Where to find old-time Texas tamales in Fort Worth, including a hidden factory cafe
The frenzy for holiday tamales has begun.
And the prices reflect it.
Once a side dish, tamales are now Christmas Eve or Day dinner for some families, particularly the gourmet varieties.
But a dozen house-made tamales now costs about $16, up to nearly $30 for specialty tamales.
Regardless of the price, tamales are a top seller. Dozens of restaurants and supermarkets are selling them this year, along with home cooks operating by word of mouth or on social media.
One warning: All tamales are not created equal.
Some are big and meaty. Some are small and light.
“Everybody’s tamales are different — but if it’s a good tamal, you should get a mouthful of meat,” Gloria Cardona said.
She’s carrying on her family’s 90-year tradition at Cardona Foods, 850 Meacham Blvd., a tortilla and Mexican food factory in north Fort Worth with a hidden weekday lunch cafe.
“This is when the frenzy starts,” she said this week. “People drive from all over to come get tamales. Some get an entire Christmas dinner.”
Cardona Foods, open weekdays, sells pork and beef tamales ($15.75) along with red-and-green tortilla chips, hot sauce, queso and whole pans of enchiladas or family dinners.
The cafe in the lobby of the factory is open weekdays from 11 a.m. to 2:30 only, serving the freshest Tex-Mex in town.
There’s a separate Longhorn Room for holiday parties.
B.G Cardona’s Bakery opened in 1935 on North Main Street, the same year Joe T. Garcia’s opened.
Now, Cardona’s is one of the city’s two longest-standing shops to buy tamales along with Esperanza’s Restaurant & Bakery, the Joe T. Garcia’s family cafe with two locations
Inflation caught up to prices this year because “corn is sky high and flour is outrageous,” Gloria Cardona said.
It’s also more expensive to hire help. Besides tamales, Cardona makes tortilla chips and sauces sold in top supermarkets under brands such as Gloria’s or G. Cardona.
Cardona also makes chips and sauces for the legendary Taco Casa fast-food chain.
Through Dec. 23, Cardona will open at 8:30 a.m. weekdays and stay open until 7 p.m, or as late as needed if a customer calls ahead. Lunch will be served at normal hours.
It’s closed weekends, including Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
Cardona Foods is a half-mile east of North Main Street, 1 mile west of Interstate 35W or 1 mile south of Loop 820 off Blue Mound Road; 817-625-6477, cardonafoods.business.site.
▪ Esperanza’s Restaurant & Bakery, 2122 N. Main St. or 1601 Park Place Ave., is selling pork tamales in the bakeries as always this year, plus chicken tamales by special order with three days’ notice.
They’re $15.89 per dozen. Esperanza’s is open for breakfast and lunch daily on North Main Street, 817-626-5770 and for breakfast through dinner on Park Place, 817-923-1992; esperanzasfw.com.
▪ Another Fort Worth mainstay is Ibarra’s Tortilleria, 1109 NW 25th St., which calls itself a “Tamales Command Center” since 1973.
Ibarra’s has something you can’t find most places: brisket tamales.
And they’re a reasonable price: $19,50 per dozen.
Pork or chicken-poblano tamales sell for $17.50. For a sample, try a dinner plate of three pork or chicken tamales.
(But don’t forget to ask for Ibarra’s excellent red and green sauce. The green sauce is particularly good with the chicken-poblano tamales,)
Ibarra’s opens at 8 a.m. Wednesdays thtough Sundays; 817-625-6391, ibarrastortilleria.com.
▪ Márquez Bakery & Tortilla Factory, 1730 E. Division St., Arlington, will sell 200,000 tamales this season, or about 1 dozen every minute.
Note: Orders are due by Dec. 22 for pork tamales. They’re small, soft and pillowy, not the big log-like tamales like others serve.
Márquez is a simple, fresh, inexpensive breakfast and lunch cafe opening at 6 a.m. daily, 7 a.m. Sundays. It also serves fresh tortillas, platters and the day’s baked goods, along with several flavors of tres leches cake and flan.
The family has 50 years of history, first in San Angelo and Odessa and since 1990 in Arlington; 817-265-8858, marquezbakery.com.
For even more tamales
▪ Tommy Tamale, 208 N. Main St., Keller, and 1689 W. Northwest Highway, Grapevine, has won local tamal contests but is so popular that it does not take advance orders.
All tamales are sold first-come, first-served beginning at 10 a.m. daily except Sundays; tommytamale.com.
▪ Pulido’s and many local restaurants will take orders, and a few will have tamales on hand to go. The Fort Worth-based Rosa’s Cafe chain sells both chicken and pork tamales.
▪ Magdalena’s and Hot Damn, Tamales! offer online orders for specialty tamales.
▪ The Central Market and H-E-B supermarkets are known for tamales, and of course, grocery stores such as Supermercado El Rancho are options.
▪ When all else fails, Braum’s sells excellent beef tamales from local Rodriguez Foods for less than $7. The beef are better than the pork, but the price is right for both.
This story was originally published December 15, 2022 at 5:30 AM.
