Texas Tamale Company

While you were busy filling out your Cabbage Patch Doll birth certificates and not solving a Rubik’s cube, Shirley Bailey and her husband were perfecting their gourmet, lard-free tamales in their home kitchen. So popular were their little corn-husk wrapped masa creations that the couple soon outgrew their home operation, selling from a street-side cart on the far west side of Houston to meet demand. Soon after they outgrew that as well, eventually opening up their first local retail location, much to the joy of addicted locals.

We can’t go back in time and relive the ‘80s, but we can stuff our faces with some of the best tamales this side of Madonna’s fishnet tutu. Goldbely favorite: the Tamale Party Pack, which packs in enough for a 20 person fiesta. A totally rad fiesta.