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Start a Top 5 for TamalesEditor’s picks
Press picks, until locals rank their own Top 5s. Sourced from the local food press. As seen in Washingtonian and The Infatuation. Updated September 2026.
El Viejo Central American Kitchen · Silver Spring
The Silver Spring kitchen makes several kinds of tamales: a bean-filled version, a Guatemalan-style chicken version, and a deep-fried corn tamal served with crema. Its menu also includes pupusas and a Nicaraguan fritanga of grilled meat, plantain chips, rice, beans, slaw and pickled-onion chilero. The dining room has a mustachioed skeleton mascot on its walls and menus.
Mi Casita Bakery and Deli · Columbia Heights
This Mexican and Salvadoran bakery and carryout sells tamales alongside tortas, sopes and tostadas. Pick up conchas or mantecada muffins with tongs, then take the order to go or use a counter stool or shaded picnic table outside.
Mitsitam Native Foods Cafe · National Mall
Inside the National Museum of the American Indian, this cafe serves pepita-sauced tamales among its smaller lunch dishes. The room fills with natural light against soaring wood-paneled walls. The museum is free to enter, and the cafe also serves a bison-chili fry bread taco.
Oyamel · Penn Quarter
At the Penn Quarter Mexican small-plates restaurant, order the tamal verde alongside cochinita pibil tacos or mushroom quesadillas.
El Tamarindo · Adams Morgan
The Adams Morgan restaurant serves Salvadoran tamales alongside pupusas, sweet plantains and yuca. The dining room has orange walls hung with work by Latino artists. Its current menu includes a sweet corn tamal and a Salvadoran combination plate with a tamal, pupusa, plantains, rice and beans.