Just recently found this street vendor on my feed. It sounds like he is there in this same spot in…read morean industrial neighborhood from 8am to about 1 pm or until he runs out. I've been by twice and my second visit around 8:30 am, I was surprised to see several people there already in the cold winter's air. All Mexican btw, so this vendor is well known by the locals/workers. That speaks volume.
So this dude sets up multiple tables off a sidewalk with a canopy for shade. On those plastic tables are insulated coolers of different shapes. Big rectangular coolers store hot tamales of different fillings and these beverage coolers that have warm sweet mexican porridge things that I haven't tried yet but are very popular during cooler mornings. Champurrado is like a thickish hot chocolate but is thickened with corn masa and may have citrus and/or ground nuts for texture and complexity. He also has something more whitish and thick and he just ladels these steamy drinks into paper cups. Very popular amongst the Mexican customers, maybe the weather dictated what I witnessed.
I've only tried their tamales, so that's what I'll be reviewing. They are good sized about a 8-10 biter. They are wrapped in corn husk then a deli paper around that. As he pulls them out of those insulated coolers, these things are steaming hot. I was surprised on how hot they were upon opening my bag, They were so hot that it was hard to handle them right away. He asked if wanted a paper plate but I declined as I usually eat my tamales in my hand. I should have accepted the plate as these were really hot and on the greasy side, especially the pork one. I usually have napkins in my car and had to use 2-3 napkins to eat one tamale.
The tamales are $3.50 each and so far I've been getting 6 of them for $20, so a slight price break. He puts them in a plastic bag where they will stay warm for easily 30 minutes. I usually will eat 1-2 right away and whatever makes it home, I will wrap each one in plastic wrap before chilling in the fridge. That way when I go to heat one up, about a minute in the microwave, the plastic keeps things steamed. A super fast meal for me, that I love when on the go, or a quick work meal.
Chicken Tamale (3.5*) Lots of chicken in the filling, cooked in a light green sauce. I usually like my fillings quite saucy as it adds flavor to the tamale. These seemed quite dry, and the chicken itself was all white meat, so seemed drier than I prefer. It is filling tho and their masa is very flavorful, it is seasoned and moist, which should be commended. This tamale does benefit from one of their salsas however.
Chile and Cheese Tamale (4*) This one is solid but not as filling as the ones with meat. A nice strip of a green pepper, I'm thinking they use jalapeno as it has some heat. Usually I see a roasted strip of poblano pepper, so it has a deep pepper flavor but less heat. Here the pepper flavor is milder but there is more heat. There is a white cheese inside also but not really noticeable, there's no significant cheese pull, maybe the masa absorbs it. I do enjoy this tamale in the morning with a cup of coffee, a simple breakfast that I learned to love.
Pork Tamale (4.5*) This hits for me. Big shreds of pork cooked in a deep red chile sauce that soaks the meat. Great flavor bomb between the earthy and spicy pork filling to the seasoned corn flavor of the moist masa exterior. The filling is very lean tho and just wished it would be juicier/more fatty bits. But for being as lean as it seemed, the outside of this tamale is surprisingly greasy. Like be careful eating and unwrapping this as grease will trail everywhere, on your fingers and hopefully your napkins. I had to be very careful eating one in my car for my initial taste. I had to eat it parked as I couldn't risk driving and eating something so messy. Lol
Tamale dude also offers 2 types of salsas, a green and a red. The green is medium spicy and is deliciously tangy. The red salsa is very oily but somewhat emulsified. That one is very spicy and I can only take little dots of it. I've never had a salsa quite like that, definitely dried red/black chiles are used and is blended til smooth so no chunks. I'm curious as to what chiles are in there as it is stingingly piquant but with good complexity. At home I actually like to mix the 2 salsas, basically making the delicious green one slightly more spicy.
Great score for me and so glad I found this. It is better than most tamales in my area and I love how warm they are upon receiving. I always eat one right away then I have several for future quick meals/snacks.
