Vallejo: Tortilleria Pinto - Wood-fired tortillas and elusive tamales

[rworange]

It is probably time for an update on this 2002 post
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/20874

My guess is not much has changed. In fact, looking at the above link the tamales are still $1. Tortillas are $1.75 for about 50 (I guess).

The tortillas are similar to those at Tortilleria Jalisco in Sonoma. They are the light, delicate type that almost seem like they are made from flour rather than corn.

What is most interesting is that the tortilla oven (?) is heated by wood. It doesn't have any impact on the taste though. However, at 7 am in the morning, the fire is started and the aroma drifts out onto Sonoma avenue. The middle of the store is dominated by this cooker, a long conveyor belt runs under it. I haven't ever seen it in action though.

The tamales are sold on Saturday and Sunday morning and if you don't get there by 9 am, the odds of getting one are about the same as getting actual money from a lottery ticket.

I finally got there at 8:50 on a Saturday morning after four previous failed attempts ... too late, too early, wrong day.

Soon after a line formed behind me, many were people who were shopping at the Vallejo Farmers Market.

They make cheese/pepper, pork and chicken tamales. My favorite was the pork in a spicy red sauce. The savory, lightly lardy tamale had a nice balance of meat, sauce and nutty masa. They were well-made Mexican tamale classic. The masa is also for sale in the shop.

The white meat chicken in a green tomatillo sauce were also pleasant though I would have preferred dark meat. Still, for white meat it was not dry as some are.

As the 2002 link notes "these are good, but I wouldn't call them killer"

Still, both tamales and tortillas are above average. The prices are excellent and both tortillas and tamales are satisfying and I agree with the 2002 post "Worth a stop if you're in the neighborhood"

.... especially if you are at the farmers market. The tamales make a nice breakfast.

The shop also sells a few groceries and some veggies. There are also bags of tortilla chips which I haven't tried yet.

Tortilleria Pinto [Solano County]
1717 Sonoma Blvd. (at Indian Alley)
Vallejo
707-642-7486

Open daily 8am - 8pm

[Bigshadetree]

Yes - you can't beat the price $1.00 per tamale. I have gone there a few times after shopping at the Vallejo farmer's market on Saturday mornings. He usually has tamales about 9:30 sometimes I am told to come back in about 30 minutes. I have only purchased the pork tamales and chile cheese tamales - both are good. I prefer the tamales at Las Montanas in Concord, but I agree with Orange, these are above average and I don't have to cross over the bridge ($4.00 bridge fare) to buy them.
Tortilleria Pinto looks like a small family operation, usually one person - I am guessing the owner loading masa into the tortilla maker and a young lady at the end of the conveyor belt collecting tortillas.

[rworange]

Thanks for the report. For a while I always ordered chile cheese because it is difficult to screw that up. I have has some really ugly chicken and pork tamales. However, I was guessing he was pretty good and ordering chicken or pork is an indication of how good.