Last year I purchased a $20.00 Restaurant.com certificate to use at the Tamale's Industry in Des Moines, IA. After living in Cali, I am a big fan of tamales. Not only tamales, I also got to experience & love other Mexican food and the culture too.
In college, a friend once took me to Tacos El Mexicano. He ordered a burrito for me and asked me to just try it. Man, I loved it. Only after I finished the monstrous burrito, he told me it was a cow tongue burrito. I had no idea, but boy it was good. Since then that's the only food I'd eat at that restaurant.
Now back to Tamale's Industry. Few weeks ago, we decided to give them a try. If I hadn't purchased the gift certificate from Restaurant.com already, I wouldn't have drove to this part of town for Tamale. From outside it looked rather rundown. Once I got inside, I was immediately taken back to LA. It looks & feels like any other family-owned restaurant (which it is), but they did a pretty good job emulating eateries on Alvarado. I asked if we could do a carry-out rather than dine-in. The guy was very nice, polite and said that won't be a problem.
Here's what we ordered:
2 spicy beef tamale meal
2 pork tamale
1 Chicken Burrito meal
1 cow tongue taco meal
While waiting inside I was chatting with the server & the cook admiring the look & feel of the place. When I told 'em my love for tamale and I used to live in LA, the owner sent a complimentary tamale & salsa on our table. I loved the texture, but it felt like there wasn't enough beef filling.
After getting the food, we drove home fast, to devour the food while warm. We got home, laid all the food down on the living room and turned on the TV. After going through each of the take out box, my wife turned the TV off.
"Let's just eat first."
I'm not complaining. I got to work. I really admired the way all the tamales were wrapped, authentic. First I started with the pork tamale. It was OK. After having one pork, immediately I tried the spicy beef. This one was much better than the pork. I was pleased and set the last spicy beef aside for the finishing pleasure. I also tried the cow tongue taco. I'd rather go to Tacos El Mexicano for a cow tongue burrito next time. I had few bites of the chicken burrito from my wife and it was pleasantly good. Needless to say, I finished my meal with the spicy beef tamale that Sunday evening.
Afterwards, both me & my wife agreed on few things:
1. We would go back to the Tamale's Industry,
2. But we wouldn't order either the cow tongue burrito or the pork tamale.
Hope you guys enjoy the food & atmosphere as we did.
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