Tamale Restaurant Opening A Few Doors Down From Niko's Pizzeria

JOLIET, IL — A new Mexican restaurant called Tamales Korinna aims to be open by Thanksgiving at 30 Ohio Street, on the northern edge of Joliet's downtown.

The grand opening event will include "free food for everybody," two of the men remodeling the restaurant told Joliet Patch on Thursday. One of the workers is the owner's son, Brian.

The restaurant will have a few small tables, but will mostly focus on carryout orders.

The restaurant is named after Korinna Hernandez, a Joliet woman who is known for her tamales, according to her son. The sign for the new restaurant could be installed next week.

"This is her dream," Brian told Joliet Patch. "She does tamales for a long time.

"This is her dream," he repeated.

Tamales Korinna will offer six kinds of tamales. There will be a couple of tamales in strawberry and pineapple flavors for kids, the workers said.

Besides the assorted tamales, Tamales Korinna will also sell steak tacos and pork tacos.

The small family-run restaurant expects the chicken tamales with green salsa will become popular with customers.

"They will like that very much," remarked Korinna Hernandez's son, Brian.

Tamales Korinna is taking over the empty storefront closest to North Scott Street. It will become the second open business inside the large strip mall along Ohio Street.

The strip mall has fallen on hard times during the past few years, and Niko's Pizzeria has been the only place open within the entire retail plaza.

But that's about to change, with the addition of Tamales Korinna.

The new tamale place plans to be open at 5 a.m. to 8 p.m.

That way, many of the landscaping employees can visit early in the morning "to get some tamales and coffee" before heading out to their job, according to Korinna's son.

There are two other nearby Mexican restaurants. One is Sunshine Mexican Cafe - Restaurant & Catering at 406 North Scott St. The other is the El Primo Mexican Restaurant that opened inside Joliet's former Stefanich's Restaurant at 457 North Scott St.

Tamales Korinna, however, won't be anything like Sunshine Mexican Cafe or El Primo, the workers said.

"It's a different kind of food," Brian remarked.