Echo Park spots to curb your cravings for National Pizza Week!

This week is National Pizza Week, and what better way to celebrate than with a gallery of Echo Park’s most delicious pizzas? It should, after all, have its own food group.

Masa's Chicago deep dish (vegan style). Flickr photo via veganbakesale

Masa of Echo Park lures people from all over Los Angeles with its authentic Chicago-style deep dish pizza. In addition to the amazing service and ambiance at Masa (we love you guys!), the kick-ass owners and great food, they offer a hearty selection of vegan options (which includes a vegan deep dish option).

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Last chance for Pet Photos with Santa, Echo Park Pottery sale

One more chance to get those unique and local gifts from Echo Park Pottery – Sunday, December 18 will be the last open house and sale before the holiday!

The Echo Park Animal Alliance will also be having one more day of Pet Photos with Santa, where prints are $10 each or three for $25, and you can get a bag of home baked dog biscuits for just $10. Zyana Aromatherapy products will also be for sale. Proceeds benefit the wonderful Echo Park Animal Alliance!

Take advantage from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm on Sunday. Echo Park Pottery is located at 1850 Echo Park Avenue.

Echo Park tamales promise a healthy, sustainable new tradition for the holidays

This Christmas, we’re really excited to start a new family tradition by chucking the whole turkey idea, replacing the traditional holiday meal with some really great, local tamales. Of course, there are a lot of great places to get tamales in Los Angeles. Celaya Bakery in Echo Park and Mama’s Hot Tamales Cafe are probably the most well-known in the immediate area, but we’re adding “White-Girl Tamale Maker” La Guera Tamales to the mix as a healthy and sustainable source for a new really tasty new family tradition.

The owner, chef, and self-proclaimed “white-girl tamale maker” is a sweet, soft-spoken but passionate Echo Park resident named Deborah. Her tamales are hand-tied, the salsas made from scratch, and none of her products have any lard, trans-fats or gluten, and are made of local, organic ingredients whenever possible. To Deborah, the corn is the most important organic ingredient – it is non-GMO, organic/pesticide-free, and really delicious. She describes the masa as being a little coarser than store-bought masa (which is highly processed), but it is definitely lighter and fluffier – it doesn’t leave that “brick” in your tummy feeling that over-processed tamale ingredients can do.

I thought I liked tamales before, but let’s face it – I’m not a traditional tamale type of eater. I don’t eat red meat or pork, and frankly I’m not a lot of meat at all these days; I grew up in a health food store, eat tofu, and probably might be labeled as a some kind of hippie/hipster. But I also know good healthy food – so we tried the Blue Corn Jalapeño tamale, and LOVED it.

Blue Corn Jalapeno tamale

The jalapeños in the Blue Corn tamale I ate are from Tutti Frutti Farms, which you can find at the Atwater Village Farmers’ Market. I topped it with sour cream and her homemade salsa (which also uses ingredients from the local farmers’ markets), adding another layer of flavor that just makes my mouth water. One Yelp! reviewer sums it up nicely for us: ” Oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my freakin god these things are delicious.”

Although Deborah’s professional background is mainly in business rather than cooking, she learned the secrets of making tamales from a tamaleros family from Veracruz, Mexico. She also worked in Mama’s Hot Tamale Café through their business training program. The company tagline, “merging tradition with nutrition,” might help you more traditional tamale eaters digest her concept. It’s really important to her that the tamales are artisanal, not produced by a big factory.

It wasn't hard to finish the whole tamale....

For the carnivore, you have the choice of Organic free-range chicken or family farmed pork. There’s the Blue Corn Jalapeno and cheese for the vegetarians. The vegans (which are very excited about her tamales) have Spinach and Shiitake Mushroom Sesame Kale, Blue Corn Jalapeno and Dayia, and “Sasquash” (baked yam and butternut squash masa with sweet red bean filling). She also has vegan dessert tamales with fillings like FigNana, Ginger Pear, and Strawberry, that also make really great breakfast options.

Keep in mind that La Guera Tamales are not the cheap, frozen food aisle type of meals – although some might cringe at the $5 each price tag, it’s actually a pretty cheap meal as they will fill you up! A half dozen gets you a slight discount at $29, and a dozen for $58.

Where you’ll win at price-wise is the free delivery: Deborah personally delivers tamale orders for free to local Los Angeles locations. This works out for customers mainly because as she’s delivering to a regularly scheduled customer, she’ll let you know on her email list if she’s going to be in your neighborhood – that way she can deliver (for free) an order as small as two tamales.

Holidays are a busy time of year – but Deborah still delivers on Christmas Day. She just started offering nationwide shipping for those customers outside of LA who are craving La Guera Tamales (make sure to order by December 18). For local delivery, place your order with La Guera as soon as possible! Placing an order is easy online, but you can also find Deborah hanging out with her friend, The Flan King, at the Echo Park Farmers’ Market every Friday.

Go to gttamales.com to order and for more info!

Echo Park Community Parade in photos

We hate to admit this is only our second Echo Park Community Parade that we’ve been able to attend, but so far it’s our favorite!

There were over 60 entries in this year’s parade, themed “‘Tis the Season.” In addition to local schools, drill teams, cheer squads, and elected officials, there were a few Echo Park businesses and organizations participating in the parade lineup. Amongst those were The Echo Park Time Bank, Edendale Library Friends Society (ELFS), The Warehouse and The Classroom, Mi Alma, 826LA, and others. Maryanne Hayashi of the Central City Action Committee was accompanied by three generations of her family – her daughter, grand-daughter, and her two-year-old great grand-daughter!

Community members that have greatly contributed to our Echo park were give special recognition as ambassadors. Mitch O’Farrell from Eric Garcetti’s Office was honored as the Grand Marshal. Parade Ambassadors included Holly Calhoun of the Echo Park Farmers’ Market, the Echo Park Improvement Association, Masa of Echo Park Bakery & Café, and Albert Torres of Recreation & Parks.

And, as parade committee members told me today, everyone was a winner! All entries received a trophy for participating. It would have been hard to pick any winners, all the entries were fabulous!

Check out our photos below:

Sustainable supper club holiday meal on Sunday

The Green Beacon Foundation is hosting a very special Food For Thought holiday dinner on Sunday to raise money for SEE-LA’s Veggie Voucher Program.

The Food For Thought is a sustainable supper club, part of the non-profit organization’s fundraising activities, which includes a monthly dinner series in a “pop-up” style. This dinner (as with many others), is located at a beautiful private property in Elysian Heights, and the entire meal is made up of sustainable, local ingredients. City Sip LA has partnered with the Food For Thought dinners and will be providing the wine pairings. The guest chef for Sunday’s meal is Gloria Feliz of Reservior Restaurant in Silver Lake.

100% of the proceeds go to SEE-LA’s Veggie Voucher Program, which helps low-income shoppers of the Echo Park Farmers’ Market afford a health diet, as well as helping a local California farmer bring fresh local food to Echo Park.

The four-course menu includes: Tuna tartare on a wonton crisp with a spicy aoli and avocado crema, cauliflower soup, braised oxtails (veggie option available), and Nutella Creme Brulee. Click here for the full menu description.

‘Tis The Season sustainable supper club
Sunday, December 11, 2011 at 7:00 pm
Elysian Heights (exact location provided upon ticket purchase)
Tickets: $68 (RSVP required)
Click here to purchase tickets! Spaces fill up fast.

Echo Country Outpost’s holiday hoopla on Saturday

Once you’ve thoroughly enjoyed your time at the Echo Park Community Parade, and supported some businesses for Echo Park Shop Hop tomorrow, be sure to stop by the Echo Country Outpost’s new location on Glendale Boulevard for its annual Holiday Hoopla!

The holiday party promises food, drink, music, games, and “psychic comfort” (bet you’re wondering what that means).

Here’s the lineup for the party:

Jenny Luna And The Moondogs (6:00 pm)
Matt Van Winkle Band (7:00 pm)
Olentangy John (8:00 pm)
Matt Taylor & His Laurels (9:00 pm)
Ghiant (10:00 pm)
Tommy Santee Klaws (11:00 pm)
Rt N’ The 44$ (12:00 midnight)

A Very Outpost Holiday Hoopla
Saturday, December 10, 2011 at 3:00 pm
$10 donation, all ages
Echo Country Outpost is located at 1770 Glendale Boulevard

There are ton of Echo Park neighborhood holiday parties over the weekend, be sure to check it all out!