A tamale shop in Crown Heights is aiming to bring consistency and deep tradition to a dish that many New Yorkers often find only sporadically on street corners.
At Tamalería La Madrina, husband-and-wife team Artemio Baltazar and Marisol Lopez are serving handmade tamales rooted in family recipes passed down for more than a century. The shop, which opened last November, arrives just before National Tamale Day on March 23, offering Brooklynites a dedicated destination for the beloved Mexican staple.
For Baltazar, the idea grew from a simple frustration: tamales can be easy to crave — but surprisingly hard to find reliably.
“On the streets you can find tamales sometimes,” Baltazar told Brooklyn Paper. “But you don’t know if they’ll be there tomorrow. Sometimes you wake up on a Sunday morning and want tamales and coffee, and when you go, they’re not there.”
The couple decided to change that.
Baltazar and Lopez have been running food businesses for about a decade, including nearby Taqueria Milear. But over time, they realized they wanted to focus on something more specific and personal.
At the heart of Tamalería La Madrina are recipes inspired by Lopez’s grandmother, whose cooking traditions date back more than 100 years.
“It’s the original recipes from where my wife grew up,” Baltazar said. “We want to give people a taste of our culture.”
Each tamale begins with stone-ground corn masa and is wrapped in corn husks or fragrant banana leaves before being steamed. The fillings range from traditional to inventive, but all are designed to highlight the same core technique passed down through Lopez’s family.
Menu highlights include the Oaxaqueno tamale with tender pork baby ribs in red sauce, a Pollo en Salsa Verde filled with chicken breast and tomatillo-jalapeno, and birria tamale packed with slow-cooked beef. Vegetarian options like jalapeno and cheese are also available, alongside more classic versions.
House-made sauces — tangy, rich and prepared from scratch — accompany the tamales.
But the shop also offers something less familiar to many New Yorkers: the guajlolota, a Mexican street-food staple that turns a tamale into a sandwich by placing it inside a soft bolillo roll.
“It’s basically a tamal sandwich,” Baltazar said. “My family used to travel all the way to Queens to get one because my kids loved it.”
Now it’s one of the shop’s signature offerings.
The decision to open in Crown Heights was natural. Baltazar said his family has lived in the neighborhood for nearly two decades, and the community’s early support has helped the new restaurant find its footing.
“We know a lot of the neighbors,” he said. “When they come in and try the tamales and say they love them, that gives us the energy to keep going.”
The tamalería also benefits from its proximity to the couple’s other business nearby, where staff and resources are shared. Baltazar describes the operation simply: “We’re all like family.”
Their daughter Michelle is already working in the business while attending school, learning recipes and operations that her parents hope will carry the shop into the future.
“She can be the next generation,” Baltazar said.
For now, Baltazar believes their goal is to introduce more New Yorkers to freshly made tamales — available every day.
But Baltazar is also thinking long term. The family hopes to expand eventually, potentially opening another location somewhere closer to Manhattan while continuing to involve their children in the business.
“If they learn everything, why not?” he said. “Maybe one day we will open another place.”
Until then, with National Tamale Day approaching, Baltazar has a simple invitation for Brooklyn diners: come hungry.
“They’re not going to be disappointed,” he said.
