Casa Tamales, Bartlesville, Okla.

Oh, I got to stop by Casa Tamales in Bartlesville for the first time in a couple of years. This is one of those tiny, family owned and operated, hole in the wall kind of places with amazingly good food. They make the most wonderful, real, Mexican tamales there! It's got to be the best in Oklahoma for tamales: big, long things with flavorful pork in the hand-formed masa, rolled up in corn husks, tied, and steamed. Yum! I picked up half a dozen Friday and took them home to the family for lunch. They have other things there, too, but it's the tamales I always go for. They also make their own salsas, a mild tomato with bright flavors, a hot tomato with more complexity to it, and a very hot green tomatillo sauce with a unique but exquisite flavor.