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Alice Guadalupe Tapp loves tamales. For her, they recall times spent wrapping the masa bundles with her grandmother and conjure images of Hispanic women long ago filling and tying the traditional ethnic delicacies.
"Contained in such a little package is such a wonderful part of my life and such an important connection to my relatives and to my ancestors of centuries past," Tapp writes in her book "Tamales 101: A Beginner's Guide to Making Traditional Tamales" (published by Ten Speed Press).
"Tamales are ingrained in our everyday Hispanic existence," continues the author, who also owns Tamara's Tamales in Los Angeles. "They continue to change drastically, yet somehow remain the same."
But while tamales are an integral element of Latin cuisine, they don't hold a top spot on most restaurants' menus. In fact, they often appear only as specials or during the Christmas holidays — the key tamal-making season. The reason: making them is a work- and time-intensive process that can be cost-prohibitive, Tapp says.
"Tamales require a certain expertise to be made well," she explains when asked why many restaurants don't offer them. "The masa, sauces meats, fish, poultry and other fillings must be prepared and then assembled and wrapped and steamed to perfection. Good tamales are a work of art and knowledge and are a labor of love. Anyone can make a tamal, but it takes experience to make them well."
Gilberto Cetina, owner of two Chichen Itza Restaurants in Los Angeles, decided it was worth the time, energy and investment to make tamales and to make them well.
He hired one woman to hand-roll and tie the tamales he offers at his quick-service and full-service locations every day of the year.
"It has paid off," Cetina says of his decision to craft his restaurants' traditional, banana leaf-wrapped, Yucatan-style tamales by hand. "That is the only way to do it if you want to sell the kind of tamales we sell."
Customers love the authentic tamales, and the volume of tamales sold helps Cetina reap a decent profit despite the work involved. "We sell approximately 1,000 tamales a week just at the restaurants," he reports, noting they are also a popular item on his catering menu.
 Yucatecan Tamale (Photo by Dick Patrick) |
The most popular offering at both locations is the Brazo de Reina made with spinach, ground roasted pumpkinseeds and hard-boiled eggs, then topped with tomato sauce. The Vaporcito (translation: steamed), also sold at the quick-service and full-service spots, is a soft tamal stuffed with chicken, pork or vegetables and served with an achiote sauce.
Cetina's quick-service location also menus the Tamal Colada, a moist, soft tamal with chicken-achiote sauce and the Tamal Horneado, a crispy tamal with chicken-achiote sauce, hard-boiled egg, epazote and tomato slices that is baked rather than steamed.
"We sell more tamales at the quick-service location than at our full-service restaurant," Cetina reports, explaining that they're offered by the dozen at the quick-service store. "Customers also come into the quick-service location to order tamales for breakfast," he adds, noting that breakfast isn't available at the full-service restaurant.
Tamales are also a small but important part of the online menu from Zocalo Restaurant & Tequila Bar in Chicago. Listed on the Antojitos menu is the Trio de Tamalitos, described as "a flight of our delicious homemade tamales."
The appetizer-size, fresh corn tamales include the Oaxaqueño filled with pulled chicken and Oaxaquen black mole; the crema-garnished Rajas con Queso filled with jalapeño strips, cotija, Chihuahua and Oaxaca cheeses; and the Toro Pinto filled with whole black beans.
How to price tamales is another challenge restaurants face. That stems, in large part, from customers' perceptions of Mexican food as inexpensive fare.
"So many consumers think that just because tamales are Mexican food they should be cheap. They think tamales should cost $1 to $2 apiece," Tapp says. "But a tamal worth eating is well worth $4 to $5 dollars each and up. With tamales, it's the labor and high-end ingredients that demand the higher pricing."
Cetina has discovered customers are willing to pay close to what Tapp suggests. At the quick-service Chichen Itza, the Vaporcito is priced at just $1.95. But the Tamal Colado and Tamal Horneado come in at $3.25 each, with the Brazo de Reina commanding $3.95. He tacks on a little extra at the full-service location: the Vaporcito fetches $2.95, the Brazo de Reina $5.95.
"We garnish them more," Cetina says. The Brazo de Reina, for example, is enhanced with a tomato, onion and garlic sofrito, drizzled with pumpkinseed oil and sprinkled with toasted pumpkinseeds, he explains.
The story is similar at Zocalo, with patrons paying $10 per Tamalito Trio.
If you want to experiment with tamales at your restaurant, you don't have to limit yourself to the basic cheese, chicken and pork varieties that are probably most familiar to your customers.
In fact, there are so many kinds of tamales indigenous to various regions of Mexico and other Latin countries, you could offer patrons a "tour" planned around the unique tamales found in each location. You could even plan one "trip" each month and offer customers a Tamale Tour card they could get stamped each time they try a featured tamal. Once the card is filled, you could reward them with a free tamal or other special prize.
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Here, courtesy of Alice Tapp, author of "Tamales 101", are examples of dishes appropriate for special tamale menus.
From Mexico:
See recipes for Tapp's Veggie Special Tamales, Yucatecan Tamale and Fat-Free Masa.
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