Top-rated tamale shop and Tex-Mex cafe to open on U.S. 377 in Keller near Fort Worth
Tommy Tamale, a Grapevine restaurant and tamaleria with a wide fan following on Yelp.com, will open in downtown Keller, owner Steve Barker confirmed Thursday.
Keller city officials announced on Facebook that Tommy Tamale will open at 208 N. Main St., replacing a Tex-Mex cafe in a 40-year-old bungalow.
Tommy Tamale’s original Grapevine location is ranked by Yelp.com as one of America’s 100 favorite restaurants and was ranked No. 1 for tamales in Dallas-Fort Worth in a WFAA/Channel 8 tamal tasting contest.
“This has been a growth area for a long time, and I feel like this is a great location,” Barker said.
The former Tres Casas is a tiny cafe with a large patio that Tommy Tamale will expand, he said.
“We’ll have a covered patio and put a play area out there,” Barker said.
Tommy Tamale sells 17 kinds of tamales to go and also has a menu of tamale dinners, nachos, burritos and bowls.
There’s no margarita machine, blaring music, swirly drinks or long, convoluted list of various combination dinners. Just tamales, quesadillas and simple Tex-Mex.
The Keller location will add fried items such as flautas and sopaipillas, he said.
The business is 50-50 takeout and dine-in, Barker said.
“Our business model is to get people to come in and try it, then they’ll want to take it home,” he said.
Dining has been down slightly during the pandemic, but families still wanted take-out tamales, he said.
JoAnn and Steve Barker founded the shop as a Decatur food truck, then moved to Grapevine farmers marker and eventually to the current shop in the Northwest Plaza shopping center.
Tres Casas owner Gerardo Devora and his family retired, Barker said.
This story was originally published July 23, 2020 at 1:54 PM.
