Michelle’s Cafe

Tamales. Get it? Best in Baltimore that I’ve found. There are usually a few to choose from if you get there early enough, but by midafternoon, they might very well be sold out. They use a Oaxacan masa that is plain wonderful. I stopped asking what kinds they had, I just ask for two or three of whatever she feels like giving me. Ask for a little container of the house picante and and a Tamarindo soda and you are good to go! It’s a tiny space with a couple of tables if you want to eat there, and the ladies that work there are friendly and lovely.

Their tortas are incredible!!! Lovely staff, great service, and by a long way the best sandwich I’ve had in Baltimore… and maybe even in my life. Try the chorizo torta…

For a Gringo, I know a little something about tamales. As a Chef, I’ve made my share. Between restaurants, Catering, and social gatherings, easily more than I could ever count. Today, I went to get some tamales from Michelle’s, and WOW! OUTSTANDING!!! Knowing the time and effort that it takes to make these, the texture and taste were spot-​on! Well-​done, Michelle’s. I WILL be back for more! :o)

As a native Mexican I have to tell you the tamales here are excellent, I love this place. I go there and buy 30 of them to freeze so I can always have them at home. I have bought them and given to friends so they can experience real Mexican tamales.
The tortas are fabulous, the chorizo and the milanesa de res (chicken fried steak) one are my favorite. After work I will call and order for pick up and dinner is ready! AGree with other reviewer, my kids are born and raised here and they eat the tamales and the tortas.
The owner is Sra. Paula and I have suggested her to change the name to attract new clients, but she says people just know from word of mouth. She must be doing something right.

I don’t know if this is as good as it gets, but I had the first Tamale I’ve ever liked here. That has to be worth something. The Torta I got with everything on it (breaded chicken) and it was delicious. The ladies at the counter were pure sweethearts and even asked what I thought of the tamale. When I told them what I thought they yelled back to the lady in the back who makes them all and she came out, smiled, and said thank you. No. thank YOU Tamale Mistress. thank you.
It’s places like this that keep me trying smaller unheralded local restaurants. Found a gem here, give it a try.

A friend and I were looking for a quick bite along Eastern Ave and we wandered in around lunch time. Staff was extremely nice and all orders were placed in combinations of English and Spanish with smiles all around.
We both got the «Mexican sausage» (I’m assuming chorizo) quesadillas and weren’t disappointed. Nothing spectacular, but I don’t think you buy cheap Mexican food to be anything but solid cheesy deliciousness. I paid $ 8.80 for the quesadilla and a bottle of water, and it came with avocado, lettuce, tomato, and avocado slices on top with cheese and sausage inside. Solid and totally delicious

Delicious hole in the wall, my favorite place to get tortas in Bmore.
Mrs. Turtle is GIANT. You can get the baby turtle if you’re not about to eat a cow because you’re starving.
Cheap, delicious, fast. HOORAY!

These tamales are my favorite lunchtime treat, and the tortas are huge and cheesy and delicious. Get there early before tamales sell out!

I had walked past this place many times and always assumed that it was a regular hole-​in-​the-​wall coffee shop. Boy was I wrong! It’s legit for Mexican food. They have a hand-​written menu on the wall: tortas, tostadas, tacos, tamales.
It’s pretty solid! The torta was huge and despite ordering it to go and walking home, the bread stayed crisp (always a plus!). I ordered the chorizo torta. The bread is nice a crusty and the whole sandwich held up well and didn’t get soggy at the end (but then again, I ate it pretty quickly)
Only a couple of issues that has kept it a 3 star experience: the chorizo had lumps in it, like I’d occasionally bit into something that was a bit harder (??)…Also, I would have liked the chorizo to be a tad bit more flavorful.
I’d be interested in going back to try try tamales which are supposed to be fab, and perhaps another torta of a different variety.

(08/​15/​2013) A co-​worker brought in corn and banana leaf tamales for a party. Got to them a day old, but still pretty tasty. Great flavors imparted by banana leaf to the masa. Tamales were really dense, pretty heavy, meat was seasoned well, somewhat dry. Would like to stop in and try the tamales fresh as well as some of the rumored other great stuff, like tortas.

We were referred here by a Baltimorian friend who swears by its tortas. We were not disappointed. This is a tiny place, 3 small tables, menu is on a chalk board on the wall. We ordered and got take out to eat on a bench in front of the harbor.
Started with home made guacamole, made fresh in front of us, and came with crisp tortilla chips that also tasted as if they were made in-​house. We ordered the tacos which came with perfectly tender pork in a soft taco shell. The pork was not itself flavored but traditionally these tacos are eaten with a hot sauce and lime, which was a very nice combination. We also got 2 tortas. The Happy Turtle, a half torta ($ 5) — ours was with chicken and jalapeño falvored. By contrast the Mrs. Torta ($ 10) must weigh in at about 2 lbs and has every meat and sauce they have. It’s an eating challenge and it would likely make for 2 meals for most people. The food overall was very satisfying and the value could not be beat. It could have been spicier to our tastes, even though we ordered it spicy. They also were out of their famous tamales, which was a disappointment. We would go back to try a tamale and maybe pick up a spicy mango popsicle.

I ate a bunch of their sandwiches and they were really good!!! A variety of ham, turkey and chicken, slabbed between thin layers of tomato, lettuce, mayo and avocado with melted stringy Mexican cheese… and they serve you a spicy adobo sauce and pickled peppers… all to make a delicious sandwich!!! It’s like a glorified club sandwich!
I am definitely coming back to try some of their other food!

A small shop that packs a deelish bite.
I had the Pavo (turkey) Torta with everything.
Sooo filling. This sandwich comes with avocado oaxaca cheese, a thin layer of refried beans, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and Hot peppers if you want, served in a Mexican bread call «Telera»
This sandwich is very filling and awesome :) lol.

I’ve been to this hole in the wall a couple of times. The first time I walked in was totally by chance. I had just had lunch on Eastern Ave and on the walk back to my car my girlfriend and I wanted to get some coffee. As we looked around, we noticed Michelle’s red awning and decided to check it out.
From the outside, Michelle’s looks like a typical coffee shop. Michelle’s however is anything but typical. I noticed that the menu offers a wide variety of food from American style sandwiches to Mexican style sandwiches, tacos, and tamales. There’s also a very extensive drink menu. Everything from cold fruit juices to Mexican style coffee drinks.
The coffee was ok. But the food was great. I tried a couple of the tamales and also sampled the pork tacos. All of the tamales I had were very good. My favorite was the Oaxaquenno (don’t ask me how to pronounce it). Some were spicy; some were mild; but all were delicious with rich complex flavors. Michelle’s makes all their tamales by hand and they’re very cheap. Less than $ 2 per tamale.
All in all this is a very neat place which offers a little bit of everything. I would recommend this place to anyone based primarily on the tamales.