SAN ANTONIO - Chris Gonzales turned in his keys as a correctional officer to take on cooking and catering full time. He opened San Antonio Tamales in 2009.
"After my retirement from Folsom Prison---California Department of Corrections---I decided i wanted to be self-employed," Gonzales said. "I have a passion for cooking and making tamales."
Gonzales moved back to San Antonio. He pooled his resources to put together a green food trailer with San Antonio Tamales painted on the sides. Prior to that, he'd been whipping up tamales out of his home to sell to coworkers and anyone else who wanted some.
"I didn't want Gonzales Tamales. I didn't want Chris' Tamales, " He said.
Gonzales settled on the name San Antonio Tamales because it's memorable.
"If people come from other places, they leave and they said Oh those were good, " He said. "Well, where are they from? Oh yeah, San Antonio Tamales."
Like most who learn to make the tamale Gonzales is family taught. His mother and sisters showed him the ropes. He started perfecting their technique while being briefly unemployed in California.
Now he teaches classes on how to quickly and easy tamales through the North East Independent Community Education program.
He's generally parked at 3969 Thousand Oaks. It's where Neighborhood Eats caught up with the military veteran for a taste test.
Gonzales makes pork and pork with jalapeno tamales. He started us off with three pork tamales covered in chili, rice and charro beans. Delicious!
The same can be said for the pork tamales covered with chili and cheese.
He also offers Frito pies, nachos and snow cones.