Detroit's Tamaleria Nuevo Leon has been serving tamales for over 60 years
A slight gust of wind flows through Bagley Street on a cold crisp Detroit afternoon, as Susana "Suzy” Villarreal-Garza, 62, points at an old empty building that was the first location of Tamaleria Nuevo Leon in southwest Detroit.
She remembers working as a child alongside her mother, Maria Alicia Villarreal, who founded the tamaleria, and how they made it through recessions, critics, and a worldwide pandemic by selling handmade tamales.
“My mom started making tamales in 1957 inside our home after my father’s company went on strike, and there wasn’t any income coming in; she did it as a means to survive and support the family financially,“ Villarreal-Garza said. "I don’t think my mom would have ever imagined that the tamales she started making to support us would ever have the success the tamaleria has seen all these years.”
The oil crisis in the early 1970s affected the business in a big way, said Villarreal-Garza, who remembered seeing many people leaving Detroit during that time.
“I remember reading bumper stickers that said the last one out of Detroit turns off the lights,” Villarreal-Garza said. “The food became more scarce for our family, and everyone tightened their belts during these times, but the customers stayed loyal and continued to buy tamales.”
En español: La Tamalería Nuevo León ha servido a la comunidad de Detroit por más de 60 años
The first location opened on Bagley Street in 1963, and in 1978, the building where Tamaleria Nuevo Leon stood was sold, so Villarreal bought the second location off Vernor Highway, near the Michigan Central station.
Villarreal-Garza left her life in Chicago in 1989 after her father suffered a stroke. To help her mother run the business, Villarreal-Garza decided to stay in Detroit. She took it over in 2012 after her mother died.
One of the biggest challenges was the worldwide pandemic.
Due to the high rise of prices in the products she was buying, business was becoming less sustainable.
A case of lard went from $35 to $55; instead of paying $140 a week for lard, she was paying $220 for four cases per week. The meat started increasing gradually, from $480 to $500; now she’s paying $740, almost a $250 increase for pork alone; the chicken was $280 a week and now is close to $500 a week.
Even the price of corn husks went up.
Still, customers kept coming.
“Throughout the years, we‘ve been blessed,” Villarreal-Garza said. “Each customer we treat with respect and like family. Many of our customers appreciate that; I don’t see it as a business transaction anymore when a customer visits. I see it as if a friend is coming to visit.”
Tamaleria Nuevo Leon rolls around 680 pounds of masa weekly, which translates to a minimum of 5,000 handmade tamales a week.
More:For disabled U.P. vet, fun events are a matter of life and death
“People from all over the country have come and bought tamales to send to their loved ones,” Villarreal-Garza said. “My tamales have gone to California, Oregon, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, Tennessee, Florida and Minnesota, to name a few. … They’ve made it to all the states in the U.S., and outside of the country, they’ve only made it to Tokyo, Australia, London, Netherlands, Paris, and South Korea.
“I still have people telling me they were customers back in the '60s, when we were located at Bagley. … ‘Will I be around for another 10 years?’ I don’t know, as long as my legs hold up, I will continue to serve tamales to the people of Detroit and beyond.”
Editor’s note: A previous version of this story incorrectly estimated how many tamales Tamaleria Nuevo Leon makes each week. That number is 5,000 and this version of the story is correct.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit’s Tamaleria Nuevo Leon has been serving tamales for over 60 years