The Tamale Man!

There is a lot of great food in the city of Chicago but some of the best that I've discovered thus far comes from the Tamale Guy, or the Tamale Man, depending on what you choose to refer to him as - it is a bit confusing considering his Yelp page is "The Tamale Guy" but his MySpace page is listed as "The Tamale Man".

For anyone that doesn't know, Mexican tamales are packets of corn dough with a savory or sweet filling and typically wrapped in corn husks or banana leaves. The packets are then steamed and ready to eat! The traditional fillings include cheese, pork or cheese but there are many other variations out there.

The Tamale Man sticks pretty close to tradition with his tamales but the unique aspect is that he doesn't actually have a restaurant or even a food vendor cart. He travels around to bars in the Ukrainian Village and other Chicago neighborhoods (I've seen him in Bucktown) selling tamales out of a cooler! This may not sound like the ideal dining option to everyone reading but the tamales he serves really are great. If you don't believe me, just check out his Yelp rating and see what other people have been saying. I'll give you a preview:

The most recent Yelp review is from Katherine in Chicago where she writes...

"Some people see heroes as knights in shining armor.  Mine is a guy pulling a red cooler behind him at 1am. God bless you, tamale guy."

Seriously, make a point of hanging out in the Ukrainian Village just to try to get a hold of some of Tamale Man/Guy's tamales. :)

Pork tamales from the Tamale Man 

(Photo courtesy of Yelp)