Teocalli Tamale — Restaurant in Crested Butte

Gotta love Teo. This place is a great standby for either pick-up or dining in. Their place is located on main Elk Avenue, which means that it is probably easier to walk and pick up food than to drive for pick-up, due to how challenging it can be to find parking on Elk Avenue during busy tourist season. My staple is their burritos and often is the Mikes Mexicali (shredded beef) with BOTH corn and hot salsa. Sometimes, they have habaneros in the back and it's even better and kicks the flavor up a notch. (Of course, I am a big spice fan.) If you're not into that much heat, then their corn salsa adds more flavor than heat/spice. My other favorite is their Thai burrito which has a peanut sauce with chicken and I also LOVE the corn salsa plus hot salsa on this one as well.If you're looking for a different twist on their tacos, I suggest the double-decker with guacamole as the "glue". This is a soft flour shell over a hard corn shell, glued together with their guacamole. This offers a really nice crunchy, flavorful shell, that is less messy as the flour tortilla holds it all together. I never remember to order their Tamales, but most of my friends will order these primarily. Friendly note that these are on a first come, first ordered basis and they often do run out. Also, if you choose to stay and dine in, they offer a limited selection of beer and margs. Their margs are surprisingly good for being a tiny little place. My usual route is to call in and order for pick-up. We usually place an order for the entire office and then have a food runner pick up to avoid the lunch lines. This place will become your everyday staple and their food is always consistently fresh, flavorful...

Teocalli Tamale in Crested Butte, CO seemed like a stretch when it was explained to me. I couldn't imagine how a tamale shop could survive at 9,000 + foot of elevation! I was wrong. The warm, inviting, cozy atmosphere (even at single digit temps outside) made me feel right at home as if I were walking into a local Texan Tamale shop. The offerings of Burritos and Tamales were a perfect assortment for just about anyone I could imagine. I had the Tamale Plate with one hot and one mild tamale with just about every option piled on top of a bed of cilantro rice and black beans. I could barely finish it all! We did not finish the Queso which had excellent flavor, but was very thick and difficult to dip without breaking the chip. 5 out of 5 I would return and will never visit CB without a Teocalli...

I had an excellent experience with this place on Sunday night thanks to the positive dude from Hawaii that’s about to go learn sailing.

Today at 1pm I didn’t add a tip on my card this time and I got a snarky “that was very generous of you man” as soon as I turned my back with food in front of a full line. It’s pretty grating to get snapped at for being a post-meal cash tipper. I take pride in going out of my way to tip unconventionally and after a service was provided (other than being hurried through a long chipotle line).

The dude wearing a foot cast can chill out and stop shaking people down and throwing shade. (Tuesday at 1PM.)

Before I could even finish my meal I heard and watched him shake down a high school aged kid to add a tip too....