Tamales, a favorite food of the Christmas season, are readily available locally

I need to order tamales for Christmas. Do you have any suggestions on who makes good tamales?

- Patty Guerra, Austin

Oh, tamales. Possibly my favorite holiday food that I never knew was a holiday food until I moved to Texas.

I buy about eight dozen from Chumikals Cafe, which runs the food service inside the Statesman, so I can squirrel them away in the freezer and eat them all year-round. (The East Austin location of Chumikals, 3223 E. Seventh St., 386-8840, also sell tamales by the dozen.)

Many, many Mexican restaurants in Austin sell tamales right now, but some of the perennial favorites include Santa Rita (288-5100, 5900 W. Slaughter Lane, 419-7482,1206 W. 38th St. santaritacantina.com), Izzoz Tacos (916-4996, 1503 S. First St., izzoztacos.com) Gardener's Feast (512-278-1775. 100 E. Parsons St. in Manor or at almost all the area farmers markets, thegardenersfeast.com), Guero's Taco Bar (447-7688, 1412 S. Congress Ave. guerostacobar.com), El Meson (442-4441, 5808 Burleson Road, 2038 S. Lamar Blvd. elmesonaustin.wordpress.com), La Mexicana Bakery (443-6369. 1924 S. First St. la-mexicana-bakery.com) and Curra's Grill (444-0012, 614 E. Oltorf St., currasgrill.com), For vegetarian options, try Mr. Natural (477-5228, 1901 E. Cesar Chavez St., 2414 S. Lamar Blvd., mrnatural-austin.com).

Some places will stop taking orders this week, but if you wait until the last minute, try tamales delivery company Tamales Leo (297-9619, tamalesleo.com), which are made and also available at Pablito's Bakery, 1015 E. Braker Lane. Tamales Leo is offering delivery on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.