Incredible Port Isabel Chiles Rellenos/Tamales

One of the foods I HATE to make is chilles rellenos. It is right up there next to tamales on the list, "Homemade Foods My Family Will Never Get because it is too Much of a Hassle." These foods are delicious but making them is so meticulous and involved it is not a pleasure as opposed to other delicious foods that are a snap to make. Well, today I found a lovely little place in Port Isabel that makes them for you at a ridiculous $1.00 each. I will be featuring this little place in our series, "Top 100 Things to do in the South Padre Island Area," on todopadre23.blogspot.com because of this incredible offer of theirs. I couldn't believe this lady was standing there waiting for me to order her handiwork for such a low price. I HATE making them and there they were: hot, delicious, fried and full of cheese. Could you ask for anything better when you are hungry and don't want to cook?

Now it is, Friday, January the 23rd and I went back to that place to get the name of it for you. It is called the El Valle Tortilleria next to Mata's Market right on Highway 100 on the right when you are coming off of the causeway FROM South Padre Island. The beauty of this deal is you can take the chiles rellenos home and add rice, beans, salad, or whatever you wish to it and you don't have to deal with the tedious, frustrating messy details of making them yourself and for such an incredibly low price? This one is a no-brainer. You make the rice, buy beans if you have to and serve these on the side and you have a complete and completely out-of-the-ordinary meal.

It being Friday, meant some kind of allowance for me to buy MORE battered and deep-fried foods (all in the name of research for you, my devoted readers, of course). I had to test the foods in order to see if they were okay, you see? The chiles rellenos were perfect! You can never gauge the heat of a pepper you get and in fact, I have been tricked before (by friends in high school) and been burned but these poblano peppers were of mild-to-medium heat and not so hot it ruined the meal.

I also had to test the tamales out for you as well, in the name of self-sacrifice. These were a bit spicy and took getting used to BUT I can't believe they are offering real, banana-leaf wrapped tamales for only a dollar there. If anyone had told me this and I had seen the size of them, I would have been like Elaine on Seinfeld and pushed you out the door with a, "Get out!" If you are drinking beer and are to the point where you don't care about heat, these would be perfect but for my tastes, they were a little hot. I like heat to be mild on foods and in salsa and not overpower the meal enough to ruin the experience. These might be perfect for you; you never know without trying something for yourself because I could be a wimp compared to you. If you are looking for authentic, cheap Mexican food, you might want to pick up some of these items on your way home from the grocery store or for a snack while you are running errands. I thought it was another gold coin in this treasure chest I call home.