Nothing says holiday tradition like warm, delicious tamales. For many cultures, tamales are a holiday staple, whether they are prepared at home or purchased from a local eatery. Families come together during this time of year to make plenty of tamales to share throughout the season, but because it can be a labor-intensive process, many choose to purchase them from businesses across the city.
This is the busiest time of the year for businesses like Tamales by La Casita that, as their name says, specializes in tamales. Holiday preparations begin in October, according to Paula Sandoval, the head of the family-owned and operated business. The restaurant produces more than 12,000 tamales every day, and on most days leading up to Christmas, they are all gone before the afternoon.
“This time of year our tamale workers are working overtime,” Sandoval said. “Yesterday we were sold out at 10:30 a.m. I don’t like to run out but it’s just hard to keep up during the holidays.”
For 50 years they have been serving the traditional shredded pork with red chile tamales and green chile with cheese. Their tamale recipe started out when Sandoval’s late husband Paul began making tamales with his parents and eventually turned it into a business.
Throughout the years, the recipe has been tweaked while still keeping the tamales authentic. “Even elderly people come in and say, ‘I’m too old to make tamales but these are just like mine,’” Sandoval said. “When someone comes in and says that, to me, that’s one of the highest compliments you can get as a business.”
On a Denver subreddit, Ok_Accident652 asked the community for any recommendations on amazing Christmas tamales. While some members suggested different spots around town like Pochitos and La Popular, the first comment recommended La Casita along with the majority of the respondents.
“Can’t go wrong with La Casita,” Redpoint77 said. “A dozen or more from La Casita, 6 red and 6 green,” NoInterest81 added.
To keep up with the demand, the tamale makers start producing tamales at 6 a.m. and finish by 3 p.m., including Saturdays. Every tamale is made by hand, with the help of various groups of women.
“They are all made by hand; nothing is made with machines with us—it’s the authentic way to make them,” Sandoval said. “You have one group prepping, making the chili and the mixture and the ladies assemble the tamales, and they also make the maza in the mixer too.”
In addition to selling tamales to its patrons, La Casita is a USDA-inspected wholesale facility that also provides its tamales to other local businesses. One of the main reasons they run out of tamales every day during the season is their wholesale distribution.
Sandoval assures that customers will have easier access to their tamales after their wholesale orders are distributed. However, she advises purchasing their cold tamales as early as November and freezing them.
“They freeze really well,” Sandoval said. “It used to really bother me when I couldn’t supply tamales—but we’re doing the best we can; there’s only so much [we can make] without killing the people making them.”
Sandoval remembers a year when they experienced problems with their steamers, which prevented the tamales from cooking through and resulted in hours of waiting for her customers. She shows a video she took with her phone of a long line forming outside her business. For years, lines begin forming outside the establishment around 6 a.m., and patrons arrive before the doors open to guarantee a dozen or two of their tamales.
“We’ve actually cut down on the lines because people come in early and get their tamales; that’s a smart thing to do,” Sandoval said. “But for some people, it’s just traditional to wait in line; it’s part of the experience.”
La Casita’s tamales draw customers from all over, some traveling long distances to try their tamales. To maintain fairness for all her customers and simplify things for her staff, La Casita deactivates their online ordering after Thanksgiving. In the future, Sandoval hopes to expand her business to keep serving the community and those who come from afar.
“We’ve always taken our business very seriously,” Sandoval said. “We appreciate our customers—even the ones who only come in once a year at Christmas time; we appreciate them all year long because that’s what keeps our small business employed and solvent.”
Learn more about Tamales By La Casita, 3561 Tejon Street, Denver, and C Gates, 8400 Peña Boulevard, Denver, at tamalesbylacasita.net.
