--
Bell and Bell Gardens, two incorporated cities in Los Angeles ever-sprawling county, are twins separated not so much by birth but bisected by the Los Angeles River and the 710 freeway at Florence Avenue. Peopled by a range of immigrant Pan-Latino families, as well as a large Lebanese community in Bell, that have settled into Southern California with their traditions, these two cities, part of Southeast Los Angeles' Hub Cities, have small populations both under 45,000, less than 10 miles from downtown Los Angeles and also have the distinction of surviving a string of recent scandals by their governing bodies. But to see the bustle on Florence and Gage Avenues in Bell Gardens or Atlantic Boulevard and Gage in Bell, one can arrive to the conclusion that these town emanate resilience and the desire to move on with aplomb.
While on most days and nights and days bleeding into each other, Bell Gardens welcomes a range of visitors coming to the local Bicycle hotel and casino, where its parking lot is always full.
A pair of fresh eyes may descend along Atlantic Boulevard in Bell and see a lot of Mexican influences with many of the storefront signage shouting tax services and car washing en Espa ol. The streets, like many in LA, are built to fit the scale of the car not so much the pedestrian and the strip malls offer a variety of food offerings as much as they do oases for parking. The perimeter around Southeast High School though on any given day at the arrival of the magic hour you'll see a range of se oras walking in groups getting their laps in before sundown.
Both the areas that we know today as Bell and Bell Gardens had starring roles in the history of California and date back into the pre-colonial era where the indigenous Gabriele o settled and buoyed by agricultural production. As the Spanish Empire took its hold in the mid 16th century, Bell Gardens was a major market center. Commerce continues to prove its strong suit as both cities welcome and boast a range of independent businesses that fiercely compete with the big box stores that dot the western side at the corner of Florence and Eastern.
The restaurants profiled here represent a gamut of off the beaten trail favorites, new and old, that reflect the tastes of its residents, many of whom are low income yet still want to enjoy a great cut of meat or a nice night out without breaking the bank.
--
--
Fatima's Halal Meat Market and Grill
Ali Elieda, owner of Fatima's Halal Meat Market and Grill, started off with a meat market selling Halal meats and poultry. Then, after a successful three years introduces Halal meat tacos. And they were a hit with the locals as he says there is no color line when it comes to food, especially the passion that great cuts of meat inspire across cultures. So after adding burgers and burritos to the menu it was only natural that shawarma got introduced. The most popular item on the menu is the beef and chicken shawarma mix seasoned in a heavenly garlicky marinade to the gills and spilling out out its grilled pita bread burrito.
The role we play here is a diverse one, we bring in that love [of meat] into the city of Bell and it's all love when it comes to Arabs and Mexicans, he says in an interview after the lunch rush.
Halal is basically meat or chicken that is slaughtered according to Islamic law, as laid out in the Qu'ran. According to Elieda there's a blessing and a prayer said over that animal whenever it is slaughtered. It's the Halal meat in all of its presentations at Fatimah's that attracts a huge crowd of Yelpers into of the city of Bell. Customers from Los Angeles, El Monte, the Valley and even San Diego consistently give Fatimah's five star ratings and that says Elieda is kind of tough to do in the city of Bell. They travel for greatness.
Fatima's Halal Meat Market and Grill: 4846 Florence Ave Ste A-103, Bell, CA 90201
A blessed burrito with Halal shawarma caters to Bells Arab and Mexican lunchers. Photo by Raquel Gutierrez.
Fatimas started as a Halal meat market but quickly blossomed into a popular spot. Photo by Raquel Gutierrez.
Rocio's Mexican Kitchen
Rocio Camacho's restaurant has only been around for a year, seats a cozy 25, has no bathroom, but has consistently seen lines out the door each weekend for her Oaxaque o style breakfasts and lunches of squash blosson mole drenched salmon and grilled chicken in the mouth watering pumpkin seed mole with a glass of sweetened cucumber water to wash it down.
With 16 years of working in kitchens with different restaurants she decided to open up Rocio's Mexican Kitchen in Bell Gardens because she and her family live there.
When we opened, people saw that we were doing something different with a new concept, she says in an early morning interview before opening up for breakfast. They came to seek other types of Mexican food and while the house specials are moles, we had to do a lot of explaining [when it came to] the ingredients.
Rocio offers Bell Gardens a welcome yet as she says a different touch to Oaxacan cooking without the frills of an expensive dining experience, creating dishes that bring salmon and mahi mahi and their unique to Bell Gardens plating presentation to a public that is eager to savor it all. With no plans to expand, Rocio's Mexican Kitchen is as Rocio says meant to be a order to go spot.
Rocio's Mexican Kitchen: 7891 Garfield Ave, Bell Gardens, CA 90201
Rocio Camacho knows whats up. She focuses on crafting unique Oaxacan dishes, without the expensive frills. Photo by Raquel Gutierrez.
Mole-drenched salmon with squash blossoms. Its a mic-drop of meals. Photo by Raquel Gutierrez.
Coraz n Y Miel (6626 Atlantic Ave, Bell CA 90201)
Coraz n Y Miel feels like it belongs on Mateo Street in the Arts District with all of the other finely desig
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
06/12/2025
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. A new survey from Pixitmedia by Datacore revealed a major shift in the Media & Entertainment industry in media archiving, with 85% of resp...
06/12/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. LiveU has announced that the national public broadcaster Czech Television has completed one of the largest LiveU live production deployments fo...
06/12/2025
NEW YORK The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) presented the Excellence in Production Technology Emmy Award to NASA+ and Dr. Tom Leight...
05/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nati...
05/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Veritone's Sean King on the Power of Mining Video, Audio DataThe company's Data Refinery offers users total control and governance over da...
05/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: Inside the Nashville Predators' Unified, Flexible, Sca...
05/12/2025
Netflix Reaches Agreement To Acquire Warner Bros. Following Planned WBD SplitThe deal does not include WBDs sports assets like TNT Sports (US, UK, LatAm), Euros...
05/12/2025
FOX Sports Returns to Indianapolis for Primetime Broadcast of Big Ten Championsh...
05/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Digital Engagement & Monetization Workshop Tackles the ...
05/12/2025
Atlanta United Lights Up New Emory Healthcare Studio With First Live Broadcast f...
05/12/2025
As Messi Takes the Pitch, MLS, Apple, NEP Roll Out Largest MLS Cup Production Ev...
05/12/2025
ESPN Enters College Football's Most Intense Month With Elevated Workflows fo...
05/12/2025
It's about that time! Awards season is in full swing, and the Film Independe...
05/12/2025
Every year, Spotify Wrapped offers a personalized look back at the audio that defined your year. It's a snapshot of your listening habits, designed to tell ...
05/12/2025
In 2025, Spotify's EQUAL, GLOW, and RADAR programs celebrated women, LGBTQIA , and emerging artists who turned moments into milestones. From breaking record...
05/12/2025
In our latest blog, we explain how Wi-Fi 7 rollouts can drive consumer loyalty with value-add services such as consumer cybersecurity. We also explore how this ...
05/12/2025
LOS ANGELES Netflix announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Nielsens Gracenote has launched Gracenote Content Connect, a new ad platform that provides agencies, brands, supply-side platforms (SSPs) and demand-si...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK In an most important update to the workings of deal-based programmatic advertising, IAB Tech Lab has released version 1.0 of its Deals API for public c...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Pass the turkey. Pass the stuffing. Pass the cranberry sauce. All are common requests of Americans celebrating Thanksgiving Day with family and f...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. Netflix announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has approved AT&T's $1.02 billion acquisition of spectrum from UScellular in a decision that was issued sho...
05/12/2025
The Best Coldplay Songs: 21 Tracks That Shoot for the Stars From Yellow to Viva La Vida, Fix You to Paradise, this playlist goes back to the start.
December ...
05/12/2025
Zafris Lecture Series Brings Nabil Ayers to Berklee The 32nd annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture series was held on Thursday, November 13, with guest...
05/12/2025
Friday 5 December 2025
A new Game of Thrones Tale: Official trailer for Sky Exc...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Don Lee, Lee Jin-uk, and Lalisa Manobal to Star in Netflix Act...
05/12/2025
Tis the season of giving once again and this year we've taken our Give Back Fridays' concept and turned it on its head.
In the autumn we were approach...
05/12/2025
Brayden Gogis doesn't remember a time when he wasn't completely fixated on games in all forms. In preschool, when they asked us to dress up as what we ...
05/12/2025
The Grinch steals the spotlight as the theme for The Late Late Toy Show 2025
Tune in tonight at 9:35pm on RT One and worldwide on RT Player
#LateLateToyShow...
05/12/2025
RT Announces New Presenters of Flagship News Programmes
New RT Six One News co-presenter Tommy Meskill
Sarah McInerney & Justin McCarthy join Morning Ir...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & ...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir AJA Ki Pro Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & just:in linux
More Details:Starting with version 5.5, both just:in mac pro and just:in linux sol...
04/12/2025
Wangu Kanuri from Kenya and Godwin Asediba from Ghana are two of this years finalists for Thomsons Young Journalist of the Year Award. The pair are runners-up i...
04/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: ProximaVision's Claudio Lisman on Why Tethered Drones Could Be...
04/12/2025
SVG Campus Shot Callers: Imry Halevi, Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Co...
04/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: LiveU Lightweight Sports Production: A Step Change in Spor...
04/12/2025
London to Riyadh: DAZN brings the boxing glamour to new production levels for Be...
04/12/2025
Analysis: Paramount bets on the battering ram' with Champions League play By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 10:12
Print ...
04/12/2025
Space City Home Network Launches SCHN DTC App for Astros and RocketsThe Rockets and Astros were previously the lone NBA and MLB teams without a DTC appBy Jason...
04/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Content Workflows Workshop Spotlights Evolution of Spor...
04/12/2025
New Sponsor Spotlight: Geotech's Patrick Wambold On the Unreal Engine Revolu...
04/12/2025
Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nationally and RegionallyBy Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Thursday, December 4, 2025 - 1:52 pm
Print This Sto...
04/12/2025
(L-R) Rebecca Lichtenfeld, Mohammadreza Eyni, Sara Khaki, and Judith Helfand att...
04/12/2025
SBS launches Future Frames initiative to support emerging First Nations video ed...
04/12/2025
Coronal mass ejections caused by eruptions on the surface of the sun can have fa...
04/12/2025
Gracenote Content Connect enables media ecosystem to precisely align ad campaigns and programming based on rich content signals
NEW YORK - December 4, 2025 - N...
-- 
