetable drawer- and throw it in a crockpot with the tomatillo salsa and some chicken broth and then shred it when done and tender.) We’re getting our favorite chorizo from Peads and Barnetts, which is great fried with potatoes (from the box) until crispy and a runny egg on top.
We’re also marinating wild shrimp so it’s ready to grill, sear, or fry. And just in case you want to batter and fry them, we’re selling Mel’s favorite tempura batter (just add soda water and ice) and chipotle crema so you’re all set for shrimp tacos. (There will also be green cone cabbage and pico de gallo fixings in the box.)
Jason Kim from Forage is making us a batch of tortilla soup, that will be delicious and vegan as is, but you could also add beans, shrimp, chicken, or halibut to it to make it heartier. We’ve got some organic dragon beans from Two Peas in Pod, that are similar to pinto beans in taste and texture and make a great creamy bean to serve with rice and everything we’re offering. And our cilantro lime vinaigrette can dress the little gems or green cabbage, radishes, and avocados that will be in the box.
To wash it all down we have a great red and lovely orange wine from Small town.