Do tamales jingle your Christmas bells?

Tis the season for peace on earth and good masa toward all!

Dec 17, 2023

Christmastime is a time for giving. It’s a time for sharing. Christmas is a time for charity, community, and goodwill towards men. But for me and my house, Christmas is a time for tamales.

I grew up in San Diego and Austin where Hispanic culture dictates the spread of the delectable tradition of swapping tamales for Christmas. Not just the usual pork and red chile filling, but sweet Tamales de Dulces. Oklahoma City’s Hispanic community is rife with the same tradition. Not sure how common church tamaladas are post-pandemic and with COVID-19 butting its damned head into the holidays, but by the look of what’s on the shelves at Feria Latina, folks are getting their tamales on this year

Last week, I had lunch at Classen Grill and my guest was Felix Cornejo, who is to Oklahoma City tamales what Abe Froman was to Chicago sausages. Felix, who operates the family-owned Tamale King, ordered a Torta Birria, which aroused the subject of the four-years and runnin quesabirria trend.

Quesabirria combines cheese with traditional birria in a taco served with a cup of spicy consomme. All that fat won’t do your arteries any favors, but it sure is tasty and it will keep your pelt shiny. But I digress …

Just as Classen Grill took the idea and turned it into a torta, Felix has taken the idea and turned it into a specialty tamale. Birria is braised beef, or goat, served in a dish of its spicy braising jus. Felix not only serves his quesabirria tamales with a cup of consomme, but uses it to hydrate in the masa. Brilliant.

The quesa Felix marries with birria is Monterrey Jack.

“It was one of those happy accidents,” he explained. “I grabbed a bag of the wrong cheese one time. When the tamales came out, one batch was different.”

Felix said he dug through the trash searching through empty cheese packages to find the problem, which he quickly judged a solution.

“Turns out, I Ilked the batch with Monterrey Jack better.”

Eureka! The Tamale King hence decreed Monterrey Jack royalty in the quesabirrias he makes with help from his mother, Alicia, and sister, Veronica Castellanos. They work out of the Cellar Café & Bar, 2915 N Classen, where you can pick up tamales. Felix also sets up at events and venues around the city.

Usually, it would be too late to get your order in for holiday tamales, but The Tamale King is taking orders all the way up to Wednesday. He and his partner Dallas Williams” will be set be set up at the new Homeland, 16533 N May Ave., on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. selling a limited menu, delivery pre-orders and taking order for New Years.

Pre-orders can made from the full menu that includes seven different fillings: pork; spicy pork; chicken, cheese, and jalapeño with salsa roja; chicken and cheese with salsa verde; chicken with sweet corn; bean and jalapeño for vegans and vegetarians; and quesabirria. He also fries tortilla chips fresh that he sells with house salsa.

That spicy pork is blue-flame fire, and the pinto beans and jalapeno are not just for the vegetarian/vegan crowd. However, Felix told me the chicken, cheese and jalapeno is his best-seller. Totally see why. The pollo is rico and the jalapeno is as fragrant as it is spicy.

Here are some pretty pictures of my time spent in the court of The Tamale King …