When Pullman Market opened last year, Sonia Margarita Vasquez-Grizzle recognized a void. In a culinary space that featured a specialty grocer, a sourdough bakery and multiple restaurants, there were no tamales.
There are now.
Boxes of Vasquez-Grizzle’s tamales, produced at Margarita’s Tortilla Factory, sit on the top shelf of Pullman Market’s freezer case. You can buy them cold. Or you can get them fresh and hot at Pullman Market’s Tamale Festival on Saturday, starting at 1 p.m.
Admission is free. Event organizers, however, request that you RSVP here before attending.
The festival will feature eight vendors in a Best Tamale competition: Carnita’s Spot, Mezquite, Southerleigh Fine Food & Brewery, Culinary Institute of America, Tamale Addiction, Chamoy City Limits, Chi Chi Birds Hot Chicken and Margarita’s.
The festival, which runs until 5 p.m., will also feature family-friendly activities curated by The DoSeum and live music from DJ Caliente.
Prices for individual tamals will range from $2 to $5, depending on the vendor. Tamale packages will also be available and vary in cost.
“I’m very excited for the return of tamales to Pearl with the inaugural Pullman Tamale Festival,” said Michael Joergensen, Silver Ventures’ chief marketing officer. “It’s almost 15 years to the day of Pearl’s first ‘Tamales at Pearl’ festival, which was also my first visit to Pearl with my family when we were new in town. I remember the energy of that day and how we experienced the community of Pearl and San Antonio and cannot wait for this weekend.”
Vasquez-Grizzle contends that her tamales stand apart. They contain no artificial flavorings, colors or preservatives. Her tamales are lard-free. They are not greasy.
“What makes us different from everybody else is our clean label,” she said. “We are non-GMO verified. We use avocado oil. Our tamales are 100 percent handcrafted. There are no machines. So it’s truly a labor of love.”
Vasquez-Grizzle, 58, is an unlikely tamalera. She earned a bachelor’s degree in fashion design from the University of Texas at Austin in 1993.
“Two years later,” she said, laughing, “I got into tortillas.”
Long before that, though, she spent long days with her migrant-worker parents picking tomatoes in Florida. After her parents saved enough money, the family moved to Harlingen.
“I’m a Valley Girl,” Vasquez-Grizzle said. ”My mother made all the meals at home — tortillas and tamales — and I would help her. My mom taught me to make tamales.”
After a brief career in interior design, Vasquez-Grizzle founded Margarita’s Tortilla Factory in Austin, where she produced 800 tortillas per hour in a one room operation. She relocated to Lockhart before moving to San Antonio in 2020.
Two years later, the factory earned a positive review from Texas Monthly.
What will she be offering on Saturday?
“We’ll have sweet and savory,” Vasquez-Grizzle said. “A sweet chocolate tamal and a pumpkin bliss. We’ll also have a vegan black bean, cheese and jalapeno, green pork, red pork and green chicken.
“They’re all full of flavor and healthy — without compromising on taste.”
