Before Yolanda’s Tamales became a repeated favorite of the Warner Bros. film crew, who alongside Hollywood stars like Leonardo DiCaprio, Regina Hall and Sean Penn, were recently spotted in downtown Sacramento filming a movie — the family-run business started as a modest tamale cart.

When founder Yolanda Yanez was a little girl, her mother taught her the traditions of tamale making in Michoacán, Mexico where Yanez and her family stuffed and rolled them by the dozen. Yanez eventually moved from Mexico to Los Angeles, and then up to Sacramento in 1996, where in the very beginning, she sold her homemade tamales from a van.

Still, the love and care of each hand-rolled tamal, which is the essence of Yanez’s more than 40-year-old recipe, was savored by many who knew where to find her.

In 2007, Yanez upgraded. She began selling pork, chicken, and green chile and cheese tamales from a custom-made cart at local flea markets — and just about every farmers’ market location in the area.

Two years later, she partnered with her youngest son, Andres, to expand the business. The family-run team also includes Yanez’s husband, Pedro, oldest son Valente, daughter Julia, and Andres’ wife, Sandra, who are used to steaming anywhere from 400 to thousands of tamales a day.

Before I moved to Oakland, I used to visit the Yanez Family at their pop-up booth during the Oak Park Farmers’ Market in Sacramento for tacos and tamales (the green chile and cheese are my favorite).

As a humble patron of good eats, especially freshly steamed tamales that remind me of my grandmother’s, these simple dishes always packed such homemade flavor and they kept my family coming back each week.

It wasn’t long before Yolanda’s Tamales’ delicious menu, which also includes grilled carne asada and seasoned chicken, forearm-sized burritos and piled-high super nachos, fluffy rice and savory beans, was in high demand.

Many watched as the Yanez Family went from a single booth frequently seen at busy outdoor events to a large, firey-red food truck adorned with marigolds, which helped them feed more people across town.

In October 2019, Yolanda’s Tamales hit another milestone when the family opened its first restaurant, Yolanda’s Tamale Factory (6885 Luther Dr.), in South Sacramento.

Their tamale count also increased.

During the holiday season, the family is known to fulfill orders of up to 8,000 tamales for local celebrations alone, KCRA 3 reported last year.

The latest buzz for Yolanda’s Tamales, however, was when the Warner Bros. film crew couldn’t get enough of one of Sacramento’s favorites. While in town shooting a movie with stars like Leonardo DiCaprio, Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor and Sean Penn, Yolanda’s beloved Mexican dishes quickly became the top choice for Hollywood talent on and off the set. So much so, that during the two weeks when Warner Bros. was shooting, Andres told ABC 10, Sacramento, that he fed the crew eight times.

Andres also shared more about the experience with Yolanda’s Tamales’ more than 10,000 Instagram followers.

When I first sat down with Andres, Sandra and Yolanda for a story I wrote in 2017, I was struck by their sincerity and family bond. But what makes Yolanda’s Tamales so special is the family’s genuine hospitality.

Each plate of food is deeply tied to their history, their culture and is symbolic of how far they’ve come as a family. And it’s these time-tested dishes that will continue to keep the Yanez name in the spotlight.

“When she makes tamales for the markets, she makes it thinking that it’s for her family, and that’s why her flavors taste so authentic,” said Sandra, interpreting Yolanda’s words during our interview in 2017. “Even if it’s [for 1,000 people], she cooks from her heart and she has a real passion for it.”