SANTA CLARITA, Calif. — A thousand tamales a day, that’s how many tamales are being sold at Tamales Express in Santa Clarita on a typical weekday in December. On the weekend that number doubles and they already have 4,000 pre-orders on Christmas Eve.
“So many orders! I can’t believe people eat that many tamales on Christmas,” said Romaulado Barrera who co-owns Tamales Express with his sister Elvira Batepola.
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He’s in charge of the business, she’s in charge of the tamales.
Barrera always thought his big sister's tamales were amazing but he says it’s “not just my own opinion but my whole family, they are the best tamales they’ve ever tasted.”
Batepola's tamales became a hit at family functions and they’d be gone within seconds. So Barrera asked his sister for months, begging her to open a tamal restaurant with him. He says “I talked to her a few times and she kept saying, 'no, they’re not going to sell, nobody is going to want to buy them, you guys are just saying that because you love me.'”
Batepola is very shy and modest about her cooking. In fact during our interview, she initially didn’t want to talk on camera. She says she’s still overwhelmed by the response from customers. On their grand opening, they had a line out the door and sold 3,000 tamales by 11 a.m. and its been non-stop ever since.
“I can’t feel the time, sometimes I check the time and it’s already time to go,” said Batepola.
Despite working long hours she and her brother say they are grateful and love hearing the reaction each time they take a bite.
“That’s what keeps us going, even though we're tired, haha,” said Barrera. While this may be their first Christmas selling tamales it definitely won’t be their last.