The tamales of Clark Street, Rogers Park [pics]

One of the things that is fascinating in Chicago is to run across a street name in an area and find its presumed personality completely transformed. Clark Street is one of the arteries of yuppie Lincoln Park, practically the epicenter of gringo Mexican, offering food that spans the vast cultural gamut from Einstein Bros. Bagels to Jamba Juice. (Okay, I'm being mean, there are a few interesting spots, like this and this.) But take it a few miles out of yuppieville, and suddenly you find a section, north of Devon and south of Howard, home not only to Mexican restaurants (including some old faves like Dona Lolis) but:



Yes, it's a street vendor, in the city of no street vendors. That such things are tolerated in Latino neighborhoods is not a secret to most here, the great maroon van thread on Chowhound a year or two back being only the most serious effort at exploring and documenting them. They all offer pretty much the same thing: green and red pork and chicken tamales, sometimes a sweet tamale, and champurrado and arrroz con leche to drink. Prices seem to run from 75 cents to $1, making trial painless, so today I decided to pick up a representative sample and see what was good. First stop was the fellow (momentarily out of view) in the bank lot above; second was Tamales Garibaldi, in a parking lot opposite a park:



And third was a wooden cart located, most interestingly, on a corner of a famous fast food chain's parking lot, indeed right under the billions served sign:



Here's my assortment:



First two on the left were from the bank lot guy ($1 each). The first was a curiously wedge-shaped red pork tamale. Discernable chunks of pork, good masa flavor, not too hot (in fact none of these would turn out to be as hot as the ones I got at the bakery on Montrose a couple of weeks ago). Not bad for a first try. Next to it, also from the bank lot guy, was what was supposed to be a "sweet" cheese tamale. Sweet, however, includes a stripe of aggressive green salsa, however, and I found this tasted more like pimento cheese spread than, say, a cheese Danish. The cheese alone would have been Velveeta-like, but with the salsa it became more than the sum of its parts.

Next up was a red tamale from Tamales Garibaldi (possibly related to a restaurant, there have been Garibaldi Mexican restaurants around town, maybe still are). 75 cents, and good thing as it was the smallest. I had hopes from its almost fluorescent orange color but it turned out to be the greasiest and mealiest of the bunch. Not terrible but nothing to recommend, either.



Last was a red and green pork tamale pair from the wooden cart at the burger place. At 75 cents they were the best deal for volume, fluffy with lots of masa but not a lot of meat, maybe it's not surprising that this was the choice of a guy in front of me buying a couple of dozen to fill up the crew on a job site. The red I found bland, the green quite a bit better, I would have it again. However, the winner this cold morning was the bank guy, these had the best combination of homemade flavor and structural integrity, the extra quarter, if you can afford it, being money well spent.

Speaking of the maroon vans of Humboldt Park [edit: see notes below about actual location], here are a few pics I have from the Mil-walk-a-thon conducted last spring (before the board was up and running):

Nice pix. More nekkid masa.

I'd just add that the woman who sells tamales by McDonald's is Zim's and now my very favorite. She is more than happy to fill large, private requests is you ask ahead. Quite a lot has been written about her.

Garibaldi seems to be a large operation. Big box trucks with Garibaldi logos can be seen around town in front of churches, and also dropping off and picking up the hand carts.

The Vans and Marianao are in Logan Square, as far as I know.

So does the McD's woman offer other things at other times of the day, or the weekend, or anything? I have to admit I found the variety not very various, on a Monday morning, between all of these, but maybe it's wider at other times. What makes hers the favorite?

And what are the Humboldt Park vans doing in Logan Square? You're right, it's Humboldt Blvd. where they were known to be at one time, at least, not Humboldt Park.

I like the jalapeno/cheese tamale from the McD woman. But the last time I got the meat tamales, there was a little too much sauce for my taste.

There is also a tamale vendor by the Blockbuster a block north of the McD lady. Not bad either.

My favorite vendor though is on Blue Island, a block east of Western. Their tamales, champurrado and arroz con leche are great, even after a 45 minute commute to Evanston.

Mike, I would defer to Zim for info on the Dona de tamales. I have custom ordered from her with great results in the past, but I'm only in the neighborhood when she is on infrequent weekend mornings.

Would love to get some semblance of a complete list of bars that get visits from the Tamale fairy. I know the following get frequent visits:

Quenchers Saloon
2401 N. Western

Green Eye Lounge
2403 W Homer

Tamale fairy stops at The Empty Bottle (Western/Cortez).

JeffB wrote:Mike, I would defer to Zim for info on the Dona de tamales. I have custom ordered from her with great results in the past, but I'm only in the neighborhood when she is on infrequent weekend mornings.

I don't know that i have a lot more info to offer, I have generally ordered from her in advance as well. But for me, its not so much an issue of having more variety than others though she does offer corundas* as well, which richard notes in this link, but rather that her offerings are qualitatively better IMO, moister more flavorful, and a greater harmony of filling to masa.

* my favorite corundas in the area, or were the last time I had them last summer, are at Taqueria Chorritos, 6404 N. Clark, (773) 381-0902. Where I tend to go in the summer, 'cause I like the tepache (though it seems I might be alone in that opinon)

In the evenings when it's warm enough, the tamale lady's spot 'neath the golden arches is usually filled by a pickup selling fruit and sometimes liquados of some sort.

An Igloo-toting tamale angel regularly visits Ten Cat on Ashland at Irving, incidentally one of the coolest bars in town. They're among the saltier versions I've had; Tamale Angel knowing full well that salt is a key element in the pairing of beer with bar food. I don't know if he really does know that, but I like Tamale Angel and want to believe he knows.

Ten Cat Tavern
3931 N. Ashland
773-935-5377

So Zim--just to verify, the place you say is your favorite is not the one I visited that's under the McD sign but usually found across the street, you say? I hit every place I saw out there Monday morning but I'm not going to be surprised if there are more at other times of the day/week.

Mike,

to tell you the truth it's a little hard to tell from the photos. The vendor who I have spoken of, Senora Bustamente, is usually on the NE corner of Pratt & Clark, with a few coolers.

ab wrote:Would love to get some semblance of a complete list of bars that get visits from the Tamale fairy. I know the following get frequent visits:

Quenchers Saloon
2401 N. Western

Green Eye Lounge
2403 W Homer

And also the Hungry Brain.
2319 W Belmont

ab wrote:Would love to get some semblance of a complete list of bars that get visits from the Tamale fairy. I know the following get frequent visits:

Quenchers Saloon
2401 N. Western

Green Eye Lounge
2403 W Homer

Back in my more frequent bar days, I would pretty much see a Tamale person show up at almost every bar I went to that didn't serve food (and some that did).

I spent my bar-hopping time (now fading away) in a rough area bounded by Ashland - Kimball - Grand - Irving. I would be willing to bet that any bar that doesn't have their own food would see a tamale guy or gal show up regularly.

Best,
Michael / EC

eatchicago wrote:
Back in my more frequent bar days, I would pretty much see a Tamale person show up at almost every bar I went to that didn't serve food (and some that did).

I agree with this. I honestly can't think of one bar that I frequent in chicago (normally in Logan Square/Humboldt Park/Wicker Park) where I haven't been offered Tamales at least once. I was a Halloween party this year where no less then 3 people showed up in costume as "The tamale guy". Defintely a big part of the landscape of this city (or at least the neighourhoods where I seem to spend most of my drinking time).

to tell you the truth it's a little hard to tell from the photos. The vendor who I have spoken of, Senora Bustamente, is usually on the NE corner of Pratt & Clark, with a few coolers.

I have lived a half block away from the Clark/Pratt intersection for the past 4.5 months. In that time, I have never seen a tamale vendor on the NE corner of Pratt & Clark. But I do see a tamale vendor on the SW corner, under the McDonald's sign, quite frequently. The head of this operation seems to be a woman who gets assistance from a man who I assume is her husband. She sold some good corundas pretty frequently on weekends throughout the winter. I enjoy her tamales and champurrado quite a bit and find the tamales the best I have tried on the Clark St. strip to date, although certainly not the best in the city.

well, i guess she might have moved. As I said i've usually pre-ordered and picked up from her abode rather than on clark.

btw, Kenny what are your favorite tamales in the city?

btw, Kenny what are your favorite tamales in the city?

The vendor I have liked best so far was a guy who last summer and fall sporadically appeared near the soccer field at the corner of Whipple and Argyle, a few doors down from my former residence. He seemed to show up when big games were going on and sold stuff from the back of his beat up old maroon sedan. As last summer progressed, that intersection became a burgeoning marketplace--a variety of street food being sold by people who just pulled up next to the soccer field, opened up their car trunks or van doors and did a seemingly healthy business on the weekends and evenings of important athletic contests. Unfortunately for those living nearby, one of the loudest ice cream trucks in the city, offering mediocre but strangely popular soft serve, also frequently hovered near this intersection until well into the summer nights....