Tamale making has always been a Christmas tradition where my entire family would get together and make hundreds of delicious little wrapped pork and corn treats. I have never been able to find a restaurant that could produce a tamale as good until I ventured into Rico’s Tamales in Rothbury, Michigan.
Rico’s Tamales is a very small and to the point tamale shop. They have a very simple menu and it is tamales, rice and beans, and a few beverages. A traditional tamale is a masa pocket filled with usually pork and then wrapped and steamed in a corn husk. Rico’s offers pork, chicken, bean, vegetarian, jalapeno & cheese or beef tamales. I decided to get three tamales with beans and rice and a Mexican soda to drink. I chose one bean and two pork tamales.
The food smelled great. The rice and beans brought me back to breakfast at my Grandmother’s. The rice had great flavors of garlic and a hint of tomato which means they probably cooked the rice in tomato juice which also gave it the color.
Next came the tamales. The bean one was packed with beans. The flavor was there to and the spices in the masa go great. The pork one had a great spice element to it that was most likely from guajillo chillies that are cooked in with the meat. They give you a lot of meat and filling which is rare. Most places just give you a lot of dough and little filler.
My family has been making these for as long as I can remember and though you can buy them at many restaurants and Mexican stores it is rare to find the perfect ones. Rico’s stays authentic to the T and even utilizes the spices and peppers I grew up with. I had to ask the owner for his name in case we were relatives. If you are ever driving up old 31 be sure to stop into Rothbury for a tamale plate that will blow your mind. They also sell them by the dozen if you need more to share.