The Tamale Lady

I had a pork tamale with some of hot sauce. Though I thought it was a little pricey, she already opened it up and served it to me so I forked over the cash.
Both my boyfriend and I are originally from LA and are used to eating a lot of tamales from food trucks, water cooler bins, his mom’s house… we feel like aficionados on the subject. They were glorious and my boyfriend and I agreed some really good tamales. They had good masa inside and huge chunks of pork so well worth the money.
Go find her, go feed your soul.

Tonight was the very definition of fate.
I was enjoying a very happy hour with a few friends at the Residence on 14^th Street when the Tamale Lady came in to cater somebody’s Leaving-​San-​Francisco-​After-​10-​Years Party at the bar. My friends and I were discussing how delicious her tamales are, how she was wearing an «I heart Unilocal» shirt, and wondering if she had a Unilocal page despite her transient business operation. I pulled out my phone to search for «Tamale Lady» on Unilocal,and, lo and behold, there was her Unilocal page on which I had posted a review on 8÷20÷13, EXACTLY TWO YEARS AGO TO THIS VERY DAY. In the review, I extolled her pork tamale for its moist, flavorful satisfaction, and ended by saying that I would one day try her cheese tamale.
Today, 730 days after my initial review, was that providential day.
I had her cheese tamale, and let me tell you: It was worth the wait.

The best. Hands down. I need her at my wedding and funeral.
Can also book her for parties. Find her at random bars on the night

I apparently had never had a real tamale until I had one from the Tamale Lady. Sincerely epic food and a great person serving it.

I can’t say enough good things about Virginia. I threw a San Francisco themed birthday party for my boyfriend last year and thought there could be no catering more San Francisco than her tamales! I wasn’t sure if she catered events but I was pleasantly surprised when she agreed to do the gig. All I had to do was tell her how many tamales I wanted made, and she showed up with them! She stayed at the party and served us tamales and made conversation with everyone. Before she left she gave us a bit of a speech, which everyone loved. She’s the sweetest woman, and I am hoping she will come cater my own birthday party this year! I highly recommend seeking her out as a caterer, in addition to seeking her out at your favorite bar when you’re lucky enough to spot her there :)

Never a disappointing experience with Tamale Lady tamales. I tried all the flavors, loved the sauce, etc.
Any trip to Toronado is incomplete until Virginia cruises in with the cooler of tamales. Before moving away from the area a few weeks back, we sat in Toronado on a final Saturday evening hoping for a Tamale Lady sighting… victorious we were, I downed 2 tamales and picked on some of my wife’s as well. Delicious!

Omg I miss these little pieces of heaven. I can’t wait to have another one best in town

I love you Tamale Lady. You make magic for my mouth. And seem to run into you you when I’m in dire need. Like at Zeitgeist on a sunny day.

I too miss these tamales… I’d kill a man for some of that secret hot sauce…
She should bottle that stuff, I’m sure a lot of people would indulge. :cough:
That aside, I don’t know the full details of her existence, but it sounds like she’s a woman of pride and valor. I’m glad to have been able to support her in her tamale endeavors, they were truly the bomb. I’ve had a lot Mexican food in y life, bit these babies were so succulent, and really seemed to melt in your mouth, even though she had cooked them hours before. I think some sort of slow-​cooker/​crockpot effect kicked in. She also really knew how to market herself, that’s for sure. Who wouldn’t want their 70 year old Mexican grandmother showing up to a party of you and your best friends at «just» the right time? I know I would answer my phone if she was my grandma. Rock on tamale lady!
Has anyone called the phone number? Does she like cater or something? Or possibly sell her hot sauce? :cough:

I won’t tell a story.
It doesn’t matter in San Francisco in 2014, but I would have been completely fine in any city at any time being referred to as «You gays» by the tamale lady. (Check her Twitter feed.) Virginia is just so lovable. And well meaning. And completely oblivious to 78 percent of what’s going on around her.
She loses a star for being a bad landlady.
I like how drunkish people in bars basically do her work for her now. She doesn’t even have to too quietly say, «Tamales, tamales» anymore. She just drags her cooler in, and suddenly every hipster is a carnival barker. They’re singularly unqualified, but at least they look the part.
It bothers me when she’s out of veggie tamales, but I’ve lived in San Francisco long enough to know you don’t pay the Tamale Lady before you know what kind of tamales she’s got. Because once you pay – or tell her you’re going to pay – you’re stuck with what she’s got. And all those hipsters will sheepishly defend her to the 8-​bit-​video-​game death.
Here’s a story: It’s really difficult to sell a Tamale Lady tamale for less than what you paid for it, even after she’s gone. Especially at Molotov’s.

Absolutely. Delicious.
I’ve seen the tamale lady a few times, but this time, I’m not drunk (only had 1 – 2 beers), and it’s 1pm in the afternoon because we’re all in this bar trying to watch the world cup finals.
Then the tamale lady rolled in with her cart. It was a godsend… the bar doesn’t serve food, and we came here because everywhere else was absolutely packed. I ordered a tamale, watched the lady cut a slit in it and squirted in some hot sauce… and then devoured the piping hot goodness.
Definitely one of the best tamales I’ve ever had. Don’t miss out on it – try it for yourself! It’s good even if you’re not drunk. I swear.

For years this beautiful person has fed the lost souls wandering the Mission neighborhood at a reasonable price. I love her food.

Victoria was my neighbor over in the Mission – I won’t say where, you know, so her home doesn’t become a place for the tourist buses.
She makes an amazing tamale, veggie or otherwise, she’s amazing kind and put her boys thru school schlepping tamales to our drunk asses. She’s as close to a Saint as I’ve ever met and I buy a tamale every time I see her, hungry or not.
What more can you say?
Love this lady!

The Tamale lady really knows what’s up with her delicious morsels of meat tucked away in sweet masa. When she was at Zeitgeist, it was really a no brainer: I will be dining on one of those bad boys, it’s only a matter of time.
Then I stopped seeing her around and first thought, 1) okay, I’m an alcoholic and frequent a bar more often than someone actually making money here, and, 2) is there a chance that she got her own pop-​up or restaurant?
Now a sighting of the Tamale lady is, yes, less frequent than when she was in the Mission, but still as exciting, even when I’m not intoxicated. $ 5 for one, and I highly recommend extra red hot sauce. Happy hunting everybody!

I ordered a pork tamale and ended up with a sad, wet hunk of masa. I think it was supposed to be a cheese tamale, but it seriously was 90% masa and a sliver of what I suppose was poblano.
As someone who grew up eating tamales purchased from a lady walking around my neighborhood with a rolling cooler, my expectations were high and I’m hella crushed.

It was like spotting a mythical creature.
I was at Zeitgeist satisfying a burger craving. I was on the deck outside overlooking the patio, polishing off that burger and trying not to spill my beer when I saw her from across the crowd. There she was, her eyes calmly scanning the crowd with a little cart that held her signature garbage bag and cooler. I couldn’t believe my luck.
I was kinda stuffed from the burger, but I heard legends about this woman’s home-​made tamales. No way was I going to pass this opportunity up.
Good thing I didn’t because it was the best pork tamale ever! Steamy spicy porkaliciousness that hasn’t been topped by any other tamale since.
At first I was bummed when I heard she couldn’t sell from Zeitgeist anymore, but then I did a little googling (yes, I stalked her) and found her Twitter account. Now you can stalk her too! Check @TamaleLady for all your post-​HH cravings. You’re welcome.

Oh man, so I’m leaving the gay bar after watching a drag show and imbibing just a teence too much and I spot her. Selling Tamales. The Tamale Lady.
Oh my God, I grab her, are you? Could it be? She confirms her identity. She’s the Tamale Lady. I can’t believe my good fortune, it’s like I met the tooth fairy. I took several photos with her and then asked her what I should get. I think she said the pork so I grabbed it even though I need to be more srutinous because I only like really great meat and don’t want no rubber chickens or fatty porks or chewy beefs cause I just don’t got time for that!
So anyway I start chowing into this giant tamale and it’s like just a big masa puff with pork in it. Did the Tamale Lady forget to give me sauce or did I forget to ask? I think I’ve been spoiled by the Farmer’s Market where they deliver the tamale in a Fries boat loaded to the brim with spicy green saue and maybe even dashed with sour cream. No son, not here.
It’s just too plain. I wanna break into the Safeway and steal tomatoes, onions, chile, cilantro and cumin and go to work on making something tasty so I can wolf down this tamale. But it doesn’t get there. I think I either gave it to a homeless guy… but I didn’t need to finish it, this wasn’t the drunk food vahalla I was promised. I was still glad to meet the Tamale Lady, she was really cool and nice. Kinda like the abuelita I never had.

I finally met the Tamale Lady! She’s super sweet. I took a photo with her.
She showed up just in time for Monday Trivia at Shotwell’s a couple weeks ago. Great timing.
* Veggie tamale — 4 stars
As much as I love meat, this one was actually the best one I tried! I love the corn kernels and how the veggies were cut up small and really integrated into the cornmeal. Legit spicy.
* Beef tamale — 3.5 stars
The beef was good quality, but the cornmeal was a little drier on this one. Also legit spicy.

When one San Francisco Community Manager strongly encourages you to buy a tamale off the tamale lady… your ears perk up
When a second (and former CM of SF) tells you the same thing… you bust out your damn wallet hungry or not and start eating.
While at the famous SF divebar Zeitgeist surrounded by tattoos, flannel, leather and good times, and after a few surly servings of their super strong Bloody Marys and Margaritas I was feeling the burn and the wobbles and food was a must.
Hmmm given my choices… dive bar burger and fries (which looked very good) OR random lady with a wagon carrying a cooler filled with garbage bags STUFFED with homemade tamales?
Which would you have chosen? Damn right I went the road less traveled and gave up my tamale virginity to the tamale lady. She was gentle and warm and filled me up… twice (for those following along I had a chicken AND a carnitas Tamale)
Who would have thought so much amazingness could be held by the thin skin of a corn husk. And for only $ 5 (cash) each I couldn’t go wrong!
This woman is a SF institution and I hope one day she moves to Toronto, Canada so I can be her #1 customer, eating tamales day after day for all eternity!
Eatcrest Out!

Pro