Description

Tamarindo

TAMARIND · SWEET-SOUR · BOLD

Tamarindo doesn't do simple. It comes from a sticky brown pod that looks like nothing and tastes like everything, sweet as dates one second, puckery as lemonade the next, with a warm edge like brown sugar left near a flame. My first sip on Whittier Boulevard, I made a face. Second sip, I made a plan, a bigger plastic cup to go. Ask around East L.A. and you'll hear versions of the same conversion story. This one earns you. By the bottom of the cup you're not drinking it anymore. It has custody.

A LITTLE HISTORY, ON THE HOUSE

This is the boulevard the lowriders made famous, cruising low and slow since the 1940s, chrome and candy paint as Chicano pride you could park. El Arco, the steel arch raised over the street in 1986, still stands like a front door to East L.A. This neighborhood does not announce itself quietly. Good. Neither does this dark, tangy pour.

ONE JAR ON THE COUNTER · NO DEBATE

FOR THE NOTE FANATICS

The Trail Passport: every stop you collect earns a stamp. Fill all 10 and the secret reward at the end of the trail is yours.
Next stop: Lincoln Heights →

✹ MADE WITH LOVE IN LOS ANGELES ✹