chili cheese tamales

Does anyone know where to find really good chili and cheese tamales? I haven't had the courage to make them myself but would also welcome good directions.

Thanks,
Lou

When you say Chili-Cheese, do you mean cheese tamales with a hot salsa accompaniment? If so, the famous tamale guys who hit many bars in the evening often have a cheese tamale option and give you a nice salsa on the side.

I assumed she meant the tamal is filled with cheese and strips of chile.
Those are the favorites of my wife when I've made them. The recipe I've used is in Rick Bayless' yellow-covered book (I've forgotten the title, but it's not "One Plate at a Time"). It's really pretty simple: just grated cheese and julienned roasted peeled poblanos as the filling. You need to make sure you're well-sealed, though, or the cheese will find a way to leak out of the cornhusks.

I can't think of any places I've been to that serve them, though.

the second response from Joe was what I meant. Sorry for the confusion

In a pinch, I get the chile cheese tamales in the frozen section of Trader Joe's. They're not great, but they aren't bad either.

There is a restaurant, which I cannot find in the yellow pages, that is called Lucy's Mexican Restaurant. It is on Lincoln between School and Roscoe.

I've called ahead or dropped in to pre-order queso con verde tamales for the following day. Usually, when I pick them up they are still in the pot steaming away. Soooo good.

Lucy also makes a killer torta.

Sorry, Lucy's is closed now.

JoelF wrote:I assumed she meant the tamal is filled with cheese and strips of chile..

Gotcha - then the tamale guys do have these. They call them simply "cheese" and they have stripes of roasted peppers inside mixed with the cheese. Very tasty.


I've had the good fortune of running into the tamale vendors quite often recently... Is there a better $5 food product in the city? 6 tamales, hot sauce and napkins for $5 and I go home one happy drunk.