Sad Taco News
Bye-bye tacos: Tamale House on Airport Boulevard makes surprising announcement
No one likes hearing a famed taco joint is closing. Hearing that news on Cinco de Mayo? Well, it's just depressing.
Tamale House #3 on Airport Boulevard announced early Monday morning that it will not be reopening after the death of owner Robert "Bobby" Vasquez last week. The restaurant, which was open for almost four decades, was an Austin institution, frequented by families, neighbors and hungover UT students alike.
Saying they just didn't have the "taco bug" like their father, Vasquez's children took to Facebook to announce the closing.
It saddens me to announce that the Tamale House will be closing it's (sic) doors after 36 wonderful years. The restaurant was my father's baby, and that's how I want to remember it. It will never be my baby. I will be forever grateful to what his baby did for me, my daughter, and my siblings."
Tamale House will be hosting a fundraiser on Tuesday, May 6 for the kitchen staff. For a suggested donation of five dollars, Tamale House will be giving away plates of its famous tacos with proceeds going directly to staff.
"I would like to give out a HUGE loving thank you to all the women who worked in that hot kitchen 6 days a week so my father could put food on our table and money in our pockets," the family said on Facebook. "Without those girls, we wouldn't have had anything. My father loved his employees and his customers and they loved him, and he was at peace with that. He will never be forgotten. We will miss you and love you forever Daddy."
Tamale House East, which is run by relatives of the Tamale House on Airport Boulevard, will remain open.