{"id":83247,"date":"2024-08-06T12:14:43","date_gmt":"2024-08-06T19:14:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/?p=83247"},"modified":"2024-08-06T12:14:44","modified_gmt":"2024-08-06T19:14:44","slug":"tacoys-lionydas-al-pastor-best-tacos-los-angeles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/food\/tacoys-lionydas-al-pastor-best-tacos-los-angeles","title":{"rendered":"From outlaw taco stand to one of the best in SoCal. The secret of Tacos Lionydas\u2019 al pastor is out"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Two years ago, Lionel Perez\u2019s taco stand was beset by problems. A man was harassing him and his employees, yelling and threatening to call immigration officials<\/a>. A month later, the Long Beach Health Department took Perez\u2019s cart<\/a>, impounding his equipment after they said he didn\u2019t have the proper permits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neither was enough to shut down Tacos Lionydas, and that persistence has paid off \u2014 earning Perez a loyal customer base and, last month, recognition by the Los Angeles Times as one of the region\u2019s 101 best tacos<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tacos Lionydas was one of only two Long Beach eateries to receive the honor. The other taco to make the list was El Barrio Cantina\u2019s taquitos de papa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was surprised and at the same time also happy for the work we do,\u201d Perez said recently in Spanish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A plate of tacos from Tacos Lionydas in Long Beach, Tuesday, July 30, 2024. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What sets his tacos apart, Perez said, are the Mixe-style seasonings his staff uses for the al pastor and the various salsas offered at the stand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pork for the al pastor is slowly cooked with a gas flame on a vertical rotisserie, or trompo. When ready, juicy slivers are shaved off and served up with an optional slice of pineapple for a mouth-watering mingling of spice and sweetness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perez lives in central Los Angeles, but he\u2019s originally from Tamazulapam del Esp\u00edritu Santo \u2014 a mountain village in northeast Oaxaca\u2019s Indigenous Sierra Mixe region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He speaks the Indigenous Mixe language along with Spanish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Perez had been working as a taquero for six years when he was able to open up his own taco stand in June 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said he chose Long Beach because he saw there weren\u2019t many food carts at the time, especially ones that offered Mixe-style al pastor tacos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along with that popular dish, Tacos Lionydas offers chorizo, carne asada, pollo, lengua, suadero, buche and cabeza \u2014 steamed beef head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the stand recently, William Onwuka brought his brother Michael, who was visiting from New Jersey, to try the al pastor before he went back to the East Coast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Claudia Dominguez of Tacos Lionydas mixes the agua frescas as they prepare for the opening for the night in Long Beach, Tuesday, July 30, 2024. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

William said the nearby community rallied to support Tacos Lionydas and make sure it stayed put after the video of Perez and his staff being harassed made headlines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

William lives in Long Beach\u2019s Westside neighborhood, but he travels to the Traffic Circle area once or twice a month to visit Tacos Lionydas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know where else you can get this type of traditional Mexican food,\u201d William said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tacos Lionydas also offers burritos, mulitas, quesadillas, tortas and the unique papa asada, with meat piled high on a baked potato.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fire and smoke come off the grill as Benjamin Franco grills up the meat at Tacos Lionydas in Long Beach, Tuesday, July 30, 2024. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Walt Smith, who has lived near Heartwell Park for nearly 30 years, said he comes to get tacos from the stand every week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pineapple with the al pastor offers the perfect mix of sweet and savory and keeps him, his wife and their son coming back for more, Smith said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perez said he\u2019s been grateful for the overwhelming support from the Long Beach community even at the stand’s low points two years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou can never do everything right, there are sometimes mistakes that we make but we have always been good there,\u201d Perez said. \u201cWe have had almost no problems with our food.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tacos Lionydas<\/i><\/a>, the stand near the corner of East Atherton Street and Clark Avenue, is open every day from 6 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lionel Perez\u2019s taco stand was getting shut down by the city two years ago. Now its al pastor has been named one of the 101 best tacos in the region.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23521,"featured_media":83186,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[153,137],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[32323],"class_list":["post-83247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food","tag-food","tag-tacos","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23521"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83247"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83255,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83247\/revisions\/83255"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83247"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=83247"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=83247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}