This new little tamale shop opened in downtown Fresno using Grandma Juanita’s recipes
A little tamale shop with deep roots has opened in downtown Fresno.
The Golden Tamale is a quick-service Mexican restaurant serving a lot more than just tamales, including tacos, burritos and tortas.
It’s at 744 P St., suite 103. That’s just down the street from City Hall, next to Valparaiso coffee shop and the newly built IRS building.
It’s so new is doesn’t have a sign yet – it opened Oct. 12 – but look for the red tent out front.
The Golden Tamale – or “tamale de oro,” as many people call it – is all family run, with multiple generations.
Brothers Daniel and Sergio Velasco founded the place. They’re using recipes from their grandmother, Juanita Cordero, 84, who is from the Guadalajara area.
Cordero learned to make tamales from nuns at a mission decades ago.
Translations and years of history mean the details of her story are a little fuzzy, but her grandsons say Grandma Juanita worked for the nuns doing other tasks. She’d watch them making tamales and finally asked them how to do it.
She started selling tamales for herself, eventually moving to the United States. She opened restaurants in Los Angeles selling tamales, along with burgers, tacos and more.
“She created the American dream through the tamales,” Daniel Velasco said.
She’s at The Golden Tamale a few weeks to get things going, along with several other family members.
“She’s like our mascot. She hangs out, goes in the back, makes sure everybody’s doing it the way they’re supposed to,” Daniel Velasco said. “You’ll find her outside in the front chit chatting with the people.”
Coincidentally, the restaurant is next door to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services building. Their grandma has been offering words of encouragement to people coming and going from the building who are working on getting their citizenship, Velasco said.
For now, grandma is moving back to Washington, where she lives, but there’s talk of her moving to Fresno.
The menu at The Golden Tamale
But back to the food. The family has updated the recipes a bit, putting their own spin on the favorite Mexican holiday dish of masa, meat and sauce wrapped in corn husks and steamed.
The most popular tamales are anything with the red sauce, like the red chile and pork, or the red chile and chicken. There’s a green chile sauce on the meatless tamales that are stuffed with mozzarella cheese.
There’s also dessert tamales, including a pineapple one that’s worth trying. It’s almost like cake with chunks of pineapple in it.
And of course, there’s tacos, burritos, breakfast burritos, tortas and bowls, which are essentially burritos without the tortilla. Prices range from $2.50 per tamale to $10 for bowls.
The Golden Tamale serves breakfast, lunch and dinner and is open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. Bring coins, bills or cards as there’s only paid parking out front – $1.50 an hour with a 39-cent credit card fee – that uses a new kiosk.
Phone: 559-825-0615.
This story was originally published October 19, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
