Tamales for breakfast

Folks,

A few months ago there was mention of a tamale vendor who set up shop across from the McDonald's near Clark and Lunt. I've swung by there on more than one occasion, but, as of today, I've yet to spot him.

Is there a more reliable spot on that strip of Clark for morning tamales? I'm talking about breafast time now, not brunch.

Thanks,

Alex

Alex:

Do you mean the McDonald's at Clark and Pratt? I've noticed the tamale vendor there tends to show up more reliably towards the end of the week than the beginning.

As you head north on Clark you can sometimes find tamale vendors in the following locations:
1) SW corner of Clark and Morse (at a folding table in the bank parking lot)
2) NE corner of Clark and Lunt (from a rolling cart labelled "Garibaldi's" on the sidewalk in front of the Blockbuster strip mall)
3) on the E side of Clark in front of the carniceria just south of Touhy
4) in the parking lot of the "super mall" on Clark just north of the Romanian Sausage shop (I think that's north of Touhy, too).

Good luck.

I generally don't eat breakfast before 10:30 am and lately, it's been either a tamale or a pork taco with a fried potato taco off the truck. We have a truck that visits the office with tamales and tacos from 18th street. He also brings pizza from 18th street.

I remember reading another poster with Mexican food recs for the Clark street area around Devon? Found it--right underneath the post that was the inspiration for this thread:

fastfoodsnob wrote:Yeah, after being a slave to ordering burritos as every Mexican place I could find, I've begun to branch out a bit and try some new stuff. At Taqueria Hernandez, on the southeast corner of Lunt and Clark (6983 N. Clark St., 773-274-1519), the chorizo burrito I had failed to impress, but the tacos were hot and tasty (even if the ground beef leaked profusely onto my hands and basket for my order). That reminds me, the head-sized portions at El Famous Burrito (7047 N. Clark St., 773-465-0377) just don't do it for me anymore. Maybe the suburban locations do a better job these days. (There's a thread about this here). On the drink side, it's always good to try different versions of horchata.

You seem to have tried a lot of places on Clark, zim. Have you made the rounds of all the taquerias yet?

--Dan

The tamale talk reminds me that little mention has been made of late regarding the vans across from Marinao (Milwaukee near California, next to Max Gerber Plumbing, a destination in its own right). Stopped by recently for the traditional cafe, pan tostado, pan con tortilla, picada, tamal, and chileatole breakfast.

The green mole tamales were tremendous. Picadas as good as ever. And the chile infused tortillas discussed elsewhere were in evidence, though I did not partake.

Drove through the intersection of Clark/Pratt this morning (around 8:20 am) and the usual tamale crew was there.

Apple wrote:

I remember reading another poster with Mexican food recs for the Clark street area around Devon?

Dude or Dudette,

you could do a lot better than hernandez on that stretch, check the same thread you referenced, I posted a longer list of places and specialties in the area.

re the tamale vendor, the main person there is a lady, and if you are interested in getting a larger order from her yu can pm me for her number. I don't think she hangs out as long on weekdays as she used to. I find her stuff significantly better than the other vendors in the area. if you are desparate for tamales though there always vendors in front of morelia market, and usually vendors in the mega mall lot

JeffB wrote:The tamale talk reminds me that little mention has been made of late regarding the vans across from Marinao (Milwaukee near California, next to Max Gerber Plumbing, a destination in its own right). Stopped by recently for the traditional cafe, pan tostado, pan con tortilla, picada, tamal, and chileatole breakfast.

I've eaten at one van in that area - excellent sopes - but haven't paid enough attention to notice the van plurality. As someone with weak Spanish that's not that informed on Mexican street food, more information would be helpful.

Is the chileatole green or red? With or without pork? My limited exposure leads me to believe that red often has pork while green is often based on a chicken stock. Which, strangely, seems to be the opposite of tamales - I often see red tamales with chicken but never green with chicken. Any insight here?

Can you describe the picada? The coffee, pan tostado and pan con tortilla were from Marinao, not the vans, correct?

rien

Long time ago, in another board, a poster offered the perfect solution:

Ligament on June 11, 2003 wrote:One simple solution is just to order "uno de todo" or one of everything...usually will cost you well under $20.

Thats what I usually do, even though I speak decent spanglish. This way you tend to get the good stuff they dont think crackers like me would like.

My dream is to order one of everything at a chinese joint like lao sze chuan...

Rien, there are several, maybe 6 atole/gruel/hot drinks (can't be sure that masa is in each) including the one I get (atole blanco) which is very roughly like cream of corn with green chile and no meat. Other popular offerings are a pretty standard looking champurrado and the prune-based potage. All of this was described in some detail by RST on the other board, I believe. The picadas are probably the sopes you mention. They are a particular form, and one that I really like. The avocado-based green salsa is great on these. You help yourself. The green tamales I had on Saturday contained pork. The last few visits I've made, there have been two vans, a silver and a blue, one behind the other with a crude tent set up between them and the fence. There were lots of customers on Saturday, and a sign in Spanish asking customers not to double park. It's clear that the powers that be have decided to permit the vans to thrive here, thank goodness.


Here is an old post from our friend:
http://www.chowhound.com/midwest/boards ... 25548.html

The bread, sandwiches and coffee were from Marianao, correct.

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