Wow! So YUM!
Who's got 2 thumbs and seeks out a new tamale spot for the first time - in the San Fernando / Pacoima area! - on the eve of Christmas Eve?!? THIS GAL!!!
I've been wanting to try The Original Tamale Co for awhile now, but was confused by what I was seeing in the Yelp photos - there are a lot of street vendors in the area, so I wasn't sure if this was a "roaming" business. Adding to my confusion was not seeing it on a Google map, but The Tamale Cafe instead. So my curiosity got the better of me and I punched in the address to see what I'd find. It seems Me Gusta Gormet Tamales, the Tamale Cafe and The Original Tamale Co are all the same enterprise. When I pulled into the tiny parking lot, I noticed a cute casitas towards the street, and a large building, which I now know is the industrial kitchen/factory.
Because this is one of the most popular times of year for tamales, they had large tents set up behind the casitas. The casitas was closed to walk up orders with signs directing patrons to form a line for the tents. 4 employees were working to take the walk up orders, 3 employees were filling the orders from inside the tent - LARGE bakery racks FILLED with fresh tamales and many large pots steaming the delicious goods. A special sign was made letting people know that cold tamales - at this time - were available in minimum quantities of 6. I was hoping to get 1 of each, cold, to try for Christmas Eve dinner but, no worries. I would just get them warm and reheat.
I chose 1 pork, 1 chicken, 1 beef, 1 sweet corn and asked the chicken and pork to be in one container and the beef and sweet corn to be in another. My order was written down on a pad then he turned to go get my freshly steamed order. After bagging, he asked if I'd like any sauce and I noticed 2 large bins of packs of red and green sauces. I requested 2 green, he added them to the bag, gave me a total, I used Apple Pay and BAM! I was done.
My timing was perfect because I turned around and the previous line of 2 people in front of me had grown to about 20 people stretched to the sidewalk.
When I got home I realized my order was slightly off. Instead of beef and sweet corn, I received cheese and sweet corn. I wasn't bummed, tho, because I had debated the cheese over the beef. I added my own brown rice and lentils to a dish, placed the corn and cheese on top, added some cheese and drizzled the green sauce over, nuked it 1 minute and sat down to enjoy my new find. My hubby did not hear one word outta me for the next 20 minutes. 'DANG! SO GOOD!' I finally proclaimed.
SO HAPPY to try this award winning tamale business. I'll be back, on a less crowded day, to try some other flavors! Cheers! "CC" read more