At long last, Fresno has arguably gotten our due as a taco town. It only stands to reason that if you have great tacos, you’d probably have some great tamales too. And so, the obvious question became: Who makes the best tamale in Fresno?
Whereas tacos are widely acknowledged as the perfect basis for an inexpensive-yet-substantial quick meal, the tamale niche is a little more complex. While I love getting a bagful during the holidays, and supporting some of the local vendors who make them, tamales have traditionally been one of those items I rarely order at restaurants. This for the simple reason that whereas a good tamale is sublime, a bad or mediocre one instantly makes you wish you’d ordered something else. Nothing sours you on the experience like trying to choke down dry, mealy masa. Classic “high ceiling/low floor” situation.
I went years without ordering a tamale from a restaurant, until, when I was living in San Francisco, I started going to a gym in the deep Mission next door to a Salvadoran restaurant. When I finally stopped in, tired and hungry from a workout, I ordered some sort of Salvadoran sampler that happened to include a tamale. It turned out to be such moist, delicate perfection, with a fine-grained, almost custardy, melt-in-your-mouth masa that it’s had me chasing that sense memory for years.
While we can’t entirely solve the built-in “some tamales are bad” problem, one assumes that the odds of a good one improve at a restaurant that specializes in them. Luckily we have a few such establishments around town, some of whom have gotten a fair amount of press.
Tamala Mama grew from a viral TikTok account to a downbrick-and-mortar restaurant in 2023, complete with a front-page feature in The Fresno Bee. They have enough of an Instagram presence (son Ruben Vasquez is the social media manager for his titular Tamale Mama, Cristina Leon) that I had heard the name before I knew where the place even was.
The Tower District’s CDT Cocina, meanwhile, was called “Casa De Tamales” in a previous incarnation, but owner/founder Lisa Sanchez rebranded and reopened it as a margarita bar with a vast selection of tamales and tacos in 2022.
Beatriz and Felix Amador started with a food truck in Mendota before opening Keidy’s on Blackstone just north of Herndon in 2025. Their modest restaurant arguably doesn’t tout tamales as a signature item quite like the aforementioned restaurants, but Keidy’s is Fresno’s first Honduran restaurant.
Two is enough for a Showdown, but there aren’t any rules against a three-way competition either. So, we thought, why not?
Tamale Mama
Tamala Mama offers three types of tamales ($4 each, six for $20, a dozen for $32), along with tacos, tortas, various combination plates, and tamazole, their own clever solution to tamales tending towards dryness (why not throw one in some soup?). It’s sort of like a Mexican matzo ball soup.
Green Chicken Tamale
Wrapped in a single corn husk (I’ve never trusted a double-husked tamale), this one looks to be shredded, white meat chicken combined with tomatillo sauce. The masa is medium firm but nice and moist, though the chicken itself eats a little dry. Not much actual green sauce inside.
Red Pork Tamale
Same as the above with the corn husk and masa, only with shredded pork in a red sauce on the inside. This one is much more moist and saucy on the inside, with a sauce that tastes like smoky dried chiles. You can pair it with Tamale Mama (very good) red salsa (looks like chile de arbol in there) to add even more smoky spice. They also have a milder green salsa, but the red is better. This one is much better than the chicken.
Jalapeño Cheese Tamale
Moist masa, lots of melty, stretchy cheese, and of course a jalapeño kick (with whole, de-stemmed peppers sliced lengthwise. This one is very good; tastes like a pupusa, in a good way. Owner Cristina Leon has said this one is her favorite, and I concur.
The Wet Tamale
This version comes doused in green tomatillo sauce, slathered in melted cheese, and be-squirted with sour cream. The tomatillo sauce is nice and tart, though it could be spicier, in my mind. I ordered mine with chicken, which in retrospect was probably a mistake. The wet option on a red pork or jalapeño cheese would kill. Who doesn’t love a saucy tart?
The vibe
Your classic hole in the wall, dusty and a little foreboding in a less trafficked corner just south of downtown, but comfortable and inviting inside. Feels very clean. Decent spot for a quick, quiet lunch.
Favorite Order
The jalapeño cheese tamale. Torn on whether I would order it wet next time, or just use it as a vehicle for the excellent red salsa.
CDT Cocina
11 types of tamales ($3.50 each, six for $21, a dozen for $36) and seven kinds of tacos (same), all gluten free with a few vegetarian and vegan options, plus salads, chips, and combo options. They also have habanero pesto fries topped with ranch dressing ($7.75). Sounds weird! Would try.
Creamy Chicken Poblano
This one comes topped with a green roasted poblano-tomatillo sauce, with the husk pre-removed. The masa is more firm, with a bigger grain than Tamale Mama’s. Interestingly, it doesn’t eat firm, it’s very melt-in-your mouth. It’s also moderately spicy. The shredded chicken isn’t heavy on the cream, but it’s nicely moist. Noticeably saucy inside. The combination of poblano and spice makes it. Very good.
Chicken Tomatillo
The green sauce on this one is lighter and thinner than the chicken poblano – presumably without the poblano. It’s also firm, but also melt-in-your mouth. Lots more sauce on the inside than Tamale Mama, with a great balance of moisture and spice. (This one is almost as spicy as the chicken poblano, both with moderate heat). Solid.
Jalapeño Cheese
More green sauce on this one, I think the tomatillo. On the inside it doesn’t have quite as much visible melted cheese as Tamale Mama, but is similarly excellent. Should jalapeño cheese be the standard for tamales? My wife’s favorite.
Red Pork
This one comes covered with a dark red/reddish brown sauce. Same deal on the others with the masa. The meat on the inside looks a bit dry, but the red sauce is really pungent with dried chile flavor and quite spicy, for a nice balance. My scalp is starting to sweat. What is this flavor… wait, I know, chipotle! It tastes like chipotle barbecue sauce. Halfway through eating this I realized that the chunky jalapeño slaw wasn’t a side, but meant to be a topping for this one. I get it now, it’s a riff on al pastor. The combination is wonderful. I’ve never had an al pastor tamale before.
Spinach Artichoke
This one is less saucy on the outside, looks more like some kind of reddish glaze. The inside is, surprise surprise, very spinachy (and also moderately spicy). The artichoke is less noticeable. This one kind of turns on how much you like spinach. I like it… enough. A solid vegetarian option either way, it doesn’t feel less substantial or like you’re missing anything.
Savory Sweet Corn
This one comes doused in green sauce, guacamole, crumbled queso fresco, and drizzled with sour cream. Arguably the prettiest of the bunch. On the inside, there isn’t “filling” in the normal sense, it’s more like bread. This is like eating a log of delicious, mildly sweet cornbread with Mexican fixins’. I had no idea I wanted this, but it’s very good.
The vibe
It’s a cute little bar/restaurant with colorful, tasteful decorations. It reminds me of a town center in a small artist’s village in Jalisco (or maybe near Mexico City, its namesake, though I’ve never been there). There’s something calming about the atmosphere; I’ve brought my son both times and he was perfectly content (rare for a 4-year-old).
Favorite order
Very tough to choose between these, but I think I give creamy chicken poblano the edge. They were all pretty good, with some very different eating experiences, but this one had just the right balance of spice, moisture, and heartiness that kept me coming back for it.
Keidy’s
Keidy’s menu (with pictures!) advertises tacos, burritos, quesabirria, and carne asada, as you might expect in Fresno, but also plenty of new-to-me Honduran specialties like yuca con chicharron, baleadas (which look sort of like empanadas), catrachitas, burrita (a sort of pupusa sandwich), and, of course, pupusas. Lots to discover here beyond tamales – of which they offer chicken and pork, though they were out of the pork when I visited. The tamales are also gluten-free, per the manager.
Tamale De Pollo ($3.50)
In classic Central American fashion, these tamales come wrapped in a banana leaf (garnished with a wedge of lime). This masa is, like my Salvadoran sense memory, much wetter and with smaller, cakier grain, an almost custardy texture. This masa is SO GOOD. The filling is a totally different vibe too, with carrot, whole chickpeas, and yuca root inside alongside the chicken. I do miss some of the spice that the Mexican ones have, but this is comforting and delicious.
Pupusa Revuelta ($3.50)
The pupusa revuelta is a masa pancake with cheese, beans, and chicharrones all mixed up inside. Pupusas may be outside the scope of this competition, but this one is fantastic. They serve it with a cabbage slaw and a smooth, orange dipping sauce – much milder than I was expecting, tastes like roasted pepper.
Burrita ($8.00)
Basically a torta with pupusa as the bread. On the inside it has avocado slices, creamy bean spread, queso fresco, chicharrones, grilled sweet plantains, and a fried egg. Do I like this as much as the pupusa? Maybe not, it lacks the purity of a good pupusa. But when you get everything together in one bite it’s a pretty great bite. I’m sad I didn’t get to this in time for our sub-$10 lunch article.
The vibe
Funky! It’s on Blackstone near Herndon, where there’s not only little foot traffic, but the area feels actively hostile to foot traffic. Inside it’s basically a sleepy little ethnic grocery store. Soccer on the television in the back, some Honduran grocery items up front, and probably just one person working the dining room and one or two in the kitchen. It has the kind of no-frills atmosphere that feels authentic, a great place to grab a lunch without anyone bothering you. When you sit down for a meal, you get chips with a black bean dip dotted with crumbled cheese instead of salsa. Do I like it as much as regular salsa? I don’t know, but it’s an interesting twist, almost like Centro-American hummus (the chips were warm, thin, and crispy, and notably excellent).
Favorite order
With all due respect to their excellent tamale, probably the pupusa revuelta. So many Latin American dishes combine meat, beans, corn masa, and a grill, but rarely are they this perfectly in balance, with no one element upstaging the others.
The verdict
Folks, this is a tough one. CDT Cocina is very hard to beat for its combination of best-in-class vibe and selection, not to mention a full bar. The main drawback is that it’s only open for lunch on weekends. If it was open for lunch every day, or even one or two weekdays a week, it would win in a walk.
That leaves Tamale Mama, who make a solid jalapeño cheese and red pork tamale, though both fall just short of Keidy’s excellent single-variety tamale. Is one great tamale enough for Keidy’s to win a tamale showdown? And how do you not respect Tamale Mama for their tamazole innovation? Turning a tamale into a Mexican matzo ball soup is fusion food done right.
Let’s break up the accolades:
Best for a weekday lunch: Keidy’s.
Best tamales for vibe and selection: CDT Cocina.
Best innovation in the tamale space and no slouch in the masa department just generally: Tamale Mama.
Do you have a favorite spot you want featured in our next showdown? Send your feedback to vince@fresnoland.org.
The post Showdown: Tamale Mama vs. CDT Cocina vs. Keidy’s in a battle for the best tamale in Fresno appeared first on Fresnoland.
