'Tis the season for Christmas tamales
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Pork red chile and Hatch and Jack tamales from the Tamale Store in north Phoenix. Photo: Jeremy Duda/Axios
Some folks in the Valley are already getting ready for Christmas, and you may want to get a head start on your tamale order.
Why it matters: Tamales can — and certainly should — be enjoyed year-round, but they're also a Christmas staple, which means there can be quite the rush at your favorite tamale place.
State of play: Christmas pre-ordering is now open at the Tamale Store.
- The north Phoenix institution is at 15842 N. Cave Creek Road, at the intersection with Greenway Parkway.
Flashback: The Tamale Store began as a small family business 18 years ago, selling tamales at farmers markets and local grocery stores.
- Eight years ago it moved into its current location, which is both storefront and restaurant.
- "We're a family business. It's my mom's recipe. She absolutely was obsessed with tamales, still to this day," co-owner Pauline Alvarado tells Axios.
Zoom in: The store has 20 varieties of frozen tamale with a rotating menu at the restaurant that changes daily or sometimes hourly depending on what they sell out of.
- The best-sellers are pork red chile, chicken green chile, and green corn and cheese.
Between the lines: They've got a rotating menu of seasonal tamales — for Christmas, they'll have a sweet-and-savory one with ground beef, dried apricots, nuts, cheese and raisins, and a red velvet dessert tamale with sweet cream.
- Catch the current seasonal tamales before they're gone. They've got Oaxacan-style banana leaf chicken mole, and dessert tamales like pumpkin pie and pineapple sweet potato.
Best bites: I made my first trip to the Tamale Store last week and feasted on red pork chile and Hatch and Jack tamales, with sides of charro beans and papas con chorizo.
- I also stocked up on frozen tamales, including the chile relleno, Baja seafood and chipotle corn varieties.
What to know: Christmas pre-orders end on Dec. 1.
- They're already getting pre-orders for the sweet-and-savory holiday tamales, which sell out every year, Alvarado says.