Although there’s no foolproof way to escape the convection oven that is a summer day in L.A., there are, in my mind, a handful of obvious remedies: Run through a sprinkler. Take a cold shower and drip dry in front of a fan. Spend the afternoon in a frigid movie theater. And, of course, go to Mateo’s Ice Cream.
When the sun goes down on another sticky day, folks are lined up outside the location near Crenshaw and Pico boulevards, some with kids in tow, shirts slightly damp with sweat, waiting for a chance to cool off with a fruity paleta or a bite of one of Mateo’s creamy nieves. For those in the know, a visit is an icy, refreshing pause in the middle of a blistering heatwave.
Mateo’s is, simply put, summertime.
While Mateo’s also sells such things as licuados and batidos (and don’t sleep on its killer turkey sandwich), its essence is in its paletas, or popsicles.
Each of the 30 or so varieties is its own small, frozen work of art. Sitting next to each other in the refrigerated case, wooden sticks up and organized by flavor, the colorful paletas — strawberry, cantaloupe, mamey, hibiscus — look like swatches of paint. After you order, the counter person retrieves your choice from the case and places a small quadrangular cup around the base to catch any drips, so it looks as if you’re wielding a tiny sword.
There are many paleta flavors at Mateo’s — too many for a reasonable person to try. So, of course, I tried all of them.
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Founded in 2000, Mateo’s is as much a product of Oaxaca as it is Los Angeles. Founder Priciliano Mateo (who died in 2018), born in Chiapas and raised in Oaxaca, learned the frozen treat trade from an uncle and sold paletas on the beach in Mexico as a kid, pushing a cart through the sand. His father taught him the salesmanship that would serve him later in life: Get people to try the product. If it’s good, the customers will follow.
This was related to me by Elizabeth Mateo, Priciliano’s daughter, who now runs the business together with her mother, Sofia (Priciliano’s widow), her brother Oscar and her uncle Art Hernandez.
Elizabeth, who was 10 when Mateo’s opened, remembers watching movies in a back area while her parents nursed their fledgling business from a tiny operation to employing around 40 people today.
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At the beginning, Priciliano had two jobs, working at a hotel during the day and at Warner Bros. at night. Sofia, who was also from Oaxaca, had a job working as a hairdresser.
“We started in June of 2000, and it was very difficult,” Sofia said. “We started with very little money. We were thinking about buying a new car” with the roughly $10,000 they had managed to save, but Priciliano had other ideas.
“‘I want to do what I like to do,’” she recalls him saying, and they went forward with a business plan based on his experience selling ice cream and popsicles in Mexico.
The business’ success grew slowly through word-of-mouth and rarely through advertisements. Once social media and platforms like Yelp came into play, “My dad was very big on reviews,” Elizabeth said.
The goal of the family now, Elizabeth said, is to carry on her father’s legacy.
“Everything has been consistent since my father has passed,” she said.
The Sepulveda Boulevard location remains the hub and where all the paletas get made, as many as 3,000 per day in the summer, in tiny molds dipped into a teal-blue bath of calcium chloride. “Everything gets made the day before and distributed the next day. We rarely store anything,” Elizabeth said.
Mateo’s still takes care to honor its ties to the Oaxacan community with some harder-to-find flavors, such as leche quemada (smoked, or burnt, milk), which for some represent a strong connection to the homeland. “People just want a taste of home,” Elizabeth said.
Before we fully dive into the paleta flavors, let me fully drive home one point: There is nothing bad at Mateo’s. Yes, I have favorites. But you cannot go wrong with anything.
For that reason, to reinforce the uniformity of quality across the galaxy of Mateo’s paletas, I’ve divided the flavors into three categories: Great, Greater and Greatest.
Great
Coffee — Tastes like a mild-tasting frozen coffee beverage.
Pistachio — Creamy, nutty flavor with an undertone reminiscent of an almond cookie from a Chinese bakery.
Guava — Surely you’ve had a guava before? If not, think of it as a floral, tropical pear. It’s fantastic.
Yellow cherry (water-based) — The nance, or yellow cherry, paleta has a fascinating flavor to accompany its gritty texture. Imagine an overripe banana that’s been smoked over a campfire. If you’re expecting something cherry-flavored, you’ll be disappointed.
Mango with chile — Like eating a chile-covered mango from a fruit cart. This is almost more savory than sweet, and it has a quiet heat to it.
Walnut — I liked this one but had a bit of difficulty telling it apart from the coffee. A gentle, nutty flavor.
Vanilla — Lots of rich, creamy vanilla flavor. Wholly recommend.
Esquimales — The esquimales at Mateo’s are a selection of chocolate-covered popsicles that may also come with sprinkles or crushed nuts. They’re great, of course, but I don’t personally need the extra coating to get in the way of the actual popsicle.
Coco Loco — If you like piña coladas, but not necessarily getting caught in the rain, you’ll enjoy this mix of pineapple and coconut, covered in chocolate.
Greater
Strawberry (dairy-based) — I could eat these all day. Creamy strawberry flavor and, as a bonus, a full, frozen strawberry impaled through the bottom.
Soursop — Great guanabana flavor to this paleta, with a taste somewhere between an apple and a pineapple.
Black sapote — There’s a beautiful, opaque off-black color to this paleta, which has a subtle flavor that evokes a persimmon custard.
Hibiscus — A paleta so deeply purple you’d be forgiven for thinking it was an English prog rock band. Tannic, tart and delicious; you’ll feel like you’re at a late-night taco stand downing an agua fresca.
Cucumber with chile — Refreshing, like the cucumber-laced water you’d get after a spa treatment, but frozen on a stick. But with a kick, of course. The chile is very much present, and it’s no joke.
Pineapple — Plenty of mashed bits of fruit to enjoy in this absolute winner of a paleta.
Cantaloupe — Cantaloupe, unfairly maligned in many circles, is one of those “you like it or you don’t” fruits. But here, that mild, floral flavor really shines.
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Chocolate-covered banana — Is a chocolate-covered banana a popsicle? Is cereal technically soup? We can debate these questions forever, but we can agree that chocobananas are delicious, with or without nuts.
Watermelon — Watermelon is more than 90% water, so you’d think it would translate well to a frozen treat. You’d be right.
Coconut (dairy) — Creamy, delicious coconut. Bury me in a sarcophagus full of these, please.
Yellow cherry (dairy) — The dairy-based version of the yellow cherry, or nance, paleta. Still tastes like warm spices and smoke. Note to the bartenders out there: This could be great as a cocktail.
Greatest
Smoked milk — Leche quemada, or smoked milk, is possibly the most popular paleta flavor at Mateo’s, and it’s easy to see why. It’s deeply creamy with a powerfully smoky flavor and a splodge of pitaya fruit at the bottom. If you’ve never tried it (or if you have), you’re in for a treat.
Strawberry (water-based) — The water-based strawberry paleta is, somehow, even better than the dairy-based one. Mashed bits of fruit are what really push it over the top.
Mango — Picture a ripe mango in your hand. Imagine biting into it. Now imagine that the mango is very cold and that you’re very happy. You’ve got the picture.
Coconut (water-based) — One of my favorite paletas here. Perhaps the favorite. An abundance of frozen coconut flavor that isn’t creamy like the dairy-based version but benefits from the tiny bits of fruit throughout.
Rice pudding — Another contender for my top paleta. This is creamy rice pudding, replete with little raisins, in popsicle form. 10 out of 10, no notes.
Mamey — The mamey is earthy and creamy, like a funky papaya, and is incredible as a frozen dessert. Imagine all the best qualities of a sweet potato — rich and earthy — minus the mealiness or stringiness that can sometimes befall the tuber.
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Myrtle — This pale, earthy green popsicle is powerfully tart and tannic, with little chewy bits of fruit throughout. It’s botanic and perfume-y and feels like a guava that’s evolved into its final form. If you’ve never tried arrayán, or myrtle, please do.
Lime — A perfect mixture of sour, bitter and sweet. Like popping half a cold lime into your mouth, rind and all.
Tamarind — A wonderful representation of why we love the tart-sweetness of the tamarind fruit. This will absolutely pucker your mouth.
Yogurt with dried fruit — Smooth, mild and tangy, with tons of fun dried fruit bits to chew on between licks (or bites, if you’re that type of person).
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