Who has the best tamales? Here are the award winners from Atascadero’s Tamale Festival

Atascadero

The city of Atascadero hosted the fourth annual Tamale Festival on Saturday, Jan. 19, with 80 vendors in attendance. Of those, 32 were tamale vendors coming from across San Luis Obispo County as well as the Central Valley and Southern California, including Anaheim, Bakersfield, Hemet, Huntington Beach, Riverside and Santa Ana.

Each year, the festival has a Judges’ Favorite and a People’s Choice Tamale Contest. Due to the wide variety of tamales offered, there are three categories for judging: sweet, gourmet and traditional. Here are the results:

2019 Judges’ Favorites

In the Traditional category, Garcia’s Restaurant in Atascadero won first place, Mary’s Cuisine Catering in San Luis Obispo took second and Maria’s Catering in Anaheim placed third.

La Luz Del Mundo in Ontario took first place in the Gourmet category, while Los Osos Mexican Market in Los Osos took second place and Barrett’s Tamales in Huntington Beach took third place.

In the Sweet category, La Luz Del Mundo in Santa Ana placed first, Barrett’s Tamales in Huntington Beach placed second and Los Osos Mexican Market in Los Osos placed third.

2019 People’s Choice

These tamale vendors won across all categories. Garcia’s Restaurant in Atascadero took first place, while La Luz Del Mundo in Paso Robles placed second and Las Delicias de Zacatecas in San Luis Obispo placed third.

In the Tamale Eating Contest, presented by Que Pasa Mexican Café, Shawn Romagno won first place in the Ages 12 and Over category, finishing five tamales in under two minutes. Daniel Nava took first place in the Under 12 Years of Age category for being able to eat two tamales the fastest.

In the Chihuahua Contest and Fashion Show, presented by Woods Humane Society of the North County, the Cowboy costume won the prize.