Olivia's, Riverside

When Tony Cabral married Olivia Luis, he promised he'd put her name in lights. It took a couple of years behind the counter of a snow-cone wagon, where the newlyweds made frozen treats with their family's syrup recipe, but eventually Tony did exactly that. The two soon expanded the menu from shaved ice to include homemade tamales and delicacies such as barbecued lamb's head. By 1978, Olivia's name was in lights at last over the couple's new restaurant. But, as Olivia jokes on the website, Tony never told her she'd be working in the kitchen.

All things considered, the decades the family has spent cooking tacos, enchiladas, and huevos rancheros for their neighbors have arguably made them more famous in Riverside than any theatrical performance or hijacking of the bank's LED display might have. Among a slew of press praise, Olivia's found a fan in food critic Allan Brogen, who named the eatery one of the town's best 25.