Posted by Michael Stern on February 04, 2010
Los Jarritos, a tiny 12th Avenue cafe, serves up such Sonoran classics as carne asada, nopalitos con chili (prickly pear cactus with chili colorado), and red or white menudo available in sizes from a pint to a gallon. Most meals are ordered to take out and tamales are sold by the dozen, but a couple of tables inside and a few on a small patio out front give regulars the opportunity to linger over long breakfasts of machaca and eggs or house-made chorizo and carry on conversations with each other and with strangers.
"Praise God for corn from Mexico," declared one tamale-eating customer when he saw us glowing with joy over the sunshine-and-butter brightness of Los Jarritos' green corn tamales, which are always on the menu. Once strictly a late-summer, early-fall dish, when local corn was ripe and chile was harvested, green corn tamales now are available year-around thanks to trucked-in corn from the south and chilies that are frozen after being roasted.
Another Los Jarritos denizen piped in to let us know how much work it is to make green corn tamales, pantomiming the effort it takes to carefully remove popping-fresh kernels from the cob, making sure you maximize the amount of juice retrieved, resulting in moist dough with earthy sweetness not found in ordinary masa milled from dried kernels. A member of the Los Jarritos staff told us that a few years ago they used to overnight green corn tamales to a restaurant in Connecticut for their once-a-week Mexican night. She recalled with bemused humor: "They paid the Fedex more than they paid us for the tamales!" Now back home in Connecticut, I am especially sorry the restaurant no longer gets the real thing from Tucson. Once you've known the soft, intertwined flavors of sweet corn, rich cheese and hot pepper steamed into opulent harmony, no other tamale quite measures up.
Overall: Worth planning a day around
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Reviewers "Must Eats" List
Green Corn Tamales (6)
($8.00)
Red Chili
($4.00)
Tortilla
(N/A)
Chorizo & Eggs
($5.00)
"A brace of green corn tamales, wrapped in soft corn husks, are eggs' (and chorizo's) best friend in the morning. When the husk is peeled away, the sunny, buttery aroma of chili, corn, and cheese that escapes is devastating-delish."
Michael Stern
"Available by the cup or plate, Los Jarritos' bowl of red packs full-tilt chili flavor but not an overwhelming amount of heat."
Michael Stern
"Rugged chorizo sausage is available on a plate with potatoes and refritos or wrapped in a burro. "
Michael Stern
"Soft, warm tortillas accompany most meals."
Michael Stern
"Los Jarritos is a charming little eatery on an avenue of corn and chili vendors and Sonoran hot dog carts."
Michael Stern
"Tamales by the bagful, ready to heat and eat."
Michael Stern
