Hola, Steve! This is Gustavo Arellano, your sometimes KCRW Insider, popping in to finally announce who won my 2024 KCRW and Gustavo’s Great Tortilla Tournament… in 2025!

As I explained over in my Substack, there’ve been, ahem, some delays over the past month and a half which precluded the reveal of the result between corn winner Chabelita’s (of Pacoima) and flour winner Heritage Barbecue (of San Juan Capistrano) in our #tortillatournament finale.

Well, the time for dilly-dallying is over. The winner is… well, let’s go back to the morning when I let the winner know they won.

I showed up early to avoid the winner’s inevitable crowds. KCRW senior events producer Krissy Barker showed up as well to hand me the Golden Tortilla, the trophy all #TortillaTournament winners keep in perpetuity (the Chiquihuite Cup, the trophy that winners get to keep for a year before giving it to the next winner? It’s, um, broken, and I need to fix it!).

Krissy needed to go somewhere, but I asked her to taste the winning tortilla to see what she thought. “Is there butter in it?” she said, chomping away at the winner. “There’s a pancake quality to it. It’s moist inside but not soggy at all.”

She grinned when I said she could take one of the tortillas home. “I’m excited about this. This is excellent. Great choice!”

I finished my meal and went up to the winner’s window to ask for the owner. “Congrats,” I told them, “You’re the winner of the 2024 KCRW and Gustavo’s Great #TortillaTournament.”

And the winner is…

Chabelita’s in Pacoima!

Their corn tortillas are large, thick, earthy, and brilliant. Pacoima is on the other edge of the universe for me coming from Orange County, but I find myself making the trek to get as many of those tortillas as possible. Chabelita’s has made it into the Suave 16 every year they’ve participated, but never made it into the Suave 16 until 2024.

And now, they’re winners.

Owner Juan Santos (pictured above) has run the restaurant for about 15 years. He had no idea what I was talking about when I said all of the above, and gave me a polite thank-you when I handed him the Golden Tortilla through Chabelita’s take-out window. But when I asked Santos if I could take a photo of him with the trophy in front of the small restaurant’s menu, I showed him on my smartphone the article about the 2023 winner, Taco María. A huge smile broke across his face.

“Wow!” Santos exclaimed, the victory finally sinking in for him. Inside, one of his workers cheered.

It was the breakfast rush, and Santos was needed inside, so I asked where Chabelita’s got their masa before letting him go. 

“We get our masa from Graciana’s,” he replied in Spanish, referring to the legendary Sylmar tortilla factory that has been feeding the San Fernando Valley since the 1930s. “But we customize it to our taste. When we get it, it has too much cal,” referring to the slaked lime used in the masa-making process that breaks down corn kernels.

No wonder I thought Chabelita’s winning entry was a bit more sour than usual when my fellow judges and I tasted them in the finale. But that didn’t stop its victory over Heritage, which remains the best flour tortilla in Southern California but just couldn’t… well, you’re going to have to read the blow-by-blow here.

Congrats, Chabelita’s, on being the first tortilla from the San Fernando Valley to win my #TortillaTournament. Everyone: head over to Pacoima this weekend to taste the best tortillas, corn or flour, Southern California has to offer. Make sure to order them with the chile rellenos, which are pillowy masses of queso panela goodness and the best in Southern California. Hey… maybe I should start a #ChileRellenoTournament! 

Want more tortilla choices? Check out our tortilla map — happy eating! Stay tuned later this year for the 2025 #TortillaTouranment. And gracias.

'A Day Without Immigrants' Protests Shake Up OC and LA

On my weekly “Orange County Line” commentary with All Things Considered host Steve Chiotakis, I discussed the thousands of young people who protested against Donald Trump’s proposed mass deportations this weekend. They walked out of schools, took over streets and the 101 freeway, and waved the flags of Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, and other foreign nations, much to the consternation of others. I argued we shouldn’t worry one bit, and to watch for more protests to come.

‘We Deployed Everything’: Lindsey Horvath On LA Fires, Rebuilding Better

On Press Play, LA County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath — whose district includes Pacific Palisades, Brentwood, and Malibu — talked to host Madeleine Brand in a wide-ranging conversation about the devastating fires that ravaged the lives of too many of her constituents, what could’ve been done to prevent or at least mitigate the devastation, and the long road ahead for everyone and everything. “What are the incentives that already exist,” Horvath said, “to … make sure that [homeowners] are adopting as many of those 21st century home-hardening and fire-hardening practices into their rebuilds as possible?

From Canvas to Cadillacs, Lowriders Are This Artist’s Muse

Jacqueline Valenzuela is turning her hot pink 1975 Cadillac Eldorado nicknamed La Playgirl into a rolling Sistine Chapel — that is, if Michaelangelo worked with a palette of chrome, hydraulics, and rims. Her work is currently being shown at the Petersen Automotive Museum — a great achievement for someone who's working on her MFA at UCLA. “I just kept going,” Valenzuela told KCRW contributor Lolita Mojica. “I didn't know where I was going, but I was going, and I think that's still my philosophy now.”

LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes: A Love Letter to L.A.

This Saturday head to where it all started and celebrate the spirit of solidarity and resilience that defines our beloved El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles (aka LA). Our friends at LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes, across from Olvera Street, invite the community to a day of artmaking, wellness activities, live music, access to essential relief resources, and food! Create a heartfelt Love Letter to LA! Plus, enjoy a tea-tasting experience, practice yoga movements, story time and book signing for children, participate in a limpia with The Bratty Brujita Botánica, and more!

KCRW's New Local 'Morning Edition' Host Is Danielle Chiriguayo!

You’ve heard her voice well before she started her gig on Monday. Danielle Chiriguayo has produced and reported on countless stories for KCRW, online and on air. From the impact of the recent fires on renters to sharing stories of queer line dancing in Echo Park, the legacy of LAUSD’s coffee cake, and breaking the news that the beloved Koo Koo Roo is back, you’ll still get her field reporting and storytelling, only now she’s also your weekday morning buddy! 

Here’s what she has to say about her new role:

“KCRW runs through my veins. I started at the station in the fall of 2019, part of the inaugural class of the Report LA Fellowship — without a lick of audio experience. But it was through the help of the literal village of talented producers, reporters, and hosts here, especially looking at you, my longtime mentor Sonya Geis, I’ve had the opportunity to learn and grow and ask as many questions as possible throughout these last few years.

Taking this next step feels like a pinch-me moment, after like so many of us, I listened to KCRW and Chery in the mornings on the way to school. All these years later, and even after being part of this team, I’m always in awe of the incredible work we do for our community. We aren’t just a radio station. We are also part of the beautiful fabric that is LA and that is home to us all. It’s truly a privilege to follow in Chery Glaser’s footsteps and enter this next chapter with you all.”

Steve Chiotakis Speaks with Frances Anderton About Rebuilding After the Fires

Cleanup has begun, and the beginning of a vision of what a rebuild looks like is starting to emerge. However, there are a lot of variables involved: emotional, physical, and financial. Steve Chiotakis sits down with KCRW's resident expert and newsletter author of Design and Architecture, Frances Anderton, who says "It's not an easy road ahead." Together, they dig into the details of all the considerations that need to take place when approaching a rebuild, especially when the opportunity is to do it better to help prevent future disasters.