La Flor de Yucatán Tamales: $3.25 Chaya Tamal in Pico-Union

La Flor de Yucatán sells Yucatecan tamales at 1800 Hoover St, Los Angeles, CA 90006, in Pico-Union, and the cheapest one on its menu costs $3.25. If your tamales search ends here, expect banana leaves instead of corn husks, masa stained orange with annatto, and fillings that taste of Mérida rather than Michoacán.

The family history on the restaurant's About Us page begins in the late 1960s, when Antonio Burgos, known as Lindo, baked in his home kitchen in Pasadena. He sold the bread door to door and later out of his first vehicle. Demand was strong enough that he and his wife, Rosy, opened a store at Pico and Union in 1971. Four years later, in 1975, the bakery moved into the building it still occupies.

The second generation took over gradually. Their oldest son, Marc, began running the business in 1997, and their daughter, Annie, joined him in 2008. Under Marc the kitchen grew into a full Yucatecan menu, and the site now describes La Flor de Yucatán as a restaurant, bakery and importer in one. Shelves near the counter carry snacks, condiments and cheeses brought in directly from Yucatán, which is why homesick Yucatecos drive in from across Southern California.

Yucatán has its own tamal vocabulary, and the menu here uses it. The colado is the soft one: a steamed, moist, creamy tamal of chicken and pork, seasoned with bell peppers, onions and epazote, then wrapped in banana leaf and foil. One costs $4.99 and a dozen costs $49.99. It is closer to a savory custard than a cake of masa, so eat it with a fork.

The tortiado is hand patted from masa blended with annatto and filled with chicken. The menu calls it a party favorite of the Yucatán. Singles are $3.50, three cost $9.75, and a dozen is $49.99. The dzotobichay is the meat-free choice, made with chaya, a leafy green similar to spinach, and pepper jack cheese, all steamed in banana leaf. It is the $3.25 tamal, and twelve cost $29.99.

The brazo de reina, which translates as queen's arm, is the showpiece. It is a long, log-shaped tamal of chaya dough rolled around boiled eggs and ground pumpkin seed, priced at $9.99. Slice it into rounds and share it. Order one of each if you are new to the style, because the Tamale Trio combines a tortiado, a dzotobichay and a colado for $9.99.

Late October is the reason to visit this week. For Hanal Pixán, the Mayan festival of the dead, the bakery takes orders for mucbipollo only between October 7 and November 10. Its seasonal page describes the dish, also called pib, as a baked tamal pie offered to the dead on All Saints' Day and traditionally paired with a cup of hot chocolate.

The filling is espelón, a small black-eyed pea, plus pork, chicken and vegetables smothered in k'ool, an annatto gravy. The seasonal page compares the pib to the turkey at an American Thanksgiving. A large mucbipollo costs $75 and a medium costs $35. A small single-serving version, listed as the chachacuaje, costs $9.99 and is the easy way to taste it without feeding a family.

Pan de muerto sits on the same seasonal menu, a soft round bread dusted with sugar or sesame and topped with dough shaped like bones. Large pibs are made to order, so call ahead with the size and pickup day rather than hoping for a spare one at the counter during the first days of November.

The room works like a neighborhood bakery with a hot kitchen behind it. Decide before you reach the register, since the menu is long and the line moves quickly at lunch. A Two Tamale Combo with two sides costs $8.99, and choosing the colado adds 50 cents. The Two Taco and Tamale combo, at $11.99, is the better plate if someone in your group wants cochinita pibil.

Ask for the house habanero sauce, which the menu spells kut. It is hot, and a few drops are enough on a tortiado. Pickled red onions come with many plates and cut through the richness of the colado. If you are taking tamales home, the banana leaf keeps them moist, and the menu marks the tamales as available for shipping.

Families ordering by the dozen should think about mixing styles. The dzotobichay dozen is the bargain at $29.99, while the colado and tortiado dozens are both $49.99. A box that splits chaya and annatto tamales feeds a mixed group of vegetarians and meat eaters, and it reheats well in a steamer with the leaves left on.

The menu also covers the antojitos that Yucatán is known for. A panucho, a handmade tortilla stuffed with black beans, fried and topped with chicken, lettuce and pickled onion, costs $4.99. A salbute, the puffier cousin, costs $4.59. The kibbeh, a fried meatball of beef, cracked wheat and mint that came to Yucatán with Lebanese families, costs $3.50.

Papadzules, tortillas rolled around hard-boiled eggs in a pumpkin-seed and epazote sauce, are $9.99. On weekends the menu adds relleno negro, a dark roasted chile soup with poultry and pork meatballs, for $15.99. It is listed as a Saturday and Sunday dish only, so plan a weekend visit around it.

Pico-Union is one of the oldest Central American and Mexican neighborhoods in Los Angeles, and the blocks around Hoover and 18th are mostly homes, churches and small markets. Walk west on Pico Boulevard after lunch for pupuserías and botánicas. Exposition Park is a short drive south, where the rose garden is free to wander and pairs well with a bag of pastries for later.

Address: 1800 Hoover St, Los Angeles, CA 90006, in Pico-Union. Posted hours on the official site are Monday to Friday, 8am to 7pm. Tamales cost $3.25 for a dzotobichay, $3.50 for a tortiado and $4.99 for a colado, with the Tamale Trio at $9.99. Mucbipollo orders run from October 7 to November 10, at $75 for a large and $35 for a medium.