HOME > Chowhound > New Orleans >


NOLA Hot Tamales.............

  • 4

Where's the best ones? Thanks.

  1. Click to Upload a photo (10 MB limit)
  1. If you are thinking of Manuel's Hot Tamales as the "best ones", they were put out of business by "the storm".
    Manuel's version of hot tamales was a plug of ground meat (beef?), cornmeal and cayenne pepper immersed in an oily slurry of drippings and tomato sauce wrapped in paper.
    These a far cry from the traditional Mexican tamales steamed in cornhusks but were an extremely popular late-night drunk food.
    I'm sure with the influx of hispanic workers post Katrina that there is no lack of tamale makers in town.

    1. There's a good thread here:

      Ian McNulty's write-up in Gambit:

      I wrote a small piece about Pete Giovenco's/Deer Depot venison tamales -- they may not be the "best NOLA" (you have to supply the venison, he makes 'em for you), but they're tasty.

      1. I bought some recently at the Mid-City Thursday Farmer's Marker that were very good. Not traditional, but typical of the tamales one finds in New Orleans. They were similar, but better, than Manuel's.

        1. Huevos in Mid-City has good pork (I think) tamales, as part of one of their breakfast plates. They're the smaller, Manuel's size ones but they aren't super greasy.

          The Cafe Brazil taco truck also has what I think of as good tamales, but my memories of them are generally pretty fuzzy. They're the larger kind.

          Felipe's also has tamales, but they've been hit or miss in my experience.

          4408 Banks St, New Orleans, LA