Hello! I’m Tina and I’m the owner of Tina’s Tamales serving Ventura county and the San Fernando valley! I have been a resident of Simi Valley for 30+ years and in that time here I have been making tamales for my community for over 10 years, but with my family since I was a kid! I was taught through many years of trial and error on how to perfect our family’s way of creating our tamales by my father David Ortiz (the tamale master!), who was taught by my grandmothers who were taught by their parents and so on and so on!
 

Before I started “Tina’s Tamales” I was a single mom who always worked a full time 9-5 job in the accounting field for nearly 20 years. I first started selling our family’s tamales in 2013 as a fundraiser for my youngest son (who was avidly involved in baseball at the time) to be able to participate in a week long 12-year-old boy’s dream tournament in Cooperstown, NY. That “little” fundraiser ended up making enough money for the BOTH of us to be able to fly out there and make a mini vacation of it as well! People kept telling me that I should make a business out of my tamales…but I thought it was a crazy idea!
 

Then after being laid off in 2020 I thought about maybe doing this business but just ended up getting another full-time job in accounting where I was yet again let go after a year. That’s when, after many prayers and long thoughts and talks I decided to not go back to any more office jobs and instead take this tamale business head on with my family to see where it could go! It has since evolved in just over a year (since February of 2023) into many evenings of pop-ups at different breweries, bars, night/day markets and now even ready to do catering! (We also do pick-up orders!)
 

We specialize in making a variety of very meaty, tender, flavorful tamales that have more meat/filling than masa, unlike traditional tamales! We also have a signature dish that we only do at events called a “tamale boat!’ It is a next level, fully loaded tamale that is a must try! If you catch us at an outdoor event stop by my booth where you will meet myself, my husband and/or kids since we are a family run business.
Come stop by, say hi and enjoy some great food that is made with lots of love and care for you! We’d love to serve you and satisfy your appetite! 

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With love,