Your Tamale Rundown for Navidad

It’s not too late to place your Christmas tamales orders.

The tamal has been a staple at Christmas probably since news about the stable hit Latin America. Its roots trace back further than the birth of Christ.

My family’s tradition is to eat tamal after tamal, washing them down with generous amounts of ponche, which is kind of like a thick fruit tea.

We eat the Guatemalan variety, which are wrapped in plantain leaves. I think they make for a more moist tamal. They usually come with a whole green olive. With the pit. We eat our tamales gingerly.

One year, my husband and his mother decided to make the tamales themselves. It’s not a simple process, taking about six hours. They were delicious but exhausting to make. Let’s just say the next year, we ordered the tamales!

But I’m no snob. As I write this, I’m eating a frozen tamal from Costco (with green chile). I do like exotic tamales, the ones that fuse cultures. I once had an incredible asiago and portabella tamal from a restaurant on Los Angeles’s Westside. I can't exactly call myself a purist when I make a mean Thai shrimp burrito.

If you’d like to partake this year without the hassle, here are some local restaurants selling tamales to go. Be sure to ask about the lead time they need. Some ask you to order by Thursday. Others say they need only a few hours’ notice:

• El Campeon and El Campeon Mercado: $18 per dozen for pork, chicken, pineapple or strawberry. They need two hours’ notice. A market next door offers ingredients to make tamales from scratch. Location/contact:  31921 Camino Capistrano, 949-240-3141; market 949-489-9767; elcampeon.com
• : $28 per dozen for chicken, beef and pork. As long as you order and pick up by Saturday, you’re good. 32082 Camino Capistrano, 949-493-4941; ricardosplace.net/
• Las Golondrinas: $19.50 per dozen for chicken, beef, pork; $15 per dozen for Rajas (bell peppers and cheese); $15 per dozen for vegetarian (potato, carrots, zucchini and light tomato sauce) and $14.25 per dozen for coconut and pineapple or raisin and cinnamon. The deadline to order is 3 p.m. Thursday. You can also take your chances on over-the-counter orders Saturday. They will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis. 27124 Paseo Espada, Suite 803, 949-240-3440; lasgolondrinas.biz/
• : $17 per dozen for chicken beef, pork, bean and cheese. They need only two hours’ notice. 31886 Plaza Drive, 949-489-9230
• : $18.60 per dozen for chicken, pork and beef. They need one to two days’ notice. 32118 Paseo Adelanto, 949-248-2457 
• : $19.50 per dozen for pork, chicken, beef and a vegetable variety with onion, tomato, mushroom and chile verde. Must order by Thursday. 31481 Camino Capistrano, 949-493-8681. http://www.elmagueysanjuan.com/Welcome.html
• : $18 per dozen for chicken and pork. They need two days’ notice. Two locations: 31952 Del Obispo St., 949-240-6128, and 32141 Alipaz St., 949-496-9439.   

I noticed some changes since . The prices have uniformly gone up, about a dollar per dozen. On the plus side, less lead time is now needed at several locations (El Molino, Ricardo’s and El Campeon).

A worker at said the restaurant doesn’t actually make its own tamales, so I’ve dropped them from the list. New this year are Taqueria El Coyotito, El Maguey and El Maguey Express.

Feliz Navidad!