One Great Dish: Dia De Los Tamales' Buffalo Chicken Tamale
By Chuck Sudo in Food on Aug 12, 2013 6:00PM
Dia de los Tamales successfully funded a Kickstarter project earlier this year to buy equipment for their new Pilsen storefront. Since their April opening I’ve made several trips to their Pilsen storefront to sample their menu and all of their selections are solid, making it hard to pick only one tamale for “One Great Dish” recognition.
On a bright, sunny day outside the Zhou B Center for StreetFood Artistry on Sunday, however, their Buffalo chicken tamale stood out. Chef Keith Carlson makes a standard Buffalo chicken with Frank’s Red Hot sauce, surrounds it in pillowy white masa and tops it with julienned carrot, diced celery and homemade bleu cheese dressing. The masa is the true star of this dish. It’s light and sweet, a perfect complement to the acidity of the red hot sauce and the dressing. We could, dare we say, eat it without all the other stuff.
Dia de Los Tamales is located at 939 W. 18th St.