Lucy's Tamale Factory - NEW
974 Story Road
San Jose, CA 95122
6 a.m.—10 p.m. daily
408/275-8262
Rating: ****
We stumbled on this place when buying baguettes and paté at Lee's, whose Story Road location is in the same shopping center. This is mostly a takeout joint, with a counter, two small tables, and a refrigerator with Mexican sodas. The pork and chicken tamales are very good, the best I've had in San Jose. Admittedly I haven't had a craving for Mexican food in a year or so, but we bought these at 2 p.m., which means they were probably put into the steamer much earlier and the masa was still fairly light. The pulled pork filling was a bit dry, but the pulled chicken was still moist and nicely spicy. They sell the tamales—pork, chicken, corn, sweet (with raisins, etc.), jalepeno and cheese—either individually or in batches of 15, so it's an easy way to feed a horde. 05/25/03

See what Wes Kashiwagi had to say about our tamales.

Wes @Home