Tamale Festival announces contest winners 

A crowd favorite, the “Tamale Eating Contest,” presented by Que Pasa Mexican Café featured the following winners: Ages 12 & Over: Isaac Torres took first place, finishing five tamales in under three minutes.
Under 12 Years of Age: Benjamin Romero, age 11 from Templeton won first place by being able to eat a tamale the fastest.

–On Saturday, Jan. 20, the City of Atascadero hosted the 3rd Annual Tamale Festival with twenty-nine tamale vendors in attendance that came from all over San Luis Obispo County as well as from the far reaches of Southern California, including Hemet, Riverside, Ontario and Santa Ana.

Each year, a Judges Favorite Tamale Contest and a People’s Choice Contest are held. Due to the wide variety of tamales offered this year, the tamales were divided into three categories: sweet, gourmet and traditional. Following are the results:

2018 Judges Favorite
Shave N’ Flav of Paso Robles took 1st place in two of the three categories, Gourmet and Traditional!
La Luz del Mundo of Paso Robles took 1st place for Sweet Tamales

Sweet:
1st Place: La Luz del Mundo, Paso Robles
2nd Place: Nohemi’s Concessions, Riverside
3rd Place: Atascadero Apostolic Church, Atascadero

Gourmet:
1st Place: Shave N’ Flav, Paso Robles
2nd Place: Frutiland La Casa del Sabor, Arroyo Grande
3rd Place: Los Delicias de Zacatecas, San Luis Obispo

Traditional:
1st Place: Shav N’Flav, Paso Robles
2nd Place: Que Pasa Mexican Café, Atascadero
3rd Place: Tia Juanitas, Atascadero

2018 People’s Choice:
Garcia’s Restaurant, Atascadero took 1st in all three categories

Sweet:
1st Place: Garcia’s Restaurant, Atascadero
2nd Place: La Luz del Mundo, Paso Robles
3rd Place: La Luz del Mundo, Santa Ana

Gourmet:
1st Place: Garcia’s Restaurant, Atascadero
2nd Place: La Luz del Mundo Paso Robles
3rd Place: Garcia’s Tamales, Paso Robles

Traditional:
1st Place: Garcia’s Restaurant, Atascadero
2nd Place: La Luz del Mundo Paso Robles
3rd Place: La Luz del Mundo, Santa Ana

The 2018 Judges panel included City of Atascadero Mayor O’Malley, Mayor Pro Tem Fonzi, and City Council Members Moreno, Sturtevant and Bourbeau; Mayor Martin of Paso Robles; along with Atascadero Park & Recreation Commissioners; Atascadero Chamber Board Members; City of Atascadero Fire Chief Casey Bryson; City of Atascadero Police Commander Joe Allen; The Tribune Features Editor Sarah Linn; Andy Morris from KVEC 920 AM Talk Radio and Dick Mason with KPRL 1230 AM Talk Radio.

Last year’s 2017 Best Tamale Contest winners were as follows: “Judges Favorite” La Luz del Mundo of Santa Ana in first place; Shave N Flav won 2nd and Dos Hermanos in San Miguel won 3rd place; “People’s Choice” award, Garcia’s Restaurant in Atascadero won 1st place, Dos Hermanos in San Miguel won 2nd and Shave N Flav won 3rd place!

A crowd favorite, the “Tamale Eating Contest,” presented by Que Pasa Mexican Café featured the following winners:
Ages 12 & Over: Isaac Torres took first place, finishing five tamales in under three minutes
Under 12 Years of Age: Benjamin Romero, age 11 from Atascadero won first place by being able to eat a tamale the fastest

About the author: News Staff

News staff of the A-Town Daily News wrote and edited this article from local contributors and press releases. Scott Brennan is the publisher of this newspaper and founder of Access Publishing. Connect with him on Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn, or follow his blog. He can be reached at [email protected].