'Real' tamales becoming local hot item

Bill Donovan
Special to the Independent

GALLUP — For decades, Gallup has been known for its Mexican restaurants.

But Maria Dominquez knew Gallup's secret the Mexican food that was being served in the Mexican-style restaurants really wasn't Mexican food.

So when she began making real Mexican tamales for her family and friends three years ago, she found a ready market for her products, so much so that recently the family established their own carry-out restaurant, La Metate: Tamale Factory, at 610 W. Mesa Ave. here in Gallup.

"These are different from the tamales that you buy elsewhere in Gallup," she said.

And she's right. Who else, for example, makes strawberries, banana and pineapple tamales?

She makes the food the way she was taught in Mexico and has attracted a large number of regular customers, most of whom are Anglo and many of them employees of the Indian Health Service.

Maybe this wasn't a surprise since her husband, Lorenzo, is a nurse with the Gallup Indian Medical center and has been sharing his wife's cooking with friends there for years.

"She was making and filling more and more orders and after awhile it became more than she could handle just at home," he said.

"There is no other place in town like this," said Octavio Bejavano, a long-time friend and a regular customer at the restaurant.

Lorenzo Dominquez agreed that the food at the restaurant was unique.

"This is home-style Mexican food. There's no artificial ingredients and it's made by a Mexican woman," he said.

It's also inexpensive. "You could feed a family of four for less than $15," he said.

In the United States, he added, most people have the impression that Mexican food is based on the chile, but real Mexican food, he said, "doesn't have to be spicy or hot."

The Tamale Factory produces about 300 tamales a day and although it is mainly carry-out, there are a couple of tables for those who want to sit and talk while their order is being made.

The tamales have become so popular that a couple of restaurants are buying the product and are serving it at their establishments.

El Metate, which means grinding stone, is open six days a week, Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.