Frelard Tamales

Frelard Tamales Frelard Tamales is a tamaleria shop and Mexican food caterer providing authentic handmade food with real "homemade" flavors.

Dennis and Osbaldo decided to launch Frelard Tamales in 2015 after they noticed a lack of authentic Mexican tamales in Seattle. Using Osbaldo's family recipe, Frelard Tamales has been able to continue a Mexican tradition of cooking and delivering an authentic taste. Frelard comes from a combination of (Fre)mont and Bal(lard) since that is where we live and started our small business. It is an iron

ic name as we are currently located in the Green Lake neighborhood of Seattle. Aside from making tamales and running the business, both of them hold full-time positions: Dennis worked as cancer research scientist at Seattle Children's Hospital for over seven years before beginning his commercial brewing career at Hellbent Brewing Co. He received his Masters Brewer certificate from UC Davis. Osbaldo works as a Community Engagement Coordinator for the City of Seattle but has held different professional roles including working for U.S. Senator Patty Murray, the Shoreline & Bellevue School Districts and is a former high school social studies teacher. Dennis is a local Ballard native and Osbaldo was born and raised in Puerto Vallarta until the early 2000s when he and his family moved to the Seattle area. They are both huge outdoor adventurists and enjoy hiking, snow shoeing, and camping. They have two fun and energetic dogs: one a chocolate labrador and a mutt mix who take more of their time than making tamales. Osbaldo & Dennis are not afraid of making their beliefs and political values known. As a proud in*******al gay couple, they often support local causes especially around the issues of immigrant and LGBTQ rights.

By now, I imagine you’ve seen the devastating news coming out of Spokane. Over 700 structures have been destroyed. Over ...
08/03/2026

By now, I imagine you’ve seen the devastating news coming out of Spokane. Over 700 structures have been destroyed. Over 65,000 people have been evacuated. Over 7,000 acres have burned. The impact of this latest round of wildfires is extraordinary and truly heartbreaking. Just as we have done during previous natural disasters, our small, family-owned, q***r & immigrant-owned business is activating to give back to the Spokane community. Though we are 300 miles away, this is what Frelard Tamales & El Sueñito Brewing Company is about: community and showing up for the community wherever they need us, whenever we can.
 
We’re taking a small team from Frelard Tamales & El Sueñito to run a FREE tamales pop-up on Wednesday, August 5 from 10AM to 1:30 PM at the Caritas Food Bank. We’ll be setting up in their parking lot to serve WARM tamales to everyone who stops by. We especially invite those who’ve been impacted by the fires, but no one will be turned away. We’ll have over 1,000 gluten-free tamales to give away in meat, vegetarian, and vegan varieties. To ensure we reach as many people as possible, we’ll limit to two tamales per person.
 
We’re humbled to have the opportunity to share our food with the Spokane community. As “strangers” to this area, we appreciate the warm welcome we’ve received from multiple people we contacted while setting this up. Our plans currently only include this pop-up, but we’re actively looking for other amazing local places where we can pop-up to support the community. If you know a local business or community organization that can host a future pop-up, please DM us.
 
Please share this widely. Send this via your Instagram and Facebook. Screenshot this and send it to your neighbors. Any leftover tamales will be donated to the food bank for distribution.
 
See you all Wednesday! 
 
P.S. We normally don’t ask for donations when we activate our emergency food response program. Doing a pop-up far away from our shop does come with extra costs that normally don’t exist when we respond to needs close to us. If you are looking to support our efforts, head to our Square site where you can support by donating to our Spokane wildfire response.

We cannot believe that it’s been almost two years since we moved our flagship shop back to the Frelard neighborhood. Her...
08/02/2026

We cannot believe that it’s been almost two years since we moved our flagship shop back to the Frelard neighborhood. Here is where everything started back in 2015 at the Fremont Sunday Market.

Your support over the last 24 months (and since 2015) continues to be critical and does not go unappreciated. Just like our employees, customers like you are an essential piece of making this business engine work. To put things into perspective, we thought we would share some fun numbers for you.

Since summer of 2024, we’ve...
➜ processed over 65k transactions
➜ enrolled 8k of you in our Loyalty program
➜ steamed & served over 300k tamales
➜ had five break-ins (but we recovered because of you!)
➜ had our business van gas tank punctured to steal gas, windows broken, and it got completed covered with spray paint tagging (but we fixed it thanks to you!)
➜ hosted over 30 drag shows with our delightful host Isabella L. Richards
➜ served over 9k house margaritas

YOU have helped us succeed, grow, and weather bad storms. In order to celebrate all of these accomplishments and your continued patronage, we are making our anniversary weekend a celebration of you.

Here is what you can expect on our anniversary weekend:

ALL WEEKEND:
➜ $2 b**rs: Buy 1 tamal at regular price, enjoy a pint of b**r for $2 (dine-in only)
➜ Enjoy 10% off when you use or sign up for our Loyalty program
➜ $6 house margaritas
➜ Chiles rellenos
➜ Carne asada available for tacos and Dream Bowls

SUNDAY, AUGUST 9:
➜ Happy hour prices all day
➜ Join us for the start of Board Games Sundays

SUNDAY, AUGUST 9:
For those who have been following our growth as a small business since the beginning, you know that we have always strived to be centered around community. We also know food & drinks brings community together. This is why we are changing the vibes of our space every Sunday into a space for community to relax, enjoy each other’s presence, build community, and play games.

➜ Introducing our weekly Board Games Sundays: We are intentionally turning our taproom into a BIG board game room where playing board games will be welcomed and highly encouraged. We have a healthy pile of board games to choose from or bring

Frelard Tamales’ first vending opportunity took place at the Seattle Center during the Fiestas Patrias celebrations in 2...
07/27/2026

Frelard Tamales’ first vending opportunity took place at the Seattle Center during the Fiestas Patrias celebrations in 2015. This was our first festival, marking the beginning of our journey and story as an immigrant, Mexican, and gay-owned business.

Frelard Tamales is a product of food, b**r, and music festivals and farmers markets. We would not exist if it wasn’t for all the incredible community events that happen in and around the city every year. It was at these festivals where many of you had your first bite of our tamales. It was at these festivals where many of you became lifelong customers.

It was heart breaking to receive the news alerts about the shooting that took place at the Bite of Seattle on Sunday. While we were not there as a business, we know many folks in the industry that were participating including some of the hardworking organizers putting together the event.

No one should have to experience this. Ever. But this is the reality we live in here in the United States. For some reason, we all are living in a very sh*tty timeline.

Many will argue that this is not the time to talk about politics and gun control. That we should instead send “thoughts and prayers” to those impacted by the tragedy.

They are wrong.

It is during moments like these that we should talk about politics and gun control. That we should continue to pressure our elected officials to do more to rein in these mass shootings that break families and hurt communities.

So for now we have two recommendations:

1) Call, write, visit, and annoy the f*ck out of your elected officials at all levels of government and demand that they continue to look for ways to remove guns off our streets and advocate for comprehensive gun control in our communities.

2) If you were one of the local business owners, employees, festival worker or festival guests partaking in the Bite of Seattle on Sunday, we invite you to come in and enjoy a free tamal + two condiments on us! Limit one per customer, per day. Available now through Thursday.

Text post was shortened to fit in the limits of Instagram.

Ballard is throwing their annual Seafood Fest — so we decided to throw our own Seafood Weekend Extravaganza at our Seatt...
07/10/2026

Ballard is throwing their annual Seafood Fest — so we decided to throw our own Seafood Weekend Extravaganza at our Seattle location!

We are talking fresh oysters (Mexican-style), ceviche, shrimp tacos, and bowls. And of course, the rest of our menu with all the things you love, everything always made fresh!

B**r pairing suggestions:
Ceviche 🍺 Alebrijes Mexican L***r
Fresh oysters, shrimp tacos and bowl 🍺 Güerita Blonde Ale

Come on by our Seattle 📍 and indulge yourself with all things seafood. These specials are available now through Sunday (or until sold out).

These tostadas are TOO good to not post them on the grid. We have a delicious food special going on today only at both S...
04/23/2026

These tostadas are TOO good to not post them on the grid. We have a delicious food special going on today only at both Seattle and Bellingham locations.

Say hello to our Loaded Shrimp Tostada. A house-made tostada with a thick layer of guacamole, pico, topped with five shrimp cooked with garlic butter, finished with fresh pineapple chunks and chipotle mayo.

These things are heavy. Loaded with fresh goodness and they’re waiting for you today. See you soon!

01/30/2026

This message is brought to you by one of the owners of Frelard Tamales & El Sueñito. From Osbaldo: As an immigrant myself, as a person who lived 10 years as an undocumented person in the shadows of our broken immigration system and as someone who lived (and still live) in fear of deportation. As someone who has a mother who was accused of human trafficking for immigrating to the U.S. with my younger brother and I. As someone who could lose its citizenship if this administration deems anything I do as an “act of terrorism.” I am sharing this message with you.

In solidarity & que siga la lucha!

Osbaldo and Frelard Tamales & El Sueñitoq we
And to all corrupt, fascist, racists and incapable ICE & CBP agents, F**K YOU — may you rot in hell and have a miserable life.

Since moving to Fremont we’ve experienced five different break-ins in just over 18 months. We don’t mean to brag but som...
01/24/2026

Since moving to Fremont we’ve experienced five different break-ins in just over 18 months. We don’t mean to brag but someone should contact the Guinness World Records and inquire if we take the prize for business with most break-ins during an 18-month period. 

Like most businesses, we use a box safe to store cash. Well, here is the bad part: the humans who chose to vandalize and destroy our big sliding windows to break-in this morning decided to take our safe. I call that a little bit rude, if you the thieves are reading this. I mean sure, we lost all cash collected from sales since our last deposit day earlier this week and the til change we keep around to be able to process change, but you (the thieves) also took our employees’ cash tips that get stored there until our weekly payroll is processed. That is the rude part. Our employees work hard for those tips and we don’t care you have a few hundred dollars to play with but don’t be rude and next time leave cash tips behind (and sure go ahead, tip yourself a dollar or two as a token of appreciation for your good ethics if you do that). We have decided to replace the missing cash tips out of our own pockets so that our employees don’t have to lose some of their weekly income.

Besides losing the safe with close to $1,000 in cash from the business and our employees’ tips, they also stole our event speaker, and they caused major damage to our storefront sliders, which could easily cost a few thousand dollars to repair. This break-in definitely hurts more than previous ones and it comes on the heels of another act of vandalism that happened in November when folks thought it would be fun to drill a hole through the gas tank of our business van. After we replaced the gas tank, someone decided to graffiti the entire body of the van.

This goes to say, it’s rough out there. We will take all the love & support you can give us and so will all the small business you love and would hate to see closed. See our posted image for ways you can help. Thank you for loving us for the last ten years in business.

PS. If you own or work for a body shop and are interested in painting our van for a good deal, hit us up 💁🏻

Seattle Thursday special: chiles rellenos! We are cooking a batch of chiles rellenos en salsa roja for a one-day special...
01/22/2026

Seattle Thursday special: chiles rellenos! We are cooking a batch of chiles rellenos en salsa roja for a one-day special. Made with chile poblanos roasted on the grill and filled with Mexican queso fresco, dunked in a batter (contains eggs - gluten-free) and cooked in a red sauce. Served with a side of rice and refried beans (vegan & gluten-free).

Meet us at the Fremont location for a delicious meal!

01/05/2026

Even if you’re participating in Dry January, you can still get a little wet with this January deal! Queso smothered tamales are next level and will certainly keep you warm and satisfied all month long.

Get a free queso smothering of your tamales when you order a one tamal plate or two tamales plate. Just let the staff member taking your order know that you want to get the free queso upgrade.

Our queso is made with real fresh ingredients. Made with pepper jack cheese that we shred every day combined with milk, butter, jalapeños, and green chiles. It’s so so good!

Valid for tamal plates, not a la carte tamales. Dine in only. Available all month long at both locations. No coupon coded needed. Just mention this to your server.

Run, maybe a little faster than the guy in the video, and come hang with us for a meal today!

Find us in this month’s Vanity Fair Magazine. Read about some of the steamiest kitchen stories and find the secrets of w...
12/19/2025

Find us in this month’s Vanity Fair Magazine. Read about some of the steamiest kitchen stories and find the secrets of where we source our special b**r and food ingredients.

This month’s magazine reminds us all that it is in fact the season of tamales. Give yourself 100 reasons to drink Sueñito b**r and eat tamales, and take our quiz to find your perfect b**r match.

We are grateful for Christopher Anderson who once again can show the world that a picture is worth a thousand words. We thank members of our team for helping us shed light on the work we do every day behind the scenes.

Address

106 N 36th Street
Seattle, WA
98103

Opening Hours

Monday 11am - 10pm
Tuesday 11am - 10pm
Wednesday 11am - 10pm
Thursday 11am - 10pm
Friday 11am - 10pm
Saturday 11am - 10pm
Sunday 11am - 10pm

Telephone

+12065236654

Website

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