Los Angeles, CATamales

The recipe goes back to the 1960s, when Alberto Meija sold tamales as a street vendor and then out of the back of a local bakery; the Temple Street shop has been here since 1997. The Infatuation describes what the family recipe produces as dense yet juicy blocks of perfection. Order the cheese and jalapeno, which the guide names as its favourite, and take the chicken in salsa verde or the pork with red sauce alongside. Vegan and vegetarian fillings are on the board too.

A Boyle Heights tamal institution where the line moves slowly once word gets out. The Infatuation's advice is to skip the Cesar Chavez flagship and come to this smaller original on East First Street instead, where the crowds thin out and the tamales are the same. Order the chili verde, which the guide calls the essential order here, and finish with the elote tamal if you want the sweeter end of the case.

Open on Whittier Boulevard since 1952, and heavily renovated since, though The Infatuation reports the baking has not slipped: pan dulce, fresh bolillo and a flan worth driving across town. Most of the people in the line are there for tamales. Order the chicken chile verde and the spicy pork chile rojo, which are the guide's two picks. A dozen runs $38 and the bakery takes orders ahead on its own site, which is how to skip the queue.

The San Fernando Valley entry, about twenty nine kilometres out from downtown, and the one with a factory behind it: ten thousand square feet, plus top honours at the Los Angeles and Indio tamal festivals. The Infatuation notes that it still runs as a family roadside shop with a takeout window. Order the pork or the beef from the traditional line, and take a pineapple for the sweet slot. Chicken and cheese round out the case.

This Mercado La Paloma counter nixtamalizes heirloom corn in house, which The Infatuation says leaves the masa soft, fragrant and scoopable like custard. Order the chuchito, a round Guatemalan-style tamal about the size of an apple, where the ground corn soaks up pipian mole, crema and stewed pork under spicy pickles. Weekends usually bring specials, including a Yucatecan tamal verde with turkey and house-made queso panela.