Dia De Los Tamales Pilsen

Dia De Los Tamales is a quirky fun place in the Pilsen Neighborhood of Chicago. This young restaurant who just passed two years in business, has an American twist on Mexican foods. Really the only thing they serve is Tamales, but their not ordinary Tamales. My boyfriend was a fan of them when they were starting out at the Pilsen Farmers Market, so he was so happy they got a store front. What's great is that despite not having a singly note gluten free menu, they know their stuff. Plus on their regular menu there is only 1 tamale that isn't safe, and that's the Apple Cobler.

Randomly they have special other flavors available which are listed on their flat screen menu board when you walk in. I love how different the flavors are, Buffalo Chicken, Italian Beef, Juicy Lucy, Atomic Pork and Chocolate Peanut Butter, so even though you're going for tamales, it's not the same as going for traditional Mexican food. Each tamale has a matching sauce or topper that helps make them even more interesting, and you can get a "nacomale" Which is fresh made chips topped with a tamale cheese and jalapenos! How can you go wrong?! Another interesting side they have for beans; you can get black beans or garbanzo beans. The garbanzo beans are pretty awesome. The one thing I wish they would work on was making their rice tastier. It's rather bland, which is shocking since their tamales have so much flavor in them. I guess next time I can try one of the many Chicago made hot sauces they have on the register and for sale to try and spice things up. 

For those that live in the area, they do deliver, which might be best as they only have 4 seats for dinning in year round. In the summer they do have a couple tables outside, so we generally get our tamales to go.  But they do deliver, which is awesome. The staff rocks and are so out of the box fun it's great to just stop in and say hi when ordering tamales, also when you ask about gluten free they are very upfront and understanding. If they are ever unsure a topping has gluten for one of their tamales (pumpkin spice in the fall) they will add the sauce and leave the rest of the topping off. I give them 5 dragonflies, they make their products fresh, and they are full of flavor. The staff makes the place even more inviting and never lets you down for flavor.