Hot Tamales – Rio Rancho, New Mexico

While the word tamale is most certainly Spanish, its derivation is from the Nahuatl word tamalli.  Tamallis were developed as a portable ration carried by war parties in pre-Columbian North America and were as common and varied as the sandwich is today.  One commonality among tamalli then and tamales today, is the corn meal dough (masa) which is made through a process called “nixtamalization.”  In pre-Colombian times, the process involved using wood ashes to soften field corn for easier grinding.  Today this is done by slaking lime.  Interestingly, nixtamalization not only softens field corn, it aids in digestibility and increases the nutrients absorbed by the human body.

Though the fundamental component of the tamale remains masa, fillings for this delicious snack or entree are almost as diverse as the imagination, ranging from sweet (pineapple, coconut, pecans, bananas, chocolate and more) to savory and everything in between.  There are also tremendous variations in the wrapper which envelops the filling.  Dried corn husks are probably the most common, but the descendants of the Meso Americans also use fresh corn husks, banana leaves and the membrane from some agave plants.

In New Mexico, we like to think of tamales as being part of our culinary heritage and we boast of some of the very best tamales in the western hemisphere. Surprisingly, however, some of the very best tamales I’ve ever had were on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and the Mississippi Delta area. Until Alton Brown revealed the existence of tamale on the Mississippi Delta during his Feasting on Asphalt series on the Food Network, many people had no idea tamales were so prevalent in the land of fried food and pecans a plenty.  Plentiful though they may be, they don’t hold a candle to New Mexico’s tamales.

It’s not the heritage of tamales that came to mind the first time we strode into Hot Tamales.  Lexicologist that I am, what came to mind during my first visit was the fact that “hot tamale” is American slang for a sexually arousing woman (and there I was with three gruesome guys).  I also reflected with disdain on one of the very least amusing Spanglish word plays possible–“chile today, hot tamale” which I’ve heard used by at least two of the least funny weathermen in America.  Thankfully, Hot Tamales, one of Rio Rancho’s rare New Mexican restaurants, has nothing to do with malapropisms and everything to do with good New Mexico cuisine.

Hot Tamales was launched by the good folks who own O’Hare’s Grille and Pub which features one the state’s most innovative bar menus. Though ownership changes occurred about a decade ago, it’s still obvious the ownership has a passion for great cuisine.  Moreover when the Cabrona virus shut down the world, Hot Tamales partnered with Sysco to offer free toilet paper and tissues and water to delivery or curbside customers as a thank for their support. This came despite their sales being down 60%.  Is it any wonder there’s a reciprocal love affair between the restaurant and the community it serves?

Hot Tamales’ walls are festooned with surreal, almost shockingly bright colors that might remind you of a John Nieto painting. Colorful Mexican blankets are suspended from the ceiling on latilla poles. The ambiance changes entirely in the evening thanks to the restaurant’s lighting effects. Blue light (said to have a special ability to reset the biological clock) illuminates the center of the main dining room, imparting a semi-strobe effect when the whirring fan blades disperse blue hues.  Booths on the west- and south-facing walls are illuminated by red light (which some doctors purport helps heal wounds more quickly).  The nichos on the east-facing wall are illuminated by orange lights which no doubt have curative properties as well.

According to the table tents, the restaurant blends its red chile from pods and fire roasts the green chile.  That’s a winning combination!  The menu lists only 18 items and several a la carte options, but if our visits are any indication, they don’t need to add more to the menu. The philosophy, perhaps, is that it’s better to do a good job on a limited number of entrees than to have pages of menu items not prepared well.

Shortly after you’re seated, a bowl of rich, red salsa with a delicious fluorish of chipotle is brought to your table along with a basket of oversized and lightly-salted chips with a pronounced corn taste (they’re quite good). The salsa is thick, made from mashed red tomatoes and has a nice piquancy. Over the years, I’ve developed an affection for salsa made with chipotle.  Hot Tamales version is among the very best.   Another prandial precursor Hot Tamales does very well is con queso.  This isn’t just melted Velveeta or gloppy, gummy cheese as is served on nachos at sporting events.  The con queso is thick, rich and creamy and utterly delicious.  It’s not thick enough to break the chips and it’s not so runny that it drips off them.

8 March 2024: My favorite entree is aptly named of “tres colores” as in the three colors that decorate three types of enchiladas–a green chile adorned chicken enchilada, a cheese enchilada enrobed in con queso and a red chile beef enchilada. Neither the red or green chile are particularly piquant, a short-coming to what is an otherwise tasty dish. One plus for many diners is that the chicken in the green chile chicken enchilada is made from all white meat (which despite being America’s favorite, isn’t necessarily the most juicy or delicious meat on a chicken). Thankfully, the chicken used at Hot Tamales is very moist. The cheese enchilada with con queso, essentially cheese punctuating cheese, is surprisingly good.  Only at Slate Street Cafe in Albuquerque have we had enchiladas in which the flavor of the corn tortillas is so prominent, so alluring, so delicious.  Our server couldn’t tell us where those wonderful tortillas are obtained, but I suggest it must be somewhere close to heaven.

14 September 2013: If you do find yourself enamored of white chicken engorged entrees, Hot Tamales also offers a green chile chicken enchilada casserole which is similar to the rolled enchilada on the Tres Colores enchilada combination plate, save for the fact that it’s served in a casserole dish. This is an entree we make at home on occasion so a comparison is inevitable. The main differences are that the chicken on the casserole dish we make at home is much more moist and the dish isn’t nearly as “cheesy.”  Hot Tamales is very generous with the white meat pieces which are cut into bite-sized pieces, but it’s also too generous, if that’s possible, with the cheese.

5 April 2011: A restaurant named Hot Tamales had better serve very good tamales.  This one does, and not just tamales the way most restaurants in New Mexico serve them.  One example pairs a pork tamale with a large bowl of posole.  In fact, the tamale actually  sits on the bowl atop the posole.    Praiseworthy:  the masa does not completely disintegrate to leave swimming shards of shredded beef and masa floating on the bowl.  Instead you can actually cut the tamale with your fork and fully appreciate the tender tendrils of red chile blessed pork and the corn-impregnated masa with just a hint of the juice from the posole.  The tamales coupling with posole is genius–two favorite New Mexican dishes in one bowl.  The posole is hearty, earthy and delicious with a green chile of medium piquancy lending its terrific flavor profile.

8 March 2024:  Comedian Mitch Hedberg quips: “I wish they made fajita cologne,because that stuff smells good. What’s that you’re wearing? That’s sizzlin‘!  At some restaurants all eyes follow the aroma trail as fajitas make their way to a lucky guest’s table.  At Hot Tamales, there’s no steaming trail to tantalize your nostrils and cause involuntary salivation.  Fajitas are served on a small pot which doesn’t generate the titillating smoky trail.  That certainly doesn’t mean these fajitas aren’t mouth-watering.  They are.  What sets these fajitas apart in my Kim’s estimation is that the accompanying veggies (yellow and red peppers, grilled onions) are so good, the proteins (steak and chicken) aren’t needed.  Not that she’d dispense with them.  Served with pico de gallo, sour cream, guacamole and a Cheddar blend, these fajitas are in “best of the metro” company.

8 March 2024: All plates are served with large, puffy sopaipillas as well as Spanish rice and beans, both of which are quite good.  If you don’t like beans (or they don’t like you), a nice (albeit salty) alternative are papitas, cubed fried potatoes.  They’re like cubed French fries sans ketchup. The sopaipillas are quite good, but they’re not always the puffed up dough pillows we’re used to.  The honey is the real thing not the honey-flavored syrup served at too many New Mexican restaurants.

8 March 2024: Another dessert offering is Hot Tamales version of natillas, the cinnamon blessed custard.  The natillas are sweet without being cloying and are served in a small cup with a biscochito and whipped cream which is sweeter than the natillas.  As good as the natillas might be, they’re also amazingly thin, almost like an egg nog.  In fact, you don’t even need a spoon to finish these natillas; you can almost drink them down.

In its annual Food and Wine issue for 2013, Albuquerque The Magazine‘s staff sampled “every dish of nachos in the city” and selected Hot Tamales’s nachos as the fifth best in the city.  The magazine described these nachos as “packing red and green in its nachos, including sour cream, guacamole, lettuce and tomatoes, too.”

The wait staff at Hot Tamales has always been professional and pleasant, always quick with drink refills and savvy enough to recommend more than the standard offerings.  There are many things to like about this popular Rio Rancho restaurant.

Hot Tamales
1520 Rio Rancho Blvd.
Rio Rancho, New Mexico
(505) 962-0123
Website | Facebook Page
LATEST VISIT: 8 March 2024
# OF VISITS: 8
RATING: 23
COST: $$
BEST BET: Stacked Enchiladas, Hot Tamale Bowl, Tacos, Tres Colores, Natillas, Chipotle Salsa, Sopaipillas, Fajitas