Mexican Restaurants – Page 22

Mariscos Monday: A quick visit to Mariscos la Perla Negra

March 24, 2014 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants, Seafood

I mentioned that Mariscos Godoy had closed in a recent post. Though it was quite a shock, we had noticed that the food there had changed a bit over the last year, much more salty, unevenly prepared, the music seemed louder than ever…….. And yet, we were sad, and a bit shocked to see it was gone and now replaced by "the Black Pearl". The Missus was interested to see what the new shop brought to the table (no pun intended), so we took a weeknight drive down to Chula Vista to see.

At first glance, the place looked pretty much the same, as did the menu…we were later told by our Server that the menu is 98% the same as Mariscos Godoy. The twp per-cent? I'm not sure as the menu looked the same.

Things started off with chips…..

The consomme and salsa……I did notice that the "fish dip" was missing……

I also noticed that the consomme. which was decent, was less salty than before….also, the music was played at a moderate volume……

The Missus and I decided on ordering just two items….which was just enough for us. Starting with the smoked marlyn stuffed peppers called Toritos.

Light and more crisp than what I recalled, the smoked fish wasn't as salty, but still had more than enough smokey flavor to satisfy. This is still a favorite.

We also ordered the Langostinos Zarandeado. The price ($24.95) is the same, but there's one less whole langostinos.

Still, this was less salty and greasy than what we had during our last two visits to Godoy. The "squat lobsters" were grilled perfectly, still plump, tender, and full of flavor – garlic, chili, nice savory flavors. There was much less in terms of portion, side dishes (no beans), and condiments, but the food seemed prepared better. What did throw me off was the flour tortillas……. I'd never had flour tortillas at Godoy. I thought that perhaps we were "gringo'd", but then noticed the other tables had flour tortillas. Go figure…..

This was a much more relaxed place that the fiesta atmosphere of Godoy….though I did notice that the have live bands on Saturday and Sunday……. I am hoping the Mariachi and the "Gorilla" has been retired though…..

Yep, once I got ambushed on my birthday….once I saw them do a version for kids….the gorilla used milk instead of a Corona!

Anyway, I'm sure we'll be back to check them out again; though probably not on "band nights".

Mariscos la Perla Negra
651 Palomar St
Chula Vista, CA 91911

Mariscos Monday: The Mariscos Nine Seas Truck

March 17, 2014 mmm-yoso Food Trucks, Mexican Restaurants, Seafood

**** The Mariscos Nine Seas Truck is no longer

I'd been wanting to try out the Mariscos Truck in Hipster Land for a while……that would be Mariscos Nine Seas which is located in the parking lot of Gala Foods and across the street from South Park Abbey.

I really like the "seating area", chairs to sit and stools for tables…..kind of neat.

I also quickly noticed that the menu was basically in English, amking it very gringo friendly. No pretense at the customer base it seems. That Baja Trio seemed like a decent way of tasting a decent range of items, the shrimp, fish taco, and the smoked fish, so I decided on that. It did take me a while to order….for some reason, even when I tried calling into the window; the woman working didn't hear me. It wasn't until one of the guys walked out the door and noticed me that I got my order taken.

Anyway, I had my seat until my tacos were ready. I did notice that the guys who came after me were given consomme; but I wasn't, kind of strange. I'm sure I could have asked for it, but since I had three tacos coming, if they were good, I'd be back……

I wasn't a big fan of the tortillas which were crumbly and bland. The best of the bunch was the shrimp; which were plump and juicy and handled the simple batter quite well. The flavoring was simple, though bland. The fish taco was decently flavored, the batter a bit too light, and the fish kind of slimy, what's with all the watery crema nowadays. Also, even tohugh it was 11am nad they open at 930, they seemed ill prepared….I had to ask for napkins, salsa, there was no cebollas, no limes…….

Tacos de Marlyn is one of my favorites….I love the combination of smoke, saltiness, and the flavor of the fish. This however, was probably the worst version I've ever had….it lacked a decent smoke flavor and was terribly fishy….I'm no shrinking violet; I've eaten fish curd and what they call "fish poo", but this just didn't taste right. I went back to the truck and asked for a "salsa picante" something spicy to see if that would fix tihngs….it didn't…I dumped it.

I'm guessing a lot of folks love this truck…..I'll pass.

The Mariscos Nine Seas Truck
3030 Grape St
San Diego, CA 92102

The Missus’ three current favorite places, in photos

March 12, 2014 mmm-yoso American/New American Restaurants, Breakfast/Brunch, Burgers, Mexican Restaurants, yoso-silly

Let's see if you can figure them out…..I'm pretty sure that "Hao" will have no problem!

1: This is the easiest one.

2: If you're a regular reader, this one won't be much of a challenge either……

3: This one is the toughest, but still not difficult. I'm not a big fan of the rabbit here……

So there you go. I'll update these with the places some time tomorrow.

Mariscos Monday: The Mariscos Tijuana Jr Truck and Mariscos Godoy closes

March 10, 2014 mmm-yoso Food Trucks, Mexican Restaurants, Seafood, Taco Shops

**** My understanding is that this truck so no longer

A couple of weeks back, occasional commenter "Buddha" who I've known since the "Chowhound Days" shot me an email telling me that he believes the best fish tacos are now being served from a truck on the corner of J and Broadway in Chula Vista named Tijuana Jr. This past weekend, I finally had some time to drive down there are check them out.

When I arrived at 10am, they were already doing some serious business. The truck is located in the parking lot of a tire shop with very limited parking. I was lucky enough to snare a spot.

There's one guy manning the order window and another manning the window for payment making things easy.

Of course I went with a Taco de Pescado – the fish taco $1.25.

Good god, this thing was huge for a typical fish taco. Two large pieces of fish, moist, the batter is almost a laquer-tempura style, very crisp. Not to much flavor, the crema is watery, you'll need to add some sauce to this one, a squeeze of lime, and maybe the habenero onions. Still, this is a super deal for a $1.25 and I think it may be the best……I need to get back to Mariscos el Pescador and El Prieto for a comparison.

I also ordered a Gobernador, which had a ton of perfectly cooked shrimp.

This really didn't seem like the typical gobernador to me….though I loved the way the cheese had been melted and griddled in some spots. This thing literally fell to pieces in ten seconds. If this was indeed a gobernador, I really missed the onions, peppers, and seasonings. Still no complaints about pertion size, though this too was very mild in flavor.

I was more than satisfied as I left. I'll be back!

Thanks for the recommendation Jeff!

Mariscos Tijuana Jr
706 W J St
Chula Vista, CA 91910

On site daily from 9am – 7pm

Since I was down in the South Bay, I thought I'd check on El Charco, which looks exactly the same as 5 months ago. I think the place is a goner.

Mariscos Godoy is now Maricos la Perla Negra:

As I headed to the I-5 down Palomar I took a quick glance to my right and was surprised. Mariscos Godoy was now Mariscos la Perla Negra:

Anyone know what happened?

A funny thing happened as I was waiting at the light to get back on Palomar; CC sent me a text telling me that Mariscos Godoy had closed! Man, that was kind of weird….I squinted my eyes looking out at Palomar Street….looking to see if I could spot her…..

651 Palomar St
Chula Vista, CA 91911

Ciudad Obregon: Taquería Jiménez

March 1, 2014 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants, Mexico, Sonora, Mexico, Taco Shops, Travel

I recently managed to catch up with Akira and his beautiful Missus on one of their trips down to San Diego; which reminded me, I had promised some follow-up posts after our quick trip to Ciudad Obregon, but never followed up….sigh…what a tease!

So here's quick post for a Saturday night.

So what happens after you attend an epic wedding in Ciudad Obregon which ends with shot of tequila watching the bride and Q-nito do Gagnam style in the middle of the street at 4am?

Well. you wake at 8am and have Akira and his now wife take you to get birria! Well at least Q-nito and I…….Samuelo was incommunicado, must have been tough challenging the band's singers to a dance-off, huh?

"D" drove us down a couple of streets to the just the perfect place for me. A streetside stand by the name of Taquería Jiménez. The specialty, birria de chivo. By now, "D" had concluded that we weren't after "gringo food", we wanted the real deal and this place was, without a doubt, just the perfect remedy after an epic evening.

You know, whether it's Sapa, Hanoi, Luang Prabang, Cusco, or heck, even Chula Vista, I've found some of the most soulful, hearty, and honest food at places like this. Taquería Jiménez was no exception.

Rich, belly coating, hearty food, with the right amount of carbs somehow revitalizes you….or at least just makes you right mentally.

I don't think I need to add much more.

Though I'll leave you with this little tidbit. I did a search looking for an address. I finally found it on one of the those "food sites"….well actually let's give it up for foursquare.

For some reason, I was interested in the comments on this place. I went and did a translation of the first one which said, ""Tacos to revive after a long night of partying"……how true!

Taquería Jiménez
California 720 (e/ Jesús García Corona y 6 de Abril)
Ciudad Obregón, Sonora

Tropifruit (Fruiteria and sandwiches) (El Cajon)

January 16, 2014 Cathy Breakfast/Brunch, Fruiterias, Mexican Restaurants, Salads, Sandwiches, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is the food blog, with writings about random foods consumed at random places sometimes surrounding random events. No such events to speak of in this post, though, sorry. (Cathy is writing.)

Well here we are. A new year. Some of you may have made resolutions to 'eat healthier' or maybe to 'try new things'. Those aren't resolutions to me, since I try to do those already (I also don't use drive thrus, try to only purchase organic milk, make an effort to clean for 15 minutes straight once a day, spend 15 minutes a week rearranging one drawer or shelf…different, attainable goals). So to maybe give you an idea of 'healthy' and 'new', perhaps this post will be an impetus.

Just on the other (West) side of Johnson Avenue from Parkway Plaza Mall is a small strip mall with a tire store, bank and Burger King. There's a Taco shop, a Thai Restaurant some other businesses and Tropifruit.

It's a fruiteria, one of many in San Diego, has been in this East County location for years and was recently re-decorated. We are so lucky to live here, with fresh fruits and vegetables available all year and I really try to buy local and enjoy what we have. (Here are two posts I've written about other currently open fruiterias. This is a link to one that is closed, but just to give you an idea.)

The menu has stayed the same since the remodel; breakfasts, sandwiches, smoothies, juices, waters, ices (raspados), fruits and salads. All fresh and in season, all made to order.

Here is a meal The Mister and I shared. (The photo shows an odd perspective, but that torta roll/bolillo really is HUGE.)

This is a small pico de gallo($5.50)- bite size cut up fruits and vegetables, topped with a squeeze of lime and spicy salt. The fruits included grapes, mango, watermelon and papaya; vegetables were jicama and cucumber. Spicy salt is Tajin (or a similar item), just chiles, lime and salt. This is always refreshing.This was the "Special Torta" ($6.50) which included both pork loin (lomo) and ham as well as lettuce, tomatoes, avocadoes and jalapeño strips on a freshly toasted bolillo roll.

A recent breakfast we enjoyed included mollettes ($5.99), a toasted wheat bolillo roll topped with refried beans and melted cows milk cheese (I think this was Monterey Jack or white cheddar; it was very creamy). This is very much a 'comfort food' item for me…creamy, warm, toasty crunch. The accompanying (quite large) side of fresh chopped tomatoes, onions and jalapeño goes just perfectly.

We also shared a small fruit salad ($5.75) Apples, bananas, grapes, strawberries, pineapple topped with cottage cheese (or plain yogurt), sunflower seeds, raisins and granola accompanied with a side of honey is a good, sweet treat any time of day.

Tropifruit 100% Natural Juice Bar 762 N. Johnson Avenue Suite 103 El Cajon 92020 (619)588-0303 M-F 7 am-8pm; Sat 8am-8pm, Sun 10am-6pm

Mi Tierra Super Taco (National City)(Jalisco Style) (birria)

December 30, 2013 Cathy Mexican Restaurants, Taco Shops, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is a food blog. Today's post is written by Cathy; Kirk and Ed(from Yuma) are a bit under the weather.

The Mister has also been under the weather for the past week or so…and I'm not, so I've been making Him go on errands with me and then we stop and He has some sort of soup or stew as a lunch. The other day, we were in National City and I just started driving and looking for a place to stop. This signage looked promising.Here's that sign from inside-Estilio Jalisco- Jalisco Style Mexican food preparation. Turns out it's been here since 1978. Family owned and operated. It was never on my radar.

I ordered from the White Board you can see to the right in this photo. The interior is fairly large for a Taco Shop and was quite busy, with a large group carrying musical instruments outside as we were walking in around noon on a Saturday. The Menu Board looks very interesting.

I ordered a fish fillet with Ranchera sauce (Diablo sauce was another choice) ($8). This was a thick, large, fresh fillet (definitely not tilapia) covered with a very nice, very fresh chili/tomato/onion sauce that was unexpected. Served with a good rice, great beans, the two (also fresh and homemade) hot sauces shown and fresh, handmade corn tortillas.

The Mister's Birria de Chivo ($8) was really, really good. Given the choice of ranch beans or refried, I wasn't sure, but the refried went well with this large portion of goat stew. The onions and cilantro complimented the stew, as did the (again, fresh made) corn tortillas. There were a few small bones in the meat, but nothing bothersome. The broth was so rich and really multi leveled in flavor points.

Here's a better photo of one and a half of the tortillas (we each got four)- you can see they are not perfectly symmetric, by any means…thick, thin and wonderful. So very fresh. This was a great place to stop.

Mi Tierra Super Taco 1835 Highland Avenue National City 92950 (619)477-1927 website

Birrieria Don Rafa (Chula Vista)

December 19, 2013 Cathy Mexican Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

Thanks for stopping at mmm-yoso!!!, a food blog. Kirk and Ed(from Yuma) aren't blogging today: work, holidays, weather…you know. Cathy has some time, so she is blogging.

This weather has been wreaking havoc with The Mister's sinuses for about five days now and combined with the chilly mornings, we both were in search of some sort of comfort food. I was driving on Broadway in Chula Vista, across from the mall around H and I Street and this signage caught my eye.

I drove around the block so we could park without walking too far. For some reason, the name "Don Rafa" sounded familiar, but the more fun and familiar word to me was "Birrieria". Stew: comfort, warmth and flavor. After I was home, I found this post, written by Kirk in 2009. It seems we had similar experiences at the same business in different locations on the same street almost five years apart.

The interior is bright, neat and clean. Very little English is spoken. There's no need.

There are several signs on the walls, as well as at the bottom of this complete menu, reminding you that the salsa is very spicy. No medium, no mild, the salsa is what it is. I like that. The choices of beef (res) or goat (chivo) made the small menu slightly complicated.

As we placed our order, the condiments were brought out (containers of oregano and salt are on every table). That's the spicy salsa…it is, and it complimented the meal as did the other variables.

The Mister was immediately drawn to the pozole on the menu. He was asked if he wanted a small or large order and he ordered the small ($6.50)-the menu prices are for large. Then he had to decide if he wanted goat or beef…

A very generous serving of birria de chivo pozole (and yes, there were bones, as per the other warning on the bottom of the menu) including skin and tendon and, of course, hominy. This was excellent, a bit smokey in flavor, and good stewed goat and served with fresh made then fried corn tortillas.

A cheese quesadilla on corn tortilla($2.25). The fresh made then grilled corn tortilla had a sweetness and filled with a good amount of soft stringy (Oaxacan) cheese. Bites of this plain, simple item was a perfect accompaniment with the other food we ordered.

I also ordered a birria de chivo taco ($1.65) with everything- beans, onion and cilantro. It was served on a single, smaller sized tortilla and the gamey flavor of stewed goat combined with the other items was just a perfect balance.

I wanted to try the beef birria also and the ahogada style (sauce covered) sounded good ($6). This was basically a beef birria filled quesadilla (but a much larger size corn tortilla than the other quesadilla ordered), (again, fresh made) covered with consume and beans. Lots of cheese in the tortilla, lots of tender stewed beef and the sauce just made this just a perfect mix of flavors and the serving size was very generous.

Glad we stopped here; we left feeling full and warm and clear headed…just what we needed.

Birrieria Don Rafa 560 Broadway Chula Vista 91911 (619) 934-5135

Bountiful Birria at Fernandez Restaurant and Catering

December 2, 2013 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants

Fernandez Catering isn't one of those places you drive past and impulsively stop and grab a bite. In fact, just finding the darn place was a bit of a challenge. Located on Flower Avenue, right off Hollister in Nestor, my coworker who recommended the place couldn't even recall the name, nor the street, which had me driving fruitlessly around the area. Finally, one day she googled and found me the address of the place.

Located in what looks like an apartment building in a lot next to a smog shop, things were quite hectic on my visits there. There always seemed to be customers coming and going; many a bleary eyed gentleman grabbing birria to go. Ah yes, the birria de res. It's the only item on the menu. You can get it in different shapes and forms; queso taco, consomme con carne, tacos, quesadillas….in the end it's all about the birria here and rightfully so. It's also the only protein on the menu.

The customers all seemed like regulars….they all knew the main man here; Jorge. And as much as these places are sometimes somewhat insular, here I was greeted with smiles, and left to multiple handshakes. There's something very warm and hospitable about my visits here, even though they were quite busy.

I went full speed ahead on my first visit and got a full order of the birria de res…..which turned out to be quite a bit. In fact, I didn't eat again until well past dinner time. The birria is beefy and the broth rich with fat. The flavors also reflect said bovine heritage. I was told that I'd need to adjust the flavors so I wasn't surprised when this arrived lacking salt, which was easily added, along with the salsa, and lime to cut the richness and add some acid to the dish. No, this isn't health food; but it's truly soul food.

Add the fact that the hand made tortillas seemed to have been dipped in the birria juice and oil before heating on the griddle, and this just seemed too much of a good thing.

And yet, I couldn't get all that beefy goodness out of my mind. Add in how welcomed I was made to feel, plus advice from my coworker, "the order of birria is too much, go for the tacos……" I just had to return a couple of weeks later.

It was less busy on this visit and I was greeted with smiles and handshakes, which made me really feel welcomed. This time I was better versed and more prepared. I went with three tacos and some consomme. Along with a bottle of water, this set me back $8.96.

I knew this was going to be good good when I was advised to "have some tendon on your tacos…" Are you kidding me!

The consomme was piping hot, and with the help of some salt and lime, it just hit the spot. This is my kind of breakfast.

The tacos followed soon after.

The beefy flavor and mild spices came through quite well in the taco format. And yes, there were some very nice pieces of gelatinous tendon, very tender and sticky.

When I was asked (twice) about which I preferred, I had to go with the tacos….though you need to get some consomme as well.

Overall, the spices are mild. You will need to add salt, but the flavor of the long cooked beef does shine through. And if you need some spice, you can always have a couple of bites of this:

I wish I lived a bit closer, I'd have breakfast here once a week if I did.

The hours are rather limited; Wednesday thru Sunday 8am to 2pm. I visited at 8am and it started getting really crowded as I left. There's a rather limited amount of parking in the lot, but more street parking.

In the end….for me at least, this place was worth the effort to find.

Fernandez Restaurant and Catering

2265 Flower Ave. San Diego, CA 92154

Hours: Wed – Sunday 8am – 2pm

Saturday Morning in Vista: Lamb’s Head at Vamos a Texcoco and a visit to the Vista Farmer’s Market

November 23, 2013 mmm-yoso Farmer's Markets/Night Market, Mexican Restaurants

*** I'm dedicating this first part of the post to FOY "Billy", who told me he was going to get his fix of lamb this weekend. I hope you did, Billy!

During the past week, the Missus told me She was in mood for a drive, but still staying within San Diego County. She also enjoyed the food I had brought back from Vamos a Texcoco. So we decided to head out to Vista for breakfast.

We arrived about ten minutes or so after opening, before the large families arrived. The Missus started with what She deemed a nice cup of Café de olla.

As on my previous visit, I ordered the Mixiote.

This tends to be quite assertive in flavor and the last time the Missus mixed my leftovers with the order of barbacoa and really enjoyed it. This time though, she had something else in mind.

She decided to go whole hog….errr…..lamb and order the lamb head. Which is a good choice for us. After being married so ling, there's a kind of interesting harmony in eating sometimes. The Missus loves the eyeballs, not my favorite thing. I like tongue….you but open the back and scrape all the meat out, not Missus' fave. I'm ok with brains, the Missus loves the texture, but doesn't care for the after taste, which is mildly minerally-fishy. Of course we both love the cheek meat….it don't get more flavor-packed than that stuff.

They also serve the head "boneless"….hey, I know a few who would qualify for that…ummm, sorry to digress. But half the fun is doing the scrapping of every single wonderful flavor packed portion of the lamb's head.

Since we had gotten there early and they weren't slammed, the folks serving us were so friendly and nice. We had a rather rich breakfast that kept us the whole day.

Vamos a Texcoco
950 E Vista Way
Vista, CA 92084
Hours:
Open Daily 9am – 9pm

Now the round trip to Vista and back is over 60 miles for us, so I mentioned to the Missus that Vista had a Saturday Farmer's Market. It was fairly close to "Vamos" so we decided to check it out. We really enjoyed ourselves….as a plus, walking around a bit helped digestion as well. So here's a few photos from earlier today.

The Missus bought a 7 pound bag of Fuyu Persimmons ($10) and we got some natural dog treats for Da' Boyz. We loved the laid-back atmosphere. We'll be back.

Here's an interesting fact; established in 1981, the Vista Farmer's Market is the longest running farmer's market in San Diego County.

Vista Farmer's Market
325 S Melrose Dr
Vista, CA 92081
Hours
Saturday 8am – 1pm