Why a little Fort Worth tamale shop is doing big business on Bonds Ranch Road

Bud Kennedy
·2 min read

The new Tommy Tamale Market & Cafe is busy, and it’s obvious why.

The tamale and Tex-Mex takeout stand is one of few restaurants for miles around the Bonds Ranch neighborhood.

I’m not kidding.

You know you’re out in the ‘burbs when you search for “nearest restaurant” and the next top answer is QuikTrip.

Tommy Tamale, a Grapevine and Keller restaurant ranked as one of the state’s 100 best places to eat by users of Yelp.com, opened the small stand at 750 W. Bonds Ranch road to serve residents of the Haslet area and U.S. 287 motorists.

Tamale nachos, top, and a tamale bowl at Tommy Tamale.
Tamale nachos, top, and a tamale bowl at Tommy Tamale.

One recent weekend, families and customers lined up for the tamales in seven varieties ($15 per dozen), or for simple burritos, quesadillas and tamale platters or bowls with Texas chili (about $7-$9).

The same strip shopping center on the corner at Wagley Robertson Road has a Pizza Bistro.

If you live in Bonds Ranch and want something besides tamales or pizza, then you’ll have to drive 3 miles west to Wing It Cafe at Hicks Airfield, or 2 miles farther to brunch favorite Beacon Cafe.

There is literally nowhere else to eat for an entire neighborhood locked in the north Fort Worth no-man’s land of endless subdivisions between busy rail lines west of U.S. 287.

So, tamale pie looks pretty good.

“Tamale nachos” at Tommy Tamale feature — well, tamale bites on chips with cheese and salsa
“Tamale nachos” at Tommy Tamale feature — well, tamale bites on chips with cheese and salsa

Luckily, Tommy Tamale is reliable.

The 14-year-old Grapevine restaurant has won tamale tasting contests and draws long lines at the holidays.

Tommy Tamale began in the back of Decatur resident Steve Barker’s F-250 pickup, parked and selling at feed stores in Wise County.

The shop settled quickly into the Grapevine Farmers Market, then opened a store and cafe at 1689 W. Northwest Highway (Business Texas 114).

A “Tommy Bowl” at Tommy Tamale mixes tamale bites, chili, queso, rice and pico de gallo.
A “Tommy Bowl” at Tommy Tamale mixes tamale bites, chili, queso, rice and pico de gallo.

The Tommy Tamale stand on Bonds Ranch Road is smaller. It offers beef, pork and chicken tamales along with Hatch chile pork, habanero pork and black bean.

Definitely order something with the Texas chili. It comes atop tamales either on a platter, in a bowl with queso or over a tamale-Frito pie.

Tommy Tamale is open from 10 a.m. through dinner weekdays and Saturdays.

The larger restaurants are at 208 N. Main St., Keller, and 680 N. Denton Tap Road, Coppell; tommytamale.com.