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"At the Union Gap tamale shop opened by Felipe Hernández and his wife in 1990 (with a second location added in Yakima in 2019), I found chicken and pork tamales made with cornmeal cooked and ground in-house that draw customers from around the region and even from Europe and Asia; the James Beard America’s Classics award in 2018 only increased the excitement and foot traffic. Each spring they debut asparagus and pepper jack tamales—sourced from a nearby farm stand and so popular they use about 6,000 pounds of local asparagus during the season—an item the owners say became a phenomenon largely by word of mouth." - Kelly Knickerbocker