Comments on: Our Lady of Tamale

Our Lady of Tamale

badstone — Tue, 16 Dec 2003 15:54:53 -0800

Tamale Ladies! Who knew there was more than one? I just knew about our Tamale Lady who keeps us fed out in the beer garden at Zeitgeist and who had a rockin' birthday party not long ago. There's even a film about her. Is your local dive graced with visits from such a blessed hot sauce toting angel?

By: jcruelty

jcruelty — Tue, 16 Dec 2003 16:12:20 -0800

what i thought was funny about sf tamale lady's bday party was that the food was horrible! i wanted tamales and instead they were serving this rice-glop. it was astonishing to see how many fans she has.

By: monju_bosatsu

monju_bosatsu — Tue, 16 Dec 2003 16:19:13 -0800

I don't know if Houston has a tamale lady, but I get mine at Berryhill.

By: mr_crash_davis

mr_crash_davis — Tue, 16 Dec 2003 16:22:27 -0800

We used to have a lady who brought tamales around every Thursday to the lunchroom of a missile factory in which I worked. She carried them all in a giant Coleman cooler which she bungee-corded into a Radio Flyer wagon, and she'd pull that wagon all over the industrial park until it was empty. The last time I saw her was the day Gulf War I began. After the bombing started, the guards were instructed not to allow anyone into the area without a pass. When the restriction was finally lifted, post-war, she never came back. I've often wondered what happened to her.

By: shoepal

shoepal — Tue, 16 Dec 2003 16:43:40 -0800

But the burgers at Zeitgeist are so good... Tamale lady may bring the nosh and some good advice, but Frank Chu (beware popups) is by far my favourite.

By: rdc

rdc — Tue, 16 Dec 2003 16:52:39 -0800

I once summoned the Tamale Lady by means of my mental powers. I was drinking at Zeitgeist with some BALUG dudes, and one of them said he'd only ever seen her once. "Maybe she'll come tonight," I said. Seconds later, there she was. I quickly wished for world peace, and a pony.

By: greasepig

greasepig — Tue, 16 Dec 2003 17:19:49 -0800

The tamale lady is one of those SF institutions that reminds me why I love this place. I don't think the tamales are all that, but whenever I've gotten one, there was nothing else in the world that could satisfy the midnight drunk hunger so completely.

By: Goofyy

Goofyy — Wed, 17 Dec 2003 04:31:59 -0800

I enjoyed a tamale lady in LA, while working around where Figaroa crossed 26th street. Once a week at lunch time she came, tamales in a bucket. My first tamales ever, and wonderful! Not hot! Just real traditional Mexican food.

By: acornface

acornface — Wed, 17 Dec 2003 09:24:51 -0800

Chicago has many tamale men, but I've never seen a tamale lady. Instead, we have the Bread Lady, who sells "special" muffins and breads in bars. I've seen her, but I've never sampled her products.

By: sharksandwich

sharksandwich — Wed, 17 Dec 2003 13:52:23 -0800

Milwaukee's East side has Frank, the Pepparoni/Cannoli man. He makes the rounds of dozens of East side bars 365 days a year. He'll walk into a bar and yell "Pepparoni...Cannnoli". I was drunk once and asked if there was any dog meat in his beef sticks (the Pepparonis). He gave me a Sicilian hex, and it took years of apologizing before he would embrace me once more.

By: Songdog

Songdog — Wed, 17 Dec 2003 18:46:02 -0800

Now you've got me craving tamales, and I don't know where to find good ones in midtown NYC :(