The Tamale Spaceship
Round 1…FIGHT!!
Luchadores are Mexican masked wrestlers, which are the
perfect mascot for The Tamale spaceship! This food truck packs a punch of rich
culture and flavor that comes from Manny Hernandez and his hard working crew. I
was able to meet up with Manny and the rest of the Tamale spaceship as I caught
them after a hard days work wrestling with the latest ordinances and selling
their notorious tamales all across Chicago.
The Tamale spaceship specializes in “Mexican cuisine
stuffed into a Tamale" states Chef Manny Hernandez. This is what separates The
Tamale spaceship from other Tamale trucks. The truck has been up and running
for the past few years traveling from the far north suburbs to all across the
city. The tamale spaceship not only makes its way around the city for it’s
weekly schedule, but they also cater events as well.
Now I don’t want to brag or anything, but I did live in
Arizona for a number of years and was introduced to some AMAZING Mexican food out there. Since living in Chicago I haven’t
found much that compares to what I have had in the southwest, until now. The
Tamale spaceship has a variety of tamales on their menu such as duck, pork,
vegan, vegetarian, flank steak and more.
Due to the Chicago ordinance and the permit that The
Tamale Spaceship has they are only allowed to sell packaged pre-cooked food
from their truck. Although the new ordinances have been passed, the city is
taking their time with allowing trucks to get the latest permits. Although the
permit doesn’t allow the truck to cook on it don’t let that stop you from
getting food there, you would be missing out on some great stuff! The tamales
come in a pack of two and are contained in a closed container accompanied by a
sauce that comes with the tamale.
I took mine home and was given the instructions to wet a
paper napkin and place it on top of both tamales (keep wrapping on the tamale)
and microwave for 3 minutes
Picturesque de Puerco
Tamale:
Yucatan style roasted
pork tamale
Sauce: Tomato-habanero
Roasted
tomato, onion, garlic, habanero peppers, vegetable stock.
This bundle
of joy was one of the most flavorful tamales I have ever had, and I am willing
to go even further and say that this was some of the best pork that I have ever
had. The slow roasted rich rub that was on this cut of meat soaked right in
leaving it with a smoky mild to medium heat flavoring. The meat was perfectly
cooked and my fork cut through it like butter, yes my fork. The pork was engulfed
by an amazing masa (the corn/ dough that makes up the whole tamale) The masa
was a perfect balance and allowed for the sauce to soak right into it. The
tomato-habanero sauce went great with the smokey flavoring of the pork. I enjoy
some heat so this sauce gave me exactly what I was looking for, not too hot, but
rich in flavor as well. The sauce would go great with anything eggs in the
morning, potatoes, you name it I am sure it will be great. This was hands down
one of the best Tamales I have ever had.
Seasonal de Pato
Tamale:
Confit style Duck
Sauce: Mole de Xico
Dry
plums, ancho & padilla dry chiles, hazelnuts, tomato, onion, garlic &
chicken stock
The
seasonal duck was another great treat that the Tamale Spaceship had. One of my favorite
birds is duck. It is not something that I have a lot, nor is it something that
you can get in every restaurant. So when I heard they had duck, I went for it.
(Sorry to the vegan/vegetarians, I’ll do a veggie one next time) The duck was
not the main star of the Seasonal de Pato
show. The spotlight was shared with the butternut squash masa that confined it.
The masa was great, soft, rich and had a nice flavoring and went great with the
duck. The sauce; Mole de Xico was sweet and filled with a great flavoring. I
guess I was not feeling very sweet that day because I returned back to the
tomato-habanero sauce that I had used on the pork Tamale to cover this one as
well. There was nothing wrong with the mole; I just really enjoyed the
habanero. I know making mole is a difficult process and can involve a ton of
ingredients, so my hats off to the spaceship for making some quality mole and
really capturing the Mexican cuisine. Overall this was a great tamale and
because its seasonal it won’t be around all year, so get yours soon!
I had a great time meeting with the Tamale Spaceship crew; I
will be referring anyone who wants a quality Tamale or just real Mexican food in Chicago to the
Tamale Spaceship.
The Tamale Spaceship also has an event coming up you should
definitely check out….
A multi-course meal with live Mexican wrestling afterwards!!
On December 13th, 2012 starting at 6 pm
For more information see website below:
*I did not take these pictures, I was hungry and ate the Tamales before taking pictures... I'm a real genius right, so the truck provided me with some pictures!
~Enjoy~
~Enjoy~
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