Los Tamales Oaxaqueños - Des Plaines

I've been to Los Tamales Oaxaqueños for lunch 3 times in the past week and if I didn't know any better I'd swear I was transported to a taqueria on the south side (or even Oaxaca). I was drawn in by the promise of quesadillas hecho a mano, tepache, and of course tamales oaxaqueños.

A Mexican woman seats you at a table if you are eating in and is the sole waitress and cashier (as far as I can tell). She is very nice, but her English is not great so by the third visit we were speaking entirely in Spanish.

As for the food, everything I've had has been delicious. The namesake tamales come out very moist and wrapped in banana leaf. They come in red and green variety, both with chicken, and both are good. The quesadillas are quite big and almost resemble an open face burrito more than the gringo quesadillas I'm used to. I had one with huitlacoche and it was delicious, made even better with the homemade tortilla.

The next visit I tried a sincronizada (which I had never heard of, but a quick google on my phone indicated it was like a cross between a quesadilla and a torta served on tortilla) with chicharron prensado. The meat was delicious but it came on store bought flour tortillas, which was a bit weird. I also got a taco de tripitas dorado which came not completely crispy like the ones at Chaparrita and had some red sauce that I'd guess was mole Coloradito. Different than I was expecting but very delicious.

This most recent visit I had a memela (essentially a huarache) with chicharron prensado and a taco de mole. Both were fantastic. I also had the tepache which was delicious, and also made in house.





I cannot wait to return to explore some more of the menu.

Los Tamales Oaxaqueños
782 W Oakton St
Des Plaines, IL
(847) 357-1644

I drive through this area from time to time, thanks for the tip and I'll check it out next time I'm around.

had lunch today with OP, homemade tortillas are terrific. Sadly they were out of tepache today.

highlights for me:

Chicken tinga sincronizada

Banana leaf chicken tamale was very moist

The beef/asada(?) w/some of the side peppers

Sweet Willie wrote:had lunch today with OP, homemade tortillas are terrific. Sadly they were out of tepache today.

highlights for me:

Chicken tinga sincronizada

Banana leaf chicken tamale was very moist

The beef/asada(?) w/some of the side peppers

It was indeed a great lunch. They refer to the beef as tampiqueña, and it is some of the best steak I've had in a Mexican restaurant.

fropones wrote: They refer to the beef as tampiqueña, and it is some of the best steak I've had in a Mexican restaurant.

Gracias, my food Spanish es not so good.

Stopped by the other day for a chicharron prensado quesadilla and it was killer. This place is really pumping out some quality Mexican food.

I stopped for an early lunchand agree that this place is firing on all cylinders. Fresh fried tortilla chips and a nice red salsa with plenty of cilantro and diced white onion preceded a terrific chicken tamales oaxaqueño. Wrapped in a fragrant banana leaf the masa and chicken were perfectly cooked and at two bucks they are a fantastic value. A memela with carne asada was next and it didn't disappoint, correctly thick masa oval, nicely seasoned steak, great beans and plenty of queso fresco and shredded lettuce on top. I split the memela with salsa verde and salsa rojo and slightly preferred the verde. Both salsas were on the mild side, but nice...

A friend and I met for lunch yesterday.
Not any ambience, no alcohol but I just can't get food like this in SE Wisconsin including Milwaukee!
We had the Chilaquiles Verdes o Rojos Con Carne o pollo and the Flautas.
Fresh, hot, very very nice. The Flautas were crisply fried and the Pollo came with little squares of tortilla in a sauce with rice and beans. The Pollo had a little heat but certainly manageable.
Both entrees were enough for 4 moderate eaters.
Horchata to drink.
These little gems of restaurants are sprinkled all around Chicagoland.-Dick

mchodera wrote: Fresh fried tortilla chips and a nice red salsa with plenty of cilantro and diced white onion...

Yesterday evening the same delicious salsa was there but missing were fresh fried chips, in their place were the round Tostito's brand chips. I really like the salsa so still ate the chips but I really hope this was a one-off thing for some unknown reason.

Had to have a tamale of course, verdes in this case.

Last time I was here I did not notice the pambazo sandwich on the menu so not having had one in ages, that is what I had. Chorizo & potatoes w/lettuce, crema, beans, onion & queso fresco. WHAT A MESS OF A SANDWICH but one I enjoyed, nice background heat from the red chile sauce the torta was dipped in. I asked for a side of crema to go with the sandwich.

----

Is this in the same strip mall as Las Asadas?

adipocere wrote:Is this in the same strip mall as Las Asadas?

yes

Last week met a friend at Los Tamales.
while waiting in the restaurant, got a call from my friend asking me if I was coming into the restaurant, he had seen my car pull in and park, but no me?
turns out he ws sitting in Las Asadas!!
Mall is small, parking very limited.-Dick

Went here for the first time the other night and really enjoyed it. Husband had the enchilades in salsa verde, and I had chicken fajitas. We thought both dishes were great. The fajita preparation didn't come with the usual guacamole and sour cream, but that was fine, as the dish was very savory and tasty: Chicken had a subtle marinade to it it seemed -- made for a somewhat sweet but tangy taste that I really enjoyed. Red peppers and onions rounded out the dish, and it came with very good pinto beans and rice. Would love to return.

Many times I have had the namesake tamales.
They are filled with Pollo with either a verde or Rojo sauce.
The masa appears to have been whipped, it is so light and fluffy.
They come wrapped in banana leaves and then aluminum foil.
If you order ahead they will come uncooked. I purchase a dozen of each at a time. Take home and freeze, then into the steamer for 30 minutes. no loss in quality I can perceive.-Richard

I'm a little late to the Oaxaquenos fan club, but I'm now a full-fledged member. First, the couple that run this place (I assume it's a couple that runs this place) will make you a loyal fan. The only times I can remember someone showing such warmth, peering over me (from a bit of a distance) and asking me nervously a couple of times if everything is good and if I need anything else is my mom. Okay, maybe a few good friends too. But they exude warmth and real pride in cooking great food.

So on to the food, so far, I've only had tamales (green and red) and quesadillas. I've only visited a few times. The tamales have been good, perhaps slightly over-steamed, but flavorful and at $2 a no-brainer. The quesadillas are great. Today's quesadilla with chicharrón was fantastic and the housemade tortillas deliver pretty nice flavor too. They offer huitlacoche too, but I've yet to order it. The complimentary housemade chips are nice, the red and green sauces even better. The only miss for me so far has been the churro, which was probably fried long ago.

But this place is an absolute gem, both in terms of the food and the hospitality. Fropones, I know we ran into each other on my first visit . . . we'll have to meet up there soon!

Found myself at Mitsuwa yesterday, forgoing tacos at La Rosita, and remembering the previous Post, I stopped for lunch at Los Tamales and ordered a quesadilla filled with huitlacoche and a pork gorditas.
The house chips were great as always and both the quesadilla and gorditas had excellent home made tortillas as usual.
The pork had nice chunks of pineapple.
Red and great green salsa and a roll of paper towels for napkins.
With a nice horchata, a splendid lunch.
With no liquor license, a family place. One family was going and one was coming while I was there.
Tried again to inquire about ownership with again no luck.
Best Mexican food I have had!-Richard

By the way, they are apparently closed on Tuesdays. There is conflicting information on the web but I visited Tuesday to find it closed. That really sucked considering the never-ending construction in the area. On the plus side, my Cubano at Santiago's was a pretty nice consolation prize.

Love this place, the tamales are great but don't sleep on the quesadillas with handmade tortillas, chicharron prensado...all the good stuff