Traveling the Tamale Trail

LEGACY BLOG:  This report was originally made in the year 2007 and is imported from
an earlier, now retired, blog. Several things are different now from when this trip was made
and some of the updates are detailed in a later hodoi blog.

On the Tamale Trail  ●  ●  ●  November  2007

          Tamales in the deep South?  -  Isn't this just an aberration?

             Like finding curried conch in Collierville, Tennessee or

             foie gras in Fort Smith, Arkansas?

-          John T. Edge, Hot Tamales & the Mississippi Delta

Although it’s better known for cotton, catfish, and blues, the Mississippi Delta has an interesting relationship with the tamale. The tamale is of course first and foremost associated with Mexico. How and when, then, were tamales introduced to this most southern, African-American area? Hot tamales, “tamales calientes", grew in popularity in the early 1900s when Mexican farmworkers introduced them to black workers in the cotton fields in the deep South, particularly along the Mississippi Delta, in the area approximately from Memphis to Greenville. The Mississippi hot tamale is featured in the well-known song "They're Red Hot”  by early Delta blues singer Robert Johnson. (For a nice cover of this, click here.)

We decided to hit the Tamale Trail in November and avoid the oppressive heat and humidity of the summer. There were five of us, with no special knowledge, motivated only by a long-standing taste for tamales and fondness for all things Southern.

         

Day One

We were traveling from Little Rock. Got into Helena-West Helena around noon. Had heard Pasquale’s had good tamales. Couldn’t find it.

Woman at Betsy’s gas station said Pasquale’s only does a mail-order business and food truck any more! She tried to call the owner at home for us, but no luck. Said good lunch, but no tamales, at Jay’s Drive-In just down the street. We tried it.

Real dump, good food. I had hamburger steak, purple-hull peas, turnip greens, cornbread and a side of onion rings. Yum yum. But no tamales.

On to Clarksdale. The rental shacks at the old Hopson plantation are wonderful.
Nice photos at this site.

Our first choice for supper, Hicks World Famous Hot Tamales & More, not open!

Went to Abe’s Bar-B-Q right near the legendary crossroad where Robert Johnson purportedly sold his soul to the devil in exchange for his blues guitar prowess. I had tamales and a chopped pork BBQ sandwich. Tamales were good to very good. BBQ no good.

Evening at the plantation: rye whiskey, Scotch and Rocky Patel.

    

Day Two

Delta dawn. Clear, cold, beautiful.

Larry and I went to McDonald’s for breakfast. I had burrito, milk, coffee. Good coffee. We all headed south.

Cut over to Highway 1, the Great River Road. On the left, miles and miles of fields with the stubble of crops, some being plowed under. On the right, miles and miles with the levee in the near or middle distance. No sight of the river on the Great River Road.

We were going to Rosedale for the recommended White Front Café, also known as Joe’s Hot Tamale Place. We found it, white front right on main street but inside gutted. Burned two months ago! We talked to Barbara, proprietor, who lives half a block down the street. She’s hoping to rebuild.

So we cut back over to Cleveland on Hwy 61. A stunning surprise, Cleveland is neat and prosperous with bustling businesses, pretty houses and an impressive college campus. Local inquiry recommended The Shanty for lunch. An inauthentic place, part of an even more inauthentic place called the Grapeland Grill. I had tamales and crackers; Tamales were okay – not bad, but not real good.

On to Greenville. We ran upon Hot Tamale Heaven in a metal trailer type building right on the outskirts of town. We ate on a picnic table in the hot sun. I had tamales, a side of coleslaw and a coke. Tamales were spicy and not bad. 

 

We headed toward the levee and the Mississippi River bridge and mostly by accident happened upon the legendary Doe’s Eat Place. They weren’t serving inside for another hour, but the cook, a stereotypically big, friendly black woman, led us to the kitchen where two huge pots (tamaleras) were steaming on a stove and savory aromas filled the room. She sold us tamales to go which we enjoyed with crackers on the hood of the car. Doe’s is known first for their huge delicious steaks and second for tamales, but the tamales were only fair.

Back to Clarksdale, hoping finally to have some of the highly recommended fare at Hicks World Famous Tamales & More. They were open this time, but only for carry-out! Tired of eating on picnic table and car hood, we said to hell with it. We ate supper at the Rest Haven Café, which despite the name evocative of a cemetery was subtitled American, Italian & Lebanese Food. I had coffee and coconut crème pie. The pie was good but the coffee was bad, being criminally weak and insipid.
Since people expect decent coffee at breakfast, the coffee I had couldn’t have been Italian or Lebanese - must have been American.
 

Day Three

Departure. Made it to Brinkley around noon. Brinkley has appropriated to itself the title of World Headquarters of the Lord God Bird, i.e., the ivory-billed woodpecker, which may or may not exist. 

Ate at Gene’s BBQ.

Catfish with hushpuppies, baked potato, slaw, onion, pickled tomatoes, and pickle slices good. BBQ bad

                                                End of the Trip

Wrap-Up

Okay, so what about the tamales on the Tamale Trail?

It turned out we missed almost as many places as we sampled, but here are the results.

the ratings:

Abe’s BBQ

The first we tasted and clearly the best.

Doe’s Eat Place

The heavy savory aromas from their kitchen doubtless contributed to the enjoyment, even outside on the street.

Hot Tamale Heaven

Adequate; spiciest of the four.

The Shanty

Bland, disappointing.

the no-shows:

1. Pasquale’s
2. White Front Cafe & Joe’s Tamale Place
3. Hick’s World Famous Tamales & More

But the real discovery of the trip was the Shack-Up Inn, at what is known as the old Hopson plantation near Clarksdale. Old sharecropper shacks have been minimally reconditioned and cheesily decorated to rent as low-class low-cost motel units. The result is surprisingly enjoyable. Recommended.

        
                                                                                            

                                                                                         Surely there’s no greater folly

                                                                                         Than eating a hot tamale;

                                                                                              It’s vile and greasy

                                                                                              And looks like a fece

                                                                                         But it makes my belly feel jolly.