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Poncho’s Tlayudas Makes Its Public Food-Scene Debut Sunday at Smorgasburg

[dropcap size=big]C[/dropcap]hef Alfonso "Poncho" Martinez of Poncho's Tlayudas is the featured newcomer at the Smorgasburg LA food-fest this Sunday in downtown Los Angeles. The appearance marks a food-scene debut for Poncho's Tlayudas and its team.

If you haven't had a chance to make it on an inspired Friday night to Poncho's in South-Central, this is your chance to taste the pop-up's Oaxacan tlayudas and Martinez's revelatory recipe for indigenous Oaxacan moronga or morcilla blood sausage.

"I'm here getting ready now," Martinez tells L.A. Taco. "The usual ... tlayudas, moronga, chorizo, tasajo."

Poncho's was founded by Martinez and his partner Odilia Romero, and takes place only on Friday nights in the backyard of a binational indigenous rights organization for Oaxaqueños in Los Angeles known as FIOB. An excerpt from our feature earlier this year:

Food binds everything that happens at the FIOB on South Main. Odilia and Poncho explain that with the constant activity, Oaxaqueños began bringing their best dishes to share at gatherings. Food sovereignty, after all, is a central pillar of the work. “You know how it is, everyone brings food, and wants to be the best,” Poncho tells me.

And with practice in the speedy kitchens of Los Angeles, Poncho, a musician at heart, realized he held that enviable knack that Oaxacans tend to have for magically making good food. One day Odilia’s parents decided they’d teach Poncho how to make moronga the way they made it back in Zoogocho.

Poncho's is a relative newcomer and an L.A. Taco favorite, you'll see!

Blood sausage with a tlayuda mixta at Poncho's Tlayudas. Photo by Daniel Hernandez for L.A. TACO.

The event runs from 10 am to 4 pm. Read more in our weekly events column GTFO LA!, and read Ode to Oaxacan L.A.

RELATED: Ode to Oaxacan L.A. ~ Friday Nights at Poncho's Tlayudas

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