Coast Packing Co. Returns as Sponsor of KCRW & Gustavo's Great Tortilla Tournament

In its fourth outing as a sponsor of the popular fall ritual, KCRW and Gustavo’s Great Tortilla Tournament, Coast Packing waved the flag for flour tortillas – typically made with lard – and shared in the celebration with HomeState, whose Tex-Mex style flour tortillas came up victorious for the second time. Ditto for winner Taco Maria, the pride of Orange County with its peerless blue corn tortillas.  

The event – the sixth annual regional competition, organized by taco maven and L.A. Times columnist Gustavo Arellano and KCRW Good Food’s Evan Kleiman — rolled out at Smorgasburg LA, the open air food emporium that draws hungry minions to downtown’s Arts District every Sunday.  After weeks of “flour v. corn” competition among 64 members of SoCal’s tortilla elite – and aspiring elite – the Golden Tortilla was bestowed on Taco Maria, first two-time winner of the event! 

Of special note to Coast and tallow partisans, Heritage BBQ finished as the first-ever tallow-based flour tortilla to make it into the finale and the first-ever maker to make it into the #FuerteFour in its first year of production.  Rounding out the winners;  Pan Victoria, a Guatemalan mini-chain with outposts in Mid-City and Inglewood, emerged as the first Central American tortilla to make the finals.