La Tapatia, Inc. is a

Mexican restaurant Mexican cuisine consists of the cuisines and associated traditions of the modern country of Mexico. Its earliest roots lie in Mesoamerican cuisine. Mexican cuisine's ingredients and methods arise from the area's first agricultural communities, ...

and

tortilla A tortilla (, ) is a thin, circular unleavened flatbread from Mesoamerica originally made from maize hominy meal, and now also from wheat flour. The Aztecs and other Nahuatl speakers called tortillas ''tlaxcalli'' (). First made by the indi ...

factory located in the Ysleta neighborhood of

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...

. The restaurant has been at the same location for over 65 years and is especially known for their

tamale A tamale, in Spanish language, Spanish , is a traditional Mesoamerican dish made of ''masa'', a dough made from nixtamalization, nixtamalized maize, corn, which is steaming, steamed in a corn husk or Banana leaf, banana leaves. The wrapping ...

s. Over time, the restaurant has had several owners, including

Alicia R. Chacón Alicia Rosencrans Chacón (born November 11, 1938) is an American politician. She is best known for several firsts in El Paso, Texas. Chacón was the first woman elected to El Paso government when she became Municipal clerk, county clerk in 1974. ...

. In the 1970s, La Tapatia sponsored a

softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

team that was also known as "The Tamale Kings."

About

La Tapatia is located in the

Ysleta Ysleta is a community in El Paso, Texas, El Paso, Texas, United States. Ysleta was settled between October 9 and October 12, 1680, when Spanish colonization of the Americas, Spanish conquistadors, Franciscan clerics and Ysleta del Sur Pueblo, T ...

neighborhood of

and has been in business at the same location for over 65 years. Its Mexican food is influenced by Borderland culture and they are well-known for their

s. The ''

El Paso Times The ''El Paso Times'' is the newspaper for the US city of El Paso, Texas. The paper is the only English-language daily in El Paso (after the ''El Paso Herald-Post'', an afternoon paper, closed in 1997), but often competes with the Spanish-languag ...

'' has written that La Tapatia is one of the city's "can't miss tamales." La Tapatia makes their own ''

masa ''Masa'' or ''masa de maíz'' (; ) is a dough made from ground nixtamalized maize. It is used for making corn tortillas, '' gorditas'', '' tamales'', '' pupusas'', and many other Latin American dishes. It is dried and powdered into a flour f ...

'' for their tamales. Other dishes served for breakfast and lunch include

enchilada An enchilada (, ) is a Mexican cuisine, Mexican dish consisting of a corn tortilla rolled around a filling and covered with a savory sauce. Enchiladas can be filled with various ingredients, including meats, cheese, beans, potatoes, vegetables, ...

chile relleno The chile relleno (, literally "stuffed chile") is a dish in Mexican cuisine that originated in the city of Puebla. In 1858, it was described as a "green chile pepper stuffed with minced meat and coated with eggs". The most common pepper used is ...

s, and rolled tacos. The restaurant has also participated in events by sending large amounts of tamales to other parts of Texas.

History

La Tapatia was originally a

factory that was founded by Marcelino and Felipa Galvan in the early 1950s. The Galvan's daughter, Santos Garcia, worked as a ''tamalera'' at the restaurant, and continued to do so into her 70s. In 1970, the factory was sold to Gus and Ted Rallis, who later moved the restaurant to its final location. In July 1971, a request was made to the city to

rezone Yakov Morozov (born 6 August 1985), better known by his stage name Rezone, is a Russian DJ, music producer and sound designer. Musical career Yakov was just 13 years old when he first tried to write electronic music. Since then all his free time ...

61,008 square feet of land for

commercial use Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

for the new spot In July 1972, the permits were approved for building at the new location. During a

corn husk Husk (or hull) in botany is the outer shell or coating of a seed. In the United States, the term husk often refers to the leafy outer covering of an ear of maize (corn) as it grows on the plant. Literally, a husk or hull includes the protective ...

shortage in 1973, Ted Rallis had to temporarily substitute

parchment Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared Tanning (leather), untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves and goats. It has been used as a writing medium in West Asia and Europe for more than two millennia. By AD 400 ...

wrappings for their tamales. El Paso politician,

, looked into buying La Tapatia in 1979. Chacón eventually used her retirement funds and winnings from raffle tickets at a church event in

San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...

to purchase the restaurant in March of that year. She went into business with Edward Alvarez and his wife. When Chacón worked as an

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...

in the early 1980s, her husband, Joe Chacón, ran the restaurant. In 1989, the restaurant was selling around 300 dozen tamales every day. In the early 90s, Chacon sold her interest in the restaurant to her sister. Esther Rosencrans was the owner of the restaurant in 1994. In 2021, La Tapatia was featured with author, Sergio Troncoso, on '' La Frontera with Pati Jinich'' which airs on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

Sports

La Tapatia sponsored a

team in the 1970s. The team was part of the El Paso Major Softball League and the players were known as "The Tamale Kings." One player for the Tapatia team, Paul "Hoss" Lopez, was nominated for the El Paso Athletic Hall of Fame in 1972.

References

External links

Tamales: Visit El Paso
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tapatia, Inc., La Mexican restaurants in Texas Restaurants in El Paso, Texas