Santa Maria tamale shop

Best tamales I’ve ever had. Hands down.

Gone by this shop several times & there was always a "sold out" sign in the door. This day altho' the sign was up, the door was open & we went in. Al Rodriguez, the owner was as nice & welcoming as could be. He explained that he is a one operator shop & usually runs out of orders early but after hearing that of my many attempts to try his tamales, he made one just for us to sample.

My mother's "specialty" was Mexican-food and among her many great dishes, her tamales were my favorite. I have fond memories of those wonderful dinners and I've hoped to find a place that had tamales (almost) as good as the ones mom made. Anytime I've been at a restaurant that had them on the menu or learned of any place that sold them, I've given them a try but I've always been disappointed. So when I noticed the Tamale Shop sign, I had to check it out. As I went through the door, I found a simple setting - a couple tables and a small counter with a kitchen behind it The clerk appeared and I told him that I would like to get a couple tamales to take out. He mentioned three or four options and I settled on one pork and one beef, which he prepared as I watched. We talked a bit and it turned out that he was the owner - and a very pleasant guy. I learned that most of their tamales go out in the morning to restaurants up and down the Central Coast. He ticked off a number of varieties they offer - pork, beef, chicken, vegetarian and several others that I don't recall - I was surprised there were so many. I thanked him, paid and headed home with (as always) high hopes for a taste feast. As soon as I got to our kitchen, I opened one of them and tried it. It was absolutely delicious. While I was eating it, my granddaughter came in, so I gave her a taste. Her reaction was that we should have a tamale dinner ASAP. So, finally, I've found tamales as good as mom made. For our dinner, I also got enchiladas. They make a nice selection of those too and like the tamales, they are truly delicious. In fact, they may be my new favorite.