The vendor selling churros, snacks of fried dough tossed with sugar and cinnamon, shouted to attract customers because no one was in line. Tortas were unpopular, mariscos even more so, and some vendors quickly changed their sales strategy to selling drinks, instead of just food, in Saturday afternoon's warmth.
Standing in front of a woman serving juices out of cooler-sized clear jugs filled with brown tamarind, pink strawberry and yellow pineapple, and cinnamon-sugar-spotted milky horchata was Juan Lopez, who explained why the other booths had little business.
"We just wanted tamales," said Lopez, 21, who said he eats the steam-cooked cornmeal pockets stuffed with everything from chicken to beef to pineapple at least every Sunday, when a street vendor passes by his Exposition Park neighborhood.
He said he grew up eating his mother's tamales each year during November and December, when there are plenty of family celebrations.
This weekend, he didn't have to wait for the street vendor or for Christmas to enjoy one of his favorite foods. They were plentiful during the third annual Los Angeles International Tamale Festival on 7th Street between Alvarado and Park View streets adjacent to MacArthur Park.
"Different countries make different kinds of tamales. I'm about to try every kind," Lopez said, while eyeing one filled with chicken and a cacao-based mole sauce.
Traditionally, this festival has taken a back seat to Southern California's premier tamale festival and competition in Indio every December.
But thousands of people showed up Saturday afternoon, and tamale cooks said the Los Angeles festival was gaining on Indio's popularity.
Elizabeth Moreno, 44, the head cook at a stand called Nini's Tamales, said she had never seen so many people at the festival before.
She attributed the large crowd to her own moist tamales.
"We have the best ingredients and a secret ingredient," Moreno said, smiling slyly. "It's been passed down from generation to generation, and the masa [cornmeal wrapping] is moist."
About a dozen vendors down from Nini's stand is Mama's Hot Tamales, which presented the event. The store is a well-known Los Angeles success tory and model for legalizing and regulating micro-businesses such as tamale street vendors.
"We also have a secret ingredient," said Rocio Ramirez, who was serving food at a stand outside Mama's, "and there are so many people here because my tamales are the best in town."
