History of
DALLAS TORTILLA & TAMALE FACTORY
My grandparents story

Since 1950, The Leal family has been making tortillas. The story goes something like this. In the shadow of downtown Dallas, Elvira Portugal Leal made homemade tortillas in her mother's kitchen.  While waiting for husband Ruben Leal to come back from World War II, she sold them to her neighbors and with the encouragement of her father decided to open a tortilla factory on the corner of Akard St. in Dallas.

She soon had enough money saved to buy some land in what was known as Little Mexico where the young couple would later build the first Dallas Tortilla Factory.  After serving four years in the South Pacific, Ruben came home to find Elvira with a fledgling business and their first born son, Ruben Jr. whom he had never met before.  Together they built the original location at 2717 N. Harwood St. where they raised their four sons and taught them the business.  In 1960, the Leal's began to make tamales along with the tortillas and expanded the menu to include many traditional Mexican dishes.  They worked hard and made many friends throughout the Dallas community.  The Martinez family from the restaurant chain, El Fenix, Luna's Tortillas and many more.  When the hit television show Dallas was filmed in the area, show stars, Larry Hagman and Linda Gray would come to the factory to have lunch with Elvira and the boys.  In the mid 1980's the Leal family was proud to serve tamales and tortillas to the White House and President Ronald Reagan.  Times were good for the Leal family.  Dallas came to be known as an international city attracting more big business and the neighborhood of Little Mexico began to change.  More and more of the old Mexicanos passed on or moved away and their children moved to the suburbs.  In 1984 plans were made to expand the business and the Leal Family decided to open a second location, this time in Oak Cliff, to reach the growing Latino population.  But before the building could be completed, Ruben Leal, Sr. passed away.  Buried with many of his former Army brothers present and with a military salute, Ruben was laid to rest.  While alive, he rarely spoke of his days in WWII but his family is proud of his contributions to America's freedom and of his Purple Heart and Bronze Star medals.  Dallas Tortilla Factory continued to grow under the leadership of eldest son, Ruben who took the helm after his father's death. The business continued to flourish and soon more locations were added. To this day, you can still find many of Elvira's and Ruben's grandchildren working in the business.  Dallas Tortilla & Tamale Factory enjoys a widespread reputation for a quality product and continues to supply the region with delicious tamales, tostados, menudo, barbacoa, lengua, nacho chips and of course, tortillas. The tradition lives on.

Why Tamales?
Because for the Mexican people, they were the first authentic food prepared by their forefathers, the Mestizo's.  And corn tortillas predate Jesus Christ by 10,000 years. Cornmeal is a staple for the Indians who lived in North and South America and continues to be so today.  Mexicans like to eat tamales at Christmas time more than any other time for the holiday season and the tradition of Las Posados and El Dia de Los Tres Reyes.  They are considered a delicacy like turkey or ham and always adorn the typical holiday table . But as the Latino culture is assimilated into mainstream society, more and more Americans especially Texans find themselves enjoying tamales and tortillas like their neighbors to the south.