Mexican Restaurants – Page 26

Delicias a la Lena- Oaxacan (El Cajon)

September 15, 2012 Cathy Mexican Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

Hello. You have somehow navigated your way to mmm-yoso!!!, a food blog. Kirk as well as ed(from Yuma) are both busy with those end of Summer things and today Cathy writing and sharing another local wonderful eatery.

Well. I've mentioned before that everyone has a 'favorite' taco shop, close to home and close to work. People tell me about their favorite place and favorite items sold there. There's a long story as to how The Mister and I found Lena's; know we had this adventure on our own. The condensed version is we walked into the Liquor Store next to Kaelin's Mi Pueblo Market that had the words "carne asada" on the door, thinking they made tacos, found out they were selling carne asada in a freezer next to bags of ice cubes, asked the clerk if he knew of a place to buy some good ready to eat food and he directed us here:

Garcias Puebla Mercado. It's been here since 1995(I'll do the math for you: 17 years).We ordered two burritos, each weighed almost two pounds (there was a scale at the checkout). While we were waiting, we looked around the small store, saw many people coming in, picking up hot tortillas out of the wooden box on the floor, noticed ready made carne and chicken asada, signs for carnitas meals on Wednesday as well as barbacoa and birria meal specials on Friday, house made mole, salsas, hot carrots and fascinating other items. When we did go to the front to pay, the nice lady told us for really good food -Oaxacan Style- to go to the shop just across the street, about a half block North. Both the store and the shop are family owned and run.

Now, in this crowded strip mall, at the very North end, there is an orange and yellow striped taco shop; that's *not* where you want to go.

This is where you want to be. Notice the grill out front. Every day around 2 p.m., mesquite grilled chicken is ready.

For $10.99, you get a dozen hot tortillas, rice, black beans (nicely flavored, mostly whole and without lard), a choice of red or green salsa (I do like both; house made and a blend of complex flavors) and quite a large chicken. The chicken has that delightful mesquite smoked flavor, even the next day.

When you go inside the small restaurant, a large 99¢ menu is above the cash register,

as well as the 'regular' menu above the kitchen area. Order, pay and have a seat. The food will be brought out to you. There are five tables, 16 chairs. Small, clean and friendly.

On one of our visits, we ordered two each of the carnitas and carne asada tacos ($1 each). You can see the tacos were quite full with the meat, guacamole, cilantro, onions and Cotija cheese and both the red and green salsas were brought out. The fresh corn tortillas, which are from Garcia's across the street, are thick, layered and so very fresh.
Also, we tried the 'less than $1 menu', choosing a quesedilla and memelita – a small memela, a toasted masa cake , with a choice of red or green sauce) topped with more Cotija cheese.

The quesedilla, though small, was quite filled with melty white cheese- Oaxaca cheese.

One of my favorite items here-from the 'regular' menu, #17, a gordita ($1.99). This is a fresh made masa cake with a few black beans in the mix, fried then cut, filled on the top and bottom with those luscious black beans, a lot of shredded creamy Oxaca cheese, crema, lettuce and tomatoes. Crunchy, fresh, and something I never expected.

On one visit, we ordered a $1.99 memela (this time topped with red sauce; much larger than the 99¢ version, although I don't have a reference point in this photo to show you the sense of scale) and a 99¢ Tlacoyo (an oval shaped baked masa, filled with a layer of black beans, topped with a choice of sauce and Cotija cheese)

You can see the thin layer of beans in this cross section view; this simple 99¢ snack is just perfect. It's larger counterpart on the regular menu, the Tlayuda ($6.99), includes a choice of meats and is more than a meal for me.

We noticed "Tostilocos $2.99" sign in the front window and tried the version here. It's a vegetarian version- no cueritos. Good to satisfy a crunchy, salty, tamarind, spicy chamoy craving. (here's a link to my post about my favorite Tostilocos)

Here's a photo of another gordita ordered; you can see the fried then sliced crispy 'bun'. The other item is another tlacoyo, this time topped with the red sauce.

From the regular menu, #14 Mole negro ($5.99). We have been on the lookout for great home made mole ever since Los Pueblos had closed in May. We found it. Lena told us that it takes three women (all relatives) all day to make the mole used here and sold in the small market across the street. You can taste the variety of spices and so many flavors with every bite. The chicken leg had the smoky mesquite flavor which complimented the sauce. The enchiladas are also topped with this mole.

So many items all made from scratch, just like at home. Another great find in El Cajon.

Lenas is not your average Mexican restaurant, not a taco shop. At all.

Delicias a la Lena 1398 East Main Street (between Sultan Baklava and Kaelin's Market, other side of Main Street) El Cajon 92021 (619)590-1138

Garcias Puebla Mercado 1354 East Main Street 92021 (619)590-1416

Yesenia’s Taco Shop (Kearny Mesa)

August 12, 2012 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants, Taco Shops

Right before I left for my trip home, I met my good friend Candice for lunch. I was really swamped and having lunch with someone who's great company like Candice just makes the whole day better. With so much on my mind, I really drew blanks when it came to where we'd grab lunch. Luckily, one of Candice's friends recommended a place I'd driven past dozens of times on Clairemont Mesa Boulevard….a taco shop called Yesenia's.

I gotta say…..this place sure is a bright orange…..

The menu seemed fairly huge and overwhelming, though the young lady behind the counter was very friendly. There were several interesting items on the menu and we ordered a bunch of stuff.

Starting with some Aguachile.

First off, the slices of avocado looked like it was headed South. Not a bad sign, but somewhat ominous if you'll be eating raw shrimp "cooked" in lime. The shrimp indeed tasted a bit fishy, it hadn't gone bad yet, but it seemed headed in that direction. The marinade was very mild with regards to aguachile….I expect bracing citrus tones and a good deal of heat, but this was almost bland. To be perfectly fair, this tasted much better at the end of the meal when the shrimp had been in the marinade for about half an hour.

I really didn't care for the Chicken Mole either.

The chicken was quite dry and the mole lacked the wonderful complex spice tones that I enjoy in a mole poblano.

I liked the beans, though….nicely seasoned.

Things started looking up when we tried the menudo.

As far as I can recall, this was full on tripe and not much else. It was also the least funky menudo that I've ever had. The tripe was well prepared, light crunch, but not tough or hard. I wish the broth had been seasoned more aggressively…..it needed salt, hot sauce, and a good amount of oregano would have helped too. Nice tripe though…….

In my opinion, the last item was the best…….fish rolled tacos, something I'd usually not think of ordering.

It really didn't look like much, but the fish had a nice flavor which came through very clearly. The shell was nice and crisp and the fish moist. Cabbage instead of lettuce is a good choice, it added a mild earthy-bitterness to the whole deal. I'd have this again…….

The funniest little snippet of a conversation we had was when I asked what her friends favorite item here was…..Candice smiled and sheepishly replied, "Carne Asada fries……" Ha! It just cracked me up…… I did tell her that, if her foodie……or in this case beerie (??? what do you call those folks?) buddy really thought this was the best carne asada fries I'd check them out….really.

So…..being a man of my word, I returned after my trip, and stepped into the wonderful orange glow of Yesenia's.

And ordered up something I hadn't had in maybe….I dunno, five years???

Carne Asada fries ($6.55). The carne asada was fairly tough, though decently flavored…perhaps better than your friendly neigborhood 'berto's. The guac was decent, it added some creaminess to the whole deal….I'm still not a real big fan of sour cream on this. I really did like the fries, which were very competently fried……not greasy and crisp. For some reason, this didn't feel like the gut-busting, hollow-leg filling, burp fest that I recall CAFs being. I enjoyed the various salsas here as well…….

This location of Yesenia's gets really busy around noon and after looking over all the breakfast items, I read they open at like 530 in the morning. That said, I'm not sure if I'll return anytime soon…..though I'm now curious, since I've gotten a couple of CAF recommendations over the years……what shop makes the best CAFs???? Just for future reference of course……

Yesenia's Taco Shop
8199 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111

TJ Oyster Bar- great seafood, but no oysters, in Bonita

July 30, 2012 Cathy Mexican Restaurants, Seafood, What Cathy Eats!

Yes, you have found mmm-yoso!!!, the food blog. Kirk has stuff to do, ed (from Yuma) has places to go and Cathy is blogging about a place to eat.

I mentioned in a prior post that in December I had met up with fellow food bloggers and friends, canine cologne, Dennis and Carol, for a food crawl around South County- Chula Vista and Bonita. Of the many places we stopped at that day, our first was here-where I took this photo of the exterior. In December.

As I tend to be cautious about writing about any place until I have returned a few times, all the food in this post was consumed at this location, in a small mall on the same block just West of the McDonald's near Otay Lakes Road on Bonita road.

However, I do know the small storefront will be moving soon to just East of the McDonald's (and the Vons) in this same block very soon. The new location looks a lot larger. In any case, the food here is excellent and the lines out the door may be diminished with the new building.

In December, we sat at the front counter, which consists of six stools, to enjoy some tastes of what is offered at this primarily seafood Mexican restaurant.

We shared a large coctele and fish tacos. Everything was fresh and tasty and I wanted more, but in retrospect was glad we kept along on our crawl, because this was just the first of so many new-to-me places that day.

The fish taco was beer battered, not heavy and the fish was light, flaky and tasty. The coctele-

had plenty of octopus in it (there were no oysters that day, despite the name of the place) and a very refreshing tomato-lime-cilantro sauce that the seafood was melding in.

I had to return with The Mister a few times.

One day we went, before crowds showed up and shared a fish ceviche tostada ($2.75) and a shrimp ceviche tostada ($3.50). Each of the ceviches were made to order and so crispy-fresh tasting. The respective seafoods were citrus-tangy and you could still taste the respective 'meats'. I have returned just for ceviche, which is really nice on these hot Summer days.

Of course we realized at some point that the fish tacos are 99¢ every day and ordered two on another visit. We basically drive by and if there is a parking space, we stop, otherwise we haven't, because the parking lot is an indicator of available table space. I think the seating capacity inside is about 20.

I had been curious about the "Pescadilla" part of the menu and on another visit, we ordered the $7.50 Mariscos/Seafood Pescadilla. It's a quesedilla, filled with sauteed seafood. Buttery, garlicy sauteed seafood. Served with rice, this is way more than a meal for one. Very rich, very filling, and now a regular order.

As of now, at the current location, the menu is on the wall and the cash register, where you order and pay, is right in front of you when you walk in the door. I hope the menu and quality of food at the new location stays the same.

TJ Oyster Bar 4246 Bonita Road 91902 (619)267-4577

Shopping and eating on University Avenue: Penzey’s Spices, La Casa del Maiz and Carnitas Las Michoacanas

July 24, 2012 Cathy Markets & Grocers, Mexican Restaurants, Taco Shops, What Cathy Eats!

La Casa del Maiz has closed.

This is the food blog called mmm-yoso!!! The bloggers here are usually Kirk, sometimes ed(from Yuma) and sometimes Cathy. Today is one of those sometimes Cathy days.

Well. This has been a crazy summer so far. The Mister and I seem to have something scheduled every day, but aren't overly busy…just home-type chores, which includes gardening and the occasional Home Depot and food runs. We have been cooking at home a lot and were thrilled when we found out that Penzey's Spices was opening a San Diego location. Kirk posted about one of his Penzey's stops during a Torrance Road Trip in 2010. The Mister and I get excited when the Penzeys catalog shows up every couple of months and usually make two orders a year, to save on shipping charges. The spices, herbs and blends are so fresh and interesting. We decided to take a drive West, to the Hillcrest area of town to see "our" new Penzey's store.

The store is located on University Avenue one block East of the Ralphs/Trader Joe's Center, in the same parking area that has the Starbucks. Apparently that little mall is named Hillcrest Colonnade.

The display area inside is mostly stacked wooden crates and even this kitchen vignette (I grew up with a Kelvinator refrigerator just like this one; a common sight in Detroit). See the larger jar in the middle on top of that fridge? That's a sample jar. There is one with just about every product in the store- you can smell the herbs, spices, whole chilis and blends (there are even glass bottles with the liquid extracts for you to sniff). It was like reading the catalog but live!

As I said, we have purchased items from here before and sort of knew what we wanted… but of course we got more than that. The blends are very convenient and have all the flavors we like and would end up mixing anyhow. (The Mitchell Street Steak Seasoning was our 'gift' when we presented a coupon from the catalog which we had received in the mail.)

Really, I only came here for the peppers- they are unusually moist and fresh…they smell 'rich' and almost buttery in the sample jars; that's the only way I can explain it. They are not all dry like the stuff from dusty packages on store shelves that need to be reconstituted or added to liquid to get at the flavor. I don't use much for the flavors I like and the smaller size portions available are just right for a few months.

We then headed East on University and in the newer City Heights mall area (with the Albertsons, McDonald's, Starbucks among other stores) made a stop (for the second time now) at this clean, modern tortilleria, La Casa del Maiz.

Basically a tortilla factory

which sells a few other related items

shelf stable milk, eggs, cheeses, salsas and a refrigerator of beverages, mostly Jarritos.

On this visit, we went all crazy and purchased a dozen flour and a dozen corn (you are given a choice of white or yellow) tortillas. The corn are wrapped in paper and are sold by weight. How much are these still warm , fresh made tortillas?

Yes. A dozen fresh, hot corn tortillas *and* a dozen fresh, nicely thin and flaky flour tortillas…that's the price.

Since it was close to lunch time, we continued East on University, down to one block West of the Kroc Center. This sign is on what used to be a Starbucks and can be seen from the street. The restaurant is just to the left in this photo.

Walk in and that's the menu: Burritos, carnitas by the pound, quesedillas, sopes, soups, tacos, plates, posole, tortas, tostadas maravilla and chilaquiles. The by the pound carnitas are not at all the only meat here, although (so far) I like it very much.

Neat and clean, there is seating for 60 inside.

If you order to eat in, sides are brought to your table when you order.

As well as a salsa bar at the front, if you are buying something 'to go'. As an aside, the green hot sauce tastes green-and is hot/spicy. The orange hot sauce is very pleasant and has a mild, if any, heat.

On our first visit we ordered one pound of carnitas ($10.99). It comes with rice, beans(cooked with lard and runny, in a good way) and a dozen corn tortillas.

The carnitas are just filled with flavor, moist with a little crispness, not fatty and just right. This serving of one pound was substantial for the two of us; we had leftovers (especially of the tortillas, which are good, but not when compared to those from La Casa del Maiz)

This was the recent meal- a carnitas taco ($2.39) and a cheese quesedila ($2.79)-filled with all white cheese and very good with the hot sauces offered.

The al Pastor burrito ($4.99). The marinated meat is tender, flavorful and plenty in the burrito, which has some rice and the wonderful wet beans, the al pastor marinade and avocado. This was a wonderful surprise and I now want to order the other meats on the menu…

All in all, a nice drive, great food and shopping and we were almost home. I hope all of you are having a good week.

Penzey's Spices 1274 University Avenue San Diego 92104 (619) 297-2777

La Casa Del Maiz 4403 University, Suite 100 San Diego, 92105 (619) 283-3566

Carnitas Las Michoacanas 6503 University Avenue San Diego 92115 (619)229-9574

El Zarape seven years later…….

July 20, 2012 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants, Seafood, Taco Shops

Ed from Yuma recently mentioned in his post on Sea Rocket Bistro, that we've been doing this for over seven years…..sheesh! I recently saw a comment on an old post of mine wondering why I hadn't posted on El Zarape(the original) in over seven years. so I thought I'd better get this done before another seven passes…….

Seven years is a fairly long time. I'm trying to think what was going on back in 2005…..it sure was a different landscape back then, social media was in it's infancy, we thought Flickr was the best thing since sliced bread…it was "BiP"….."Before iPhone". And that was also the last time I'd eaten at El Zarape.

This was before I'd eaten at all those lonchera's, before I'd experienced birria, before I'd had decent mariscos. I couldn't help but wonder how El Zarape as aged over those years. Curiousity warranted a visit.

And the place looked just about the same……….. I know that the "purists" now sneer at El Zarape, at the soy, wasabi, and buffalo chicken burritos. For some reason, the thought of having an "Aloha Burrito" sends shivers up my spine. Yet, I recall, many of those who now criticize El Zarape were head over heels when Luche Libre opened…….

I was pretty pleased to see that EZ's loss leader, the fish taco is still 99 cents, the same price it was when I first ate here in 2001.

Heck, Mariscos el Prieto couldn't even hold their price at a buck for more than a couple of months and the tacos de pescado at Mariscos el Pescador hasn't seen that price in my memory. Truth be told, I'd still pay quarter more to eat at those two trucks than the fish tacos at El Zarape. I'm still not a fan of the crema and the fish was o the dry side with a not so tasty blood line in it. Still, it's hard to argue with 99 cents……..

El Zarape makes up their profit margin with their other menu items. I decided to have a scallop and shrimp taco ($3.25/each) here as well.

The scallops seemed kind of sparse and were really bland and rubbery…..it doesn't even stand up to the tortilla in flavor. Not a good value at over three bucks as well.

I've always enjoyed the shrimp at El Zarape, so I wondered how that would be.

I counted six shrimp, which looked like 41/50, maybe about 2-3 ounces. They were nicely browned on the griddle, moist and tender. Decent shrimp flavor…….maybe better than I had back in '05, though that was a looooong time ago.

I'm hoping not to take another seven years before I'm back at El Zarape. Thought it's been far surpassed, they're still truckin' along and they still have a faithful neighborhood following.

El Zarape
4642 Park Blvd
San Diego, CA 92116

Hours:
Mon 8 am – 11 pm
Tue-Sun 8 am – 2 am

Current Obsession: Mango, Chamango, Mangoneada.

June 2, 2012 Cathy Desserts, Mexican Restaurants, Sandwiches, Stuff, What Cathy Eats!

You are reading mmm-yoso!!!, a food blog. Kirk is busy (with things to do and eat in an exotic part of the world), ed (from Yuma) is busy (with things to do and eat in Yuma) and Cathy is busy (blogging about things she did and ate recently).

So. I was cleaning up 'my' area of the kitchen today and noticed something about my current snacks. There is a commonality in all of these items.

I'm not a chocoholic; never was. Sugary sweets don't interest me. I am currently a craver of a combination of tangy mango with salty-savory-pickled-sour with chile powder heat and occasionally the sweet of gooey tamarind candy. Every possible receptor cell taste bud being active in a single food item. How did this happen?

In December I went on a Major Food Crawl with fellow Bloggers caninecologne (Pink Candles at Ridgemont High), Carol (CAB Cooks) and Dennis (A Radiused Corner)-no, I never wrote about the eight or so places we stopped at; I started to and the post got *huge*. Instead, I have returned to each of the eateries we stopped at and have been enjoying the specialties enjoyed at each. There will be more posts.

This is where the spicy and mango comes into play. We stopped at Teresita's Fruiteria.

Teresita's is located in a mall anchored by a KFC and McDonald's on the Northwest corner of I-805 and Palm Avenue. Technically, it is in San Diego City, but it is way South.

There is an extensive menu, however, not only was it late in the very long day for the four of us, but CC knew what Teresita's sold that nobody else does- Chamango. We ordered four.

A frozen mango smoothie-with chunks of mango, swirled with chamoy liquid and topped with bits of Chaca Chaca– a gooey tamarind candy. The combination of sweet-tart mango with the pickled sour saltiness and chili heat of the chamoy and the gooey fruit candy bits of tamarind was delightful, refreshing and a combination of flavors I had never tasted (and those who know what I do around this time of year know that I have tasted a lot of bizarre stuff). I have returned many times to Teresita's, even though it is a long drive from home.

I really only want the Chamango (small is about $4) but also order a small pico de gallo ($3.50) (the long white pieces on tope are slices of fresh coconut) (really good) and, on this visit a grilled cheese sandwich ($2.50) so as to appear to be eating a healthy meal. The pico, topped with Tajin, or a Tajin-like mix of salt, red chile and lime is a wonderful combination of fruit, vegetable and heat. The grilled cheese is particularly addicting for me. There is only one bread, no choice. It is a *really* nice, chewy whole wheat that is crisped up and…filled (you can see) filled with an unusually high quality sliced processed American cheese. Really. I *hate* Kraft slices and don't even want cheese on burgers, but this cheese, slightly melted with this bread…heaven. Creamy and salty and a great sandwich.

Teresita's Fruiteria 4370 Palm Ave, Suite 5 San Diego 92154

So. I have posted about Tropical Fruit Paradise, a fruiteria right down Mission Gorge Road, closer to where The Mister and I live.

I do enjoy fruiterias because the whole concept of a fruit shop is fascinating. Growing up in colder climates, the idea of walking into a store and finding fresh fruit, much less having it prepared in various ways was never considered by either myself or The Mister.

In addition to the torta sandwiches mentioned in my other post, wraps are offered here.

The chicken wrap costs about 50¢ more than a turkey or ham wrap. All are made with a spinach wrapper and simply filled with lettuce, tomato and Ranch dressing. But the chicken is heated on the grill and tastes that much better.

As with most fruiterias, Tostilocos is (are?) available ($3.99). The version here uses regular cucumber as well as jicama and the hot sauce coating everything is quite spicy hot. A bit different and very good.

The mango-chamoy beverage here is a Mangoneada. It is made with frozen mango chunks and orange juice. The chamoy is nicely distributed as the beverage is poured in the cup. BUT instead of being topped with tamarind pieces- the straw is coated in Chaca Chaca, the chewy, salty tamarind candy…

That's a small Fruit Salad Freeze ($3.75). Also very good -strawberries, peaches and banana.

I hope everyone is having a good weekend and satisfying current cravings. Thanks for introducing me to this one, caninecologne!

Tropical Fruit Paradise 10387 Friars Road San Diego 92120 (619) 584-4786

Maria’s Cocina: A New Restaurant from an Old Family in Yuma

May 24, 2012 ed fromyuma Mexican Restaurants, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!, Yuma

Right now Kirk is at a secret undisclosed location, Cathy is somewhere in San Diego, and ed (from Yuma) has just been eating in a new old Yuma Mexican restaurant.

Maria's unfortunately has closed and now there is a teriyaki restaurant in this location.

Last winter I noticed that the sign from the departed Taco Reyes restaurant in Palm Plaza between 22nd and 23rd on Avenue A was being painted over:

Of course, that meant that I had to sample something from this new eatery. The Taco Reyes signage is now completely gone, replaced by Maria’s Cocina:

The interior has a nice homey look and feel to it:

As is my custom, the first thing I ordered was a green chili dinner because the style of green chili stew in Yuma is often a key to the regional affinities of the cuisine:

It took one look and a couple of tastes to identify this green chili as a good version of old school Yuman green chili (see this previous post). Chunks of beef, pieces of green chile, bits of tomato, and no tomatillo anywhere, all very mildly spiced ($4.25).

On my next visit, I asked the owner if he was from Yuma, and he responded that he was not only from Yuma but that his family has also owned and operated Mexican restaurants in town for over 50 years. I probably looked puzzled until he stuck out his hand and introduced himself as Johnny Gutierrez. Oh yeah, more than 50 years.

I suspect that everyone who has grown up in Yuma (with the possible exception of strict vegetarians) and almost everyone of us who have moved here in adulthood have eaten at Mr. G's, The Chile Pepper (Mrs. G's), and/or Casa Gutierrez. The first two of these may be the most popular fast food restaurants in the city – around lunch or dinner there is a line of people waiting to order burritos or rolled tacos and another line of people waiting to pick up phone orders. The bean and cheese burritos, in particular, are legendary, the frijoles rich, smooth, creamy, and full of manteca.

A few years ago, I quit picking up food from the Chile Pepper, the closest location to my home, because of long waits, indifferent service, and steam tabled ingredients. Once I waited 20 minutes in line for an order I had called in 15 minutes previously, while huge orders were being filled a head of me and some regular customers were being waved to the front of the line. When I finally got my food, I realized that my order had been sitting bagged up in a warm moist holding area the entire time I was standing in line, so my burritos were a sorry soggy mess.

At Maria's Cocina, on the other hand, the dishes are prepared individually and the Gutierrez family recipes really shine.

So of course, the burritos are excellent and inexpensive. Breakfast burritos are generally $3, though this ranchero breakfast burrito is $3.75:

I appreciate a breakfast burrito with vegetable ingredients, green chilies, onions, and tomatoes – though I don't understand why it is more expensive than a burrito with chorizo, ham, or bacon.

My favorite standard burrito here is what is called the green mix with frijoles ($3):

Basically, a mix burrito has read chile or green chile (your choice) with either beans or rice (your choice) - personally, I love the creamy richness the frijoles add.

Like the green chile, the red chile is packaged for take out and equally savory. For some reason, the red chile at Chile Pepper always has tasted powdery or dusty to me, but Maria's Cocina prepares it so that it has deep rich full smooth dried chile flavors (red chile dinner, $4.25):

The restaurant is also good at deep-frying. The rolled taco dinner ($4.25) is a study in crunchiness, as the rolled tacos are served plain with no crema, guacamole, or diced tomatoes:

The folded taco dinner ($4.75) is equally crunchy:

The tacos themselves are filled with diced tomato, shredded lettuce, melty white cheese, and chewy shredded beef:

Really good, old school, tacos.

Cheese enchiladas (red or green sauce) are another favorite; this green enchilada sauce is primarily chunks of green Chile:

On Saturdays, menudo is available ($5.50):

You get everything on this tray, menudo itself, a small bowl of salsa, diced onions and cilantro, lemon wedges, grilled bolillo roll (or tortillas), dried red chili flakes, and oregano. The soup itself is deeply flavorful, muy rico, and full of tripe and nixtamal kernals:

None of the food at Maria's Cocina is cutting-edge or unusual. These are standard family recipes. The same stuff Yuma grandparents ate as kids. The food is, however, well prepared and extremely well priced. Those are both good things.

Maria's Cocina, 2241 S. Ave. A, Ste # 16, Yuma AZ, (928) 329-2988. Open mornings through evenings Monday-Saturday.

Rocky Port Grill and Fish Market- El Cajon- a revisit

May 15, 2012 Cathy Mexican Restaurants, Seafood, What Cathy Eats!

Welcome to mmm-yoso!!! The part usually played by Kirk or ed(from Yuma) will be played by Cathy for the next bit of time.

Hi. It seems that I disappeared for most of this year, but it's time to share some meals I've been saving up in the cameraphone. I posted about Rocky Port earlier this year, when I was beginning my whole-fish as a meal binge and it has become a regular stop even if we don't order a whole fish. The seafood here is always fresh, tasty, and tender.

On Tuesdays, all tacos are $1 off, so the fish tacos are $1.50 all day…(yes, it does open at 10 a.m. and closes at 9 p.m. week days, and 10 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday)

Always, when you sit down, corn chips (the corn tortillas here are really good -layered- and make flaky corn chips), really good fresh salsa, cut limes and a bit of fresh-fresh fish ceviche is brought to the table.

On this visit, I ordered the Campechana Cocktail ($13.50). Shrimp, squid, scallops, octopus, clams and oyster, cooked in the lime and tomato juice, with cucumber and avocado mixed in. Catsup, crackers and selection of hot sauces add to the flavors of this tasty, fresh, tender and delightful large bowl of a meal. I crave it.

You can see two spoons with the cocktail. The Mister and I shared it, as well as sharing two fish tacos and two Gobernador tacos.

The Gobernador taco, a tortilla first 'lined' with melted cheese is then filled with a buttery saute of shrimp, bell pepper, onion and tomato…always a craving and at the regular price of $3.50, worth it…even a better deal on Tuesdays…The fish taco is quite largeand, again, fresh and fried properly in a light batter.

If the windows on the building somehow look familiar to you…remember Pizza Hut? …I hope everyone is having a good week.

Rocky Port Grill and Seafood Market 1771 N. Second Street El Cajon 92021 (619) 593-0637 Website

La Perla Cocina Mexicana

May 1, 2012 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants, Taco Shops

**** La Perla has closed

A short while ago JeffL emailed me, telling me that a little shop in PB made the best lamb tacos he’s had in San Diego. So of course I had to check them out. The address on Emerald Street sounded kind of familiar……as it should have. It was right across the street from Mad Dog’s Cafe and right around the corner from Bare Back Grill.

Jeff had advised me to call ahead to make sure they were serving lamb that day. Which is what I did…..and got an affirmative from a very friendly gentleman. I’m assuming the same guy who mans the counter. The first thing I noticed when I arrived was that the menu consisted of standard San Diego taco shop (i.e. CABs and California Burritos) fare. Not complaining mind you, but I was in search of borrego. I also noticed that all the customers seemed to come from the hostel next door…filling up on calories and carbs. Sadly, the guy at the counter told me they were out of lamb on this day. But hey, I was here, right? So I ended up ordering a variety of tacos all priced between $2.25 – $2.75.

It ended up being a Al Pastor (adobado), Carne Asada, and a Carnitas. The worse of the bunch was the Al Pastor which had a nice texture, but was terribly bland. The carne asada was decent, but also under-seasoned, the two standard salsas were also pretty mild. These were not “street tacos” mind you, but pretty hefty in size. I quickly noted that every table was going to town with the salt shaker as well.

It was the carnitas that caught my attention. While it too needed a bit more seasoning for my tastes, it was super tender.

Based on the lack of caramelization, I’m thinking these are steamed in their own juices. Though I prefer some crunchy bits with my carnitas (and just about everything except cabeza and lengua), the texture was very nice.

The front desk guy apologized for not having the lamb and promised me they’d have it next time. And so I returned. This time I noticed the availability of lamb on the board outside and got my Barbacoa de Borrego tacos.

I was informed that the lamb is indeed steamed in it’s own juices. The texture of the lamb was not quite as soft as the pork, but it was indeed tender. Loved the gamey flavor, but I think a bit more seasoning would lift the flavor up a bit. As it stands, in my opinion, it’s a good taco that could be great with a bit more…..also, I ran into a couple of hard bits that need to taken out, especially if being served in a taco. Crunchy is ok, but hard can take your teeth out……

I found that the owner, who also runs the front counter is from Toluca, so if I recall (my geography sucks), this is more Barbacoa.

Still, these were good…

La Perla Cocina Mexicana
745 Emerald St
San Diego, CA 92109
(858) 274-3038

Thanks for the rec Jeff!

South Bay Taco Run: Birrieria’s La Guadalajara, Mariscos El Pescador, El Gallito Tortas Ahogadas, Tacos El Kiki, Birrieria El Prieto, and Mariscos El Prieto

April 16, 2012 mmm-yoso Food Trucks, Mexican Restaurants, Sandwiches, Seafood

Recently, my good FOY (Friend of Yoso) TammyC requested a “taco crawl” something that I’ve done a couple times before…once even with this group of folks. This time, YY and her husband MrQ had to be done by 1230, so this would mean a fairly close proximity…..I pretty much had the plan done. I knew this small group would be game, after all we already had done a smaller Chula Vista taco crawl and had both the Mira Mesa Banh Mi tasting and the Amazing Graze behind us….but with a short itme period this could turn out to be pretty brutal.

First stop was a restaurant. It would be nice for the five of us to get to a relaxing start. I chose….

***Birrieria’s la Guadalajara has closed.

Birrieria’s la Guadalajara:

We started with a Tacos Rojo – Borrego:

I also ordered the Borrego a la Plancha, Birria de Chivo, and Cabeza en su Jugo, which MrQ absolutely loved. Folks were encouraged to pace themselves and here leftovers would be ok. TammyC had never been a fan of lamb or goat….until now.

Of course, the food here is major roll back into bed food, so it was kind of a tough start….all of those fresh tortillas just sit in your stomach.

Birrieria’s la Guadalajara
1310 Third Ave
Chula Vista, CA 91911

Next stop was a double whammy…first was:

Mariscos el Pescador:

The consomme here always delivers.

I only went with a fish taco…lots more to come up after this. The fish taco here beat El Peito’s hands down on this day. Nice portion of better flavored fish. The only thing El Prieto had on this was the crunchy batter.

Mariscos El Pescador (In the parking lot pf RTA/Toys R Us)
1008 Industrial Blvd
Chula Vista, CA 91911

The next stop was right across the parking lot…..

El Gallito Tortas Ahogadas:

**** El Gallito Tortas Ahogadas is no longer

I’d been here a couple of times and while I loved the bread had never really been impressed.

However, the #1, traditional Tortas Ahogadas had been pretty spicy and MrC really loves spicy food….I mean he eats Ghost peppers for fun. So we got the traditional at a heat level of 10.

I had a fourth of the sandwich, TammyC a fourth, and MrC half. I gotta say, this was much better than I recalled. The bread was great as always, but the pork had fine flavor. MrC’s verdict, “not bad, the heat does creep up on you.”

YY and MrQ, who often order Thai food at heat level “1” (is there such a thing?) had the #2 at heat level 5, which they had no problems with.

I also had a fourth….I prefer the more traditional sandwich.

By the way, based on all the photos around the truck, I guess Andrew Zimmern stopped by and the place will be featured on one of his shows. So if you’re curious, get there before the show airs and all the “Zimm-heads” blow the place up.

El Gallito Tortas Ahogadas
1008 Industrial Blvd
Chula Vista, CA 91911

We jumped back in our cars and headed down Industrial and onto Main for our next stop:

Mariscos Y Tacos El Kiki:

I just recently posted on the place and things are pretty much the same. So here’s a photo of the Taco Perron I ate along with more consomme:

Mariscos Y Tacos El Kiki
Corner of Main St and Hollister St.

We decided to take a breather and headed across the street to a shop that sells spices, chilies, and snacks called….

El Ruisnor:

I’d noticed this place the last time I ate at El Kiki.

You can smell the spices when entering the shop…there are bags of the stuff lining the shelves.

There are also bulk beans and snacks sold.

Interesting shop.

El Ruisenor
2260 Main St
Chula Vista, CA 91911

Then it was back across the street, into our cars and we were off east on Main, stopping at the final “double whammy” location…..

Birrieria El Prieto:

I’d noticed this truck, parked right across from the Mariscos El Prieto truck a couple of weeks ago and had been waiting to check the place out. This El Prieto “twin” did birria, quesotacos, al pastor, and the like. The sold is “res”, beef.

I ordered a birria and cabeza taco to try things out. YY, MrC, and MrQ had hit the wall and were not participating…..

The birria was dry and rather tough and short on flavor. The cabeza was very moist and tender, but a bit short on the condensed beefiness I expect from rendered cow head.

Of course right across the way is the El Prieto Mariscos truck.

Even though MrQ could not eat another bite of a taco, he still had room for more consomme.

Another funny thing I noticed……El Prieto now has a parking attendant….for eating at taco trucks! I just found this amusing.

In the end, only TammyC (one) and myself (two) could manage to finish the three tacos ordered.

While we both loved the batter, very nice and crisp, the tacos had only little slivers of fish in them. This wasn’t the way it was on previous visits. I’m hoping this was just a fluke.

Mariscos El Prieto
and
Birrieria El Prieto Trucks
3031 Main St
Chula Vista, CA 91911

I noticed that it was just past 12….YY and MrQ had to get going. We’d done pretty good with regards to both time and calories. Whew……I went home and had a two hour nap to recover. Still, it was great fun as always, friends and food just go together so well.