Tamale restaurant brings rich flavors, Hispanic culture to Seattle

Osbaldo Hernandez and his husband started serving tamales at the Fremont Sunday Market in 2015. Now they own a restaurant in Seattle’s Greenlake neighborhood.

SEATTLE – Authentic flavors rich in Mexican culture are brought together, bound and treated with care from a large window that invites passers-by to look into Hernandez’s kitchen.

“It’s a perfect combination of like Mexico in your mouth, but also culture that gives you a feeling of warmth inside,” said Osbaldo Hernandez, co-owner of Félard Tamales.

At the head of an early morning assembly line in Flard Tamales in Seattle’s Green Lake neighborhood, stands a woman who grew up in a small village outside of Puerto Vallarta.

Evagenlina Sahagun met Javier Hernandez in the Mexican city of Gargantillo, Jalisco, and married into a family specialty. She learned how to make tamales from her mother-in-law and brought this skill to the United States in 2002.

Sahagun’s son, Osbaldo Hernandez, presented the family recipe in 2015 with a small pop-up tent at the Fremont Sunday Market.

“It’s a very spongy, moist masa that is cheap because of the lard but also the sauce that goes in the chicken,” said Hernandez. “It’s just, it’s bitter, not very hot.”

Hernandez and his husband now own the Seattle restaurant where his mother and father work. Flard tamales are pretty popular as customers keep coming back for what they do so well.

“Every now and then we have other traditional dishes like pozole or mole, but our main product is tamales,” explained Hernandez.

The restaurant is possible due to a learned family tradition in Mexico. For Hernandez, it’s a strong bond with his family roots.

“My mother grew up in a village of 1,000 people. I grew up there,” said Hernandez. “I was born in this area, and that’s where my family are from … my great grandmother, her mother, and my grandmother are from there.”

For Seattle, Félard Tamales shares something special and unique.

“The Pacific Northwest is a very – historically a very white, predominantly white corner of the USA and in a multiracial couple, my husband is white and I am Mexican, I think so [keeping] Living this business and being part of this Mexican tamale shop elevates and honors this culture I’m bringing to the Pacific Northwest, “explained Hernandez.

The old adage “man goes through the stomach” is not entirely true. It’s the 21st century so everyone should be included.

“Eating is a common language that can bring us together, and we hope people will take this opportunity not just to kick [into] our window, but also to try the local Indian restaurant in the neighborhood or the local Chinese restaurant in the neighborhood. That is what makes this country so great, “said Hernandez.