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VENTURA’S TAMALES FILLS CUSTOMERS WITH CONTENTMENT
Qiling Wang/Victoria Advocate Customers have lunch at Ventura’s Tamales, a second generation family-owned Mexican restaurant in Victoria. VENTURA’S TAMALES FILLS CUSTOMERS WITH CONTENTMENT
Qiling Wang/Victoria Advocate Beef tacos are popular among customers at Ventura’s Tamales. The Beef Taco Wednesday special offers beef tacos for $1.29 each.
BY JON WILCOX jwilcox@vicad.com
At Ventura’s Tamales, customers are family, and a hearty meal is medicine for the soul.
“It makes you feel good. It’s just something you enjoy,” said Susan Martinez, 57, who co-owns Ventura’s Tamales with her sister, Martha Vasquez, 56.
“It brings people together,” Vasquez said.
Since 1985, the sisters have served tacos with homemade shells, their namesake tamales, enchiladas drenched in melted queso and other authentic Mexican fare reminiscent of meals at abuelita’s house. In fact, the restaurant traces its roots to the sisters’ since-passed mother, Ventura L. Gutierrez, who began making and selling tamales out of a Victoria gas station on North Street in the 1980s.
The sisters said they inherited their passion for feeding families from Gutierrez, who they described as quiet, outspoken and hardworking.
“We look for that wow factor in food,” Martinez said.
“We have a passion for our business,” Vasquez said, adding, “I think it comes from my mother.”
But decades later, the matriarch’s recipes feed not only her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren but also countless devoted customers who have grown to adore the restaurant’s menu.
“We’ve raised a lot of kids on rice and beans,” Vasquez said.
During most lunchtimes and dinners, the drive-thru line wraps around the building, and customers pack the expansive dining area, which contains a full bar. Even on cold and rainy days when many other restaurants languish, the business’s kitchen is usually going at full throttle. Nevertheless, the
food is worth the wait, the sisters agreed.
“It’s kind of strange,” Martinez said, adding she suspects customers are drawn by their ample offerings of hot, nourishing meals.
With more than three decades of business behind them, the sisters said they have watched generations of families fall in love with their food. Witnessing their youngest customers enjoying a meal at Ventura’s, Martinez said, is especially flattering.
“It’s fantastic to go out into the dining room, and the parents are telling you it’s the kid who wanted to come here,” she said.
And it’s not uncommon, Vasquez said, for teenage girls to request catering for their quinceañera parties.
Smiling, Vasquez recalled an autistic child who demanded their chicken tacos every “Taco Tuesday” when tacos go for $1.29 each. That mother, she said, quickly learned her child could tell the difference between Ventura’s tacos and imposters.
“He won’t eat chicken tacos anywhere else,” she said, adding, “Can you imagine that? It’s kind of wild.”
And adults, too, love the restaurant, Vasquez said, recalling how an adult daughter regularly brought her mother plates of carne guisada as the woman struggled through cancer treatments near the end of her life.
“It’s something the older Mexican generation is kind of used to,” said Martinez.
“It’s all generations we see,” Vasquez said.
5 YEARS in a row!
Qiling Wang/Victoria Advocate Susan Martinez, 57, left, and her sister, Martha A. Vasquez, 55, are co-owners of Ventura’s Tamales in Victoria.
IF YOU GO
VENTURA’S TAMALES AND SPECIALTIES
3907 N. Navarro St., Victoria 361-578-5161
HOURS // 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays; 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays; closed Sunday and Monday. For more information, visit Ventura’s Tamales & Specialties on Facebook.
Family Owned & Operated Catering, Dine-In, and Take-Out
