dia de los tamales.

one day last week, some of the crew at work decided to pop out for lunch & grab tamales ... i love tamales. when i was little (before becoming vegan, obvi), i loved the super commercialized ones you could get at a hotdog stand ... which as i'm googling, i'm finding out they are known as the chicago tamale. makes sense. (further digging is making me wonder if they make a veg version ... stand by.)

anyway, the kids decided to go ultra authentic (mexican authentic, not chicago authentic) & ventured down to  dia de los tamales in pilsen. i had never heard of dia de los tamales before ... but the rest of the gang here was familiar. per the website, these are "revolutionary tamales made in a chef-driven, eco-conscious kitchen."

i was getting sad that i'd be left out of the fun when our intern (hi, madeline!) informed me that they have not one, but two vegan tamale offerings. day saved!! 

here's what i had ...

two vegan tamales!

máquina verde : garlic & onion sautéed w/ garbanzo beans in a quinoa masa, topped w/ avocado hummus & sunflower seeds.

spicy black bean & corn : latin infused! 
maybe not the most photogenic of foods, but both of these tamales were freaking delicioso. the salsas were both super spicy, so i quite enjoyed those, as well. overall, two big thumbs up.

not sure if the vegan tamales rotate at all, but either way ... this place is definitely on my list of places to go back to ... asap!

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dia de los tamales
939 w. 18th street
chicago, il 60608