nw side street tamales

I would like to recommend the fastidious gentleman who sets up shop with his cart in the parking lot of Fiesta Carniceria, on the south side of Lawrence one block east of Pulaski in Albany Park. He's there at 8 a.m. (sometimes 9 a.m. on weekends) until the red and green tamales and elotes are gone. They are wrapped in corn husks, obviously, and then in foil, and are kept warm. The orders are placed in zip-lock bags. $1 each, and are damned fine tamales. I stopped by on the way home today, and snagged the last three red tamales. Five minutes earlier, I could have had 20 of the red and green. I'm going to start stopping by on my way to work.

Cheers,
Wade

I've stopped by three times in the last few weeks, only to find the tamales long gone.

Yesterday, around 1 p.m., I hit a bumper crop, and got 10 of the red pork tamales and 10 of the green chicken tamales (and promptly gave 5 of each away). Alas, I didn't have my camera with me (I really want a shot of this wonderful gentleman).

With the knowledge gained from trying various poses of Don Rafa's tamales, here are the ones from the Fiesta Carniceria parking lot vendor in a glamour shot. I particularly like how the green chicken tamal has saucily raised its hoja, while the red pork tamal acts demure and modest.

I highly recommend these.



Wade