Mexican Restaurants – Page 34

Nico’s Taco Shop – Linda Vista

March 13, 2008 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants, Taco Shops

This location of Nico’s, tucked away on Morena Place is sort of the forgotten "third wheel" of taco shops in the area. When I think of Taco Shops in the area, usually JV’s or Santana’s that comes to mind, and poor little Nico’s is forgotten. But not on this day……

The shop itself is pretty small, and fronts a group of apartments out back. When I mentioned Nico’s to several folks, I got wrinkled noses, and comments about dirt and grime, but I’ve never encountered that at Nico’s. The woman who works the front counter is also quite nice as well.

There are bascially only 2 items I get from Nico’s, the CAB(Carne Asada Burrito), and Rolled Tacos. And it had been years since I’ve eaten here, so I thought I’d give Nico’s a go.

Now I had thought that after attending the "Battle of the ‘Berto’s" that I’d be laying off the Carne Asada Burrito’s for a while…but I guess I was wrong. The interesting thing was….that I really couldn’t recall whether I enjoyed the burrito or not…I’ve had CABs from Nico’s several times, but for some reason I just didn’t remember them.

The Carne Asada Burrito at Nico’s is priced right at $3.50, and it is not the huge monstrousity of a burrito that’s served elsewhere, but I find it to be a perfect size for my usual appetite. The Carne Asada in this burrito was moist, and fairly tender, if a bit short on the flavor end. It was very "generic" in flavor….maybe that’s why it had never registered in my memory banks. The Pico de Gallo had too much under-ripe tomato, and I’m not a fan of the very bland Guacamole, nor the Hot Sauce, which is slightly "picante", but nothing else.

I do remember the other item I usually get at Nico’s….the Rolled Tacos($2.50):

After I had placed my order I remembered how I usually get them…without the cheese and guac, and as I recall, I would take them home and use some other bottled hot sauce. Oh well, these are still much better than those from a very popular, but a bit over-hyped restaurant. The rolled tacos are crunchy, and you can actually taste the filling, chicken in this case, and the proportion of meat to fried tortilla is good. And the meat isn’t the mini-me minced stuff. As a whole, I’m not the biggest fan of rolled tacos, but I don’t mind Nico’s version at all.

On the rolled taco visit, I noticed something written on the greaseboard called a "Conga" Burrito…so I inquired, and was told Carne Asada, Rice, and Enchilada Sauce. Hmmm, I don’t recall seeing that anywhere before. So on a follow-up visit, I decided to order the Conga Burrito($3.75):

I cut the burrito in half, and noticed that there was also beans in this. As I ate it, eight letters came to mind T-A-C-O B-E-L-L…..it did taste like something you’d get from Taco ~~Smell~~ Bell. You could put any type of meat in this, and it would taste the same. Not my cup of tea I guess…….

I’ve heard that the Newport Avenue location of Nico’s is good, but I’ve never been. The prices are quite reasonable, the food arrives fast, and the woman behind the counter is nice and friendly. Note to self…stick with the rolled tacos.

Nico’s Taco Shop
5151 Morena Pl
San Diego, CA 92110

Vampire Tacos: Taqueria El Chipilon

March 10, 2008 ed fromyuma Mexican Restaurants, Taco Shops, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!, Yuma

The blog is mmm-yoso!!! Sometimes (like today) Kirk lets one of his friends do an entry at the blog. Today ed from Yuma writes about his cross-border pursuit of the elusive VAMPIRE taco. It really won’t be scary at all – I promise.

Beginning last November, a friend of mine who teaches English as a second language began hearing from his students about vampiras — vampire tacos. He kept regaling me with stories about these mysterious treats, so soon I was driving down to the southern terminus of US Hwy 95 in San Luis (a city of well over 250,000 mostly located in Mexico, but with a smaller Arizona extension) on a mission to locate and sample the elusive vampire taco in its native habitat.

When I describe these tacos as elusive, I am really speaking of my difficulties in locating, tasting, and photographing them. My friend had convinced me that they were objects worthy of pursuit. However, my first two trips to a purported purveyor of bat tacos in San Luis Arizona (Nuevo Asaderos los Jarros) only convinced me that this was an establishment not open during the day – which I suppose is fitting for a place serving tacos vampiras:

When I finally tracked down vampiras in San Luis Mexico, in my excitement I must’ve hit the wrong button on my camera because I mostly ended up shooting a movie of my right knee. Oops! I’m sure it had nothing to do with the Cervezas Pacificos. Then, a nighttime visit to Los Jarros in San Luis Arizona was a great adventure that resulted in some tasty vampire tacos, but few usable pictures.

Finally last weekend, four of us descended into Mexico just to taste and photograph tacos vampiras – and some other goodies – at Taqueria El Chipilon, a huge taqueria (two outside seating areas and one inside) located on Revolucion near 22nd:

As the menu indicates, this taqueria serves a range of different tacos, but at the bottom of the menu lurks the dark shape of the vampiras’ namesake, a vampire bat:

In a matter of minutes, four vampiras arrived at out table – three of them having corn tortillas, the other flour:

At first glance, these tasty treats look much like ordinary carne asada tacos over stuffed with carne. However, a closer inspection shows that the marinated beef pieces lie atop a thin layer of white melted cheese. Also distinctive are the browned scalloped edges of each of the tacos:

A single bite makes instantly clear the difference between these and ordinary tacos. Instead of the soft tenderness of a regular tortilla, these tacos are crunchy.

Since they are filled with carne asada and not blood or bat flesh, why do vampire tacos carry their distinctive and unusual moniker? The answer to this question and the key to a vampira is the preparation of the tortilla. The tortillas are not just warmed, steamed, or deep-fried. Instead they are griddled until they are completely desiccated and charred and have begun to shrivel up, giving them the appearance of a bat’s wing (hey, use some imagination here, help me out) — hence the name vampira:

Sometimes when I describe vampiras, someone will say, "oh, that is just a tostada." And yes, the vampire taco shares the crunchiness of a tostada, but they are not tostadas. First, they have a concave shape, perfect for holding meat and toppings. Second, vampiras do not shatter as one bites into them, so they are intended to be eaten with one’s fingers. Every tostada that I have tried to eat by hand has sent tortilla shards and various toppings cascading down whatever shirt I was wearing, leaving an avalanche of guacamole, sour cream, and frijoles resting in my lap. So very not good. That does not happen with a vampira.

Another tasty feature of El Chipilon that improves the taste of their vampiras is the wheel of condiments served with the tacos:

In addition, grilled chilies and charred scallions along with cucumber and radish slices and an excellent spicy house salsa are also brought to the table:

The first time that I ate a vampira, I left it very plain so that I could savor the lightly marinated tender beef chunks, the mild cheese, and the tortilla. Later, thinking about the experience, I realized that vampire tacos have another distinctive quality. Because of their concave shape and because the crunch of the tortilla is protected by the layer of cheese, one can load up the taco with lots of various goodies. This one, for example, is covered with two kinds of salsa, guacamole, chopped onion, and chopped cilantro; if I wanted to, I could have added even more stuff. Nothing oozed out of either end, and a fiesta of flavors hit my tongue:

One of my fellow culinary adventurers even put some of the grilled green onions on hers.

So some vampires do come out during the day. My flying taco hunt was no wild goose chase. Maybe my karma intended for me to return again and again to seek out and eat these tacos. I hope so; that’d be good karma.

* * * * * * *

Sometimes, disappointments and frustrations can have positive results. In my search for the wonderful and rare vampires of the taco world, I was reminded of the tremendous culinary resource that is San Luis, Sonora, Mexico. Back in the 80s, when I was merely a visitor to Yuma, a trip to San Luis was a part of every visit to the area. And no trip to San Luis was complete without a meal or two at local restaurants. By the time I moved to Yuma, however, the road between here and San Luis seemed to be in constant repair, and the 20 minute drive more often took 35 minutes with detours and stops. At the same time, the overwhelming majority of the local American tourist trade rerouted itself to the convenient tiny border village of Algodones, Baja California. Now, though, the road to San Luis is in good repair, and the return border crossing on foot at San Luis runs about 10 to 15 minutes (compared with over an hour at Algodones). Even more important for me is that San Luis Mexico is really Mexico. It is not overflowing with American tourists, and a walk along Obregon – the main street – exposes one not only to the sights and sounds of a truly foreign city but also to all of the fragrant and enticing smells of al pastor tacos, tortas de lomo, and birria. Large Chinese and mariscos restaurants abound. I will be back. I feel like somebody living in Mira Mesa who just remembered the existence of El Cajon Blvd and University Ave. Yum.

Tacos El Compita

January 15, 2008 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants, Taco Shops

*** El Compita is gone….to where who knows…..

I'll let you in on a little secret right now. If I'm deeply engrossed or otherwise distracted….perhaps concentrating on the ratio of soup to meat in a Xiao Long Bao, or some other similar task, there's a way to get my complete, and undivided attention…..you simply whisper "Barbacoa de Borrego", "Birria de Chivo", or maybe "Cabeza" into my oreja, and you will have an attent, straight backed, wide eyed, slobbering, taco lover on your hands. Or you could simply wave a banner….perhaps like this one, in front of my face:

My eyes were instantly glued to this sign…..affixed…..in fact, I'd even say that my head rotated a complete 360 degrees as I drove past, a la the Exorcist. At that moment I knew…that I must, no needed, to check this place out. I had driven by the corner of 25th and Imperial dozens of times, but never noticed this taco truck. Probably because it is covered with a tarp when not in service.

I parked on a side street, and walked toward the taco truck. As I entered the parking lot, I saw the 6 tough looking gentleman sitting at the portable tables set-up in front of the truck stand up, all eyes were fixed on me……I noticed that none of them were eating, which made me a tad uncomfortable. The first thought that crossed my mind was "uh-oh, this must be a front for some illicit business." One of the Guys starting walking up to me, and I quickly said "you have Barbacoa????" The Guy stopped in his tracks, stared at me suspiciously, tilted his head, and said, "Si, goooood Barbacoa!" He turned and walked into the doorway into one of the strip mall's "offices". I could hear a flurry of Spanish, and soon enough a lady walked out, and started talking to me….and I couldn't understand a darn thing, She didn't speak English…… But once it got to food, I had no problems, "Dos Barbacoa…….Cabeza, Lengua." She walked into the taco truck, opened a container of masa, and proceeded to make tortillas with the skill of an Itamae making Nigiri sushi.

So here they are……2 Barbacoa de Borrego, 1 Cabeza, and 1 Lengua taco – each cost a mere $1.25! Four tacos – 5 bucks.

First off, these were the best tortillas I've had in a while, great texture, great flavor. The cabeza had a nice beefiness to it, but was a bit on the dry side. The Lengua was a bit too greasy for me, but had decent beef flavor, and some gelatinous goodness. The Barbacoa de Borrego was nice, very moist, mildy "wild"….great roasted flavor. The one thing that the meat lacked was salt, but with the addition of one of the salsas it was very good.

Four different salsas, and the usual garnishes are provided on what looks like a retired taco cart. The only problem I had was that the onions look to be a bit on the "sour" side. Still, these tacos were very good, and well worth the price.

I had visited on a week day during the Christmas long weekend. On a recent weekend, I decided to head on down to El Compita. On this day, the woman was working on the "cart", and the Taco Truck was empty.

As I waited, I could see the various trays in the steam table being opened, and the wonderful aroma of the various roasted meats hit me, which got my salivary glands going.

On this day I ordered 2 Barbacoa, 2 Birria de Chivo, and 1 Adobada(marinated pork):

I saved one Barbacoa, and one Birria for the Missus, and consumed the other 3. I found the Adobada to be a bit too oily for me, and the flavor was surpisingly mild. The meat was very tender and moist.

The Birria de Chivo was nice and gamey, but lacked the spicy bite that I've had with other versions. As with all the other meats, it was very moist and tender.

The Barbacoa on this occasion was even better than my previous visit, rich, moist, tender…with a nice dollop of salsa, some onions and cilantro…things don't get much better than this. In fact, though the tortillas were not as good this time around, I'd say all the meats were much more succulent. Looks like weekends are the way to go. And I'll be sure to be back soon.

Overall, it's hard to feel ripped off when you pay $1.25 for tacos. And these are much better than those that start with the word 'Del' or end in 'Bell'. Light years better…….in fact, it is of a completely different universe.

Tacos El Compita
2586 Imperial Avenue
San Diego, CA 92102

Filibertos Mexican Food – Linda Vista

January 8, 2008 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants, Taco Shops

This location of Filibertos (not "that" location) always struck me as the Teal and White Taco Shop looking for an edge:

First off, they have a menu that rivals some of the larger Vietnamese establishments I know of. Than they started the $1(now $1.25) "Mexico City Tacos". And recently, they’ve put banners up advertising their "Panaderia", specifically fresh bread. I’m trying to figure out whats coming up next!

Being a sucker for good tacos, I dropped by on a recent weekend morning. The interior of this location of Filibertos is rather large, but on the dingy side, not necessarily a bad thing for a taco shop. On one side of the long counter is the bakery case, and on the other the drinks/aguas frescas, and the salsa bar.

I ordered a Suadero(Beef Shoulder), Lengua(beef tongue), and an Al Pastor(marinated pork). Each cost a mere $1.25:

I don’t know if I chose a bad day, or what…the suadero had a decent beef flavor, but was very dry, the lengua was gummy and greasy, and the Al Pastor was under flavored and tough. Even for $1.25 a piece, these weren’t very good tacos…heck for a quarter more I could get these right down the street in a few hours.

One thing did get my attention. As I was leaving, I noticed several groups of Hispanic males eating Menudo. I made mental note to return at a future date, which I did. Unfortunately, they were all out of lengua….so since they’ve been "advertising" their bread, I ordered a Torta….actually, I think I ordered a Carne Asada Torta, but the Gal at the counter told me, that I had ordered a Al Pastor Torta($3.96):

In this case the flavor of Al Pastor was even worse than the last time….just really bland. I was floundering, looking for a "silver lining", and I finally found one….the bread was indeed good, fresh, placed on the griddle and toasted, even the charred edges couldn’t spoil the bread. Even the faux liquid butter flavor couldn’t spoil the bread…..I scraped off the contents of the sandwich, and just ate the bread.

For now, I think I’m going to give this location of Filibertos as "rest"…though I’ll try to be back for the menudo…maybe.

Filibertos Mexican Food
2399 Ulric Street
San Diego, CA 92111

Postscript – For those that think you can’t get good tacos for a "buck-n-quarter"……I was expecting something more like this – Two Barbacoa de Borrego, one Cabeza, and one lengua Taco, in tortillas made fresh while you wait – total $5.

It can be done…….

Coming up in a future post.

Soup Weather! A revisit to Palomino’s-yes, soup but not pho.

January 5, 2008 Cathy Mexican Restaurants, Taco Shops, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is the blog. The bloggers are friends. The bloggings vary and are mildly interesting, informative and sometimes bizarre. Today, its Cathy, with her blogger-ish perspective of mildly interesting food.

Hi again. We are having lots of rain storms this weekend. If you are daring to venture out of the house and driving about and maybe want soup, but *not* pho…well, there are options, you know. Here are a few choices. Really. If you are going to any taco shop, you may have noticed (and ignored) the “soup” part of the menu. This weekend (and any time, actually) would be the perfect time to try some.

You may recall I did a post about non-pho soup abou this time last year, but that restaurant (Los Michoacaños) is in Santee and so this time I am doing a more central location, and showing more of the variety Palominos has to offer, just on the “Soups” (or “Caldos”) side of the menu.

There are 11 caldos listed on the menu on the wall above the cash register and I will only show you five, however know the “basics” of pozole and menudo have been extensively enjoyed by The Mister and myself, are plentiful and really good.

These first two photographs are of Caldo Talapeño ($5.99)..Yes, chicken soup…but there are three “chicken soup” choices listed on the menu board-the bottom one that is simply called “chicken soup” for $5.99 is just the “American” menu listing of Caldo de Pollo-the third soup I will be telling you about-below.

This soup was made with all chicken breast meat and had hominy as the starch.

As you can see, a LOT of chicken breast meat. There was no “add in” plate to top this soup. There was a chipotle pepper in it and that added enough spice. The usual vegetables- carrot, and celery as well as zucchini are in large chunks and barely cooked (i.e, not mushy). Also, there were a smattering of garbanzo beans, same size as the hominy at the bottom of the bowl. All in all, a good, home made chicken soup stock base topped with sliced fresh avocado.

The Caldo de Camaron(Shrimp Soup)($8.50) is an absolute delight! There are more than 15 of these large, juicy plump, flavorful shrimp in the bowl and the broth, tomato based, was a deeply rich and flavorful seafood stock and quite filling. The vegetables in the soup were carrots and celery. A simple and wonderful meal.

This side plate of cilantro, onions, limes, pepper and dried herbs(a mix or marjoram, thyme and some oregano) as well as a choice of corn or flour tortillas accompanied this soup. You can mix in at the start, or after you are eating. I usually enjoy the initial soup “plain” and then do add ins, to give myself a whole new soup later in the meal.

This is the Caldo de Pollo ($5.99), yes, a different, more basic chicken soup which comes with the sides plate, above, as well as the tortillas and the cup of rice as the starch, although, as you can see, there are corn, carrot, zucchini and potatoes in the soup…as well as a *lot* of dark, flavorful thigh meat. I really kind of was hoping this soup would have had more broth, but am not complaining. It is the same base stock as the first chicken soup (caldo de talapeño) pictured above.

Caldo de Res (Beef Soup) ($6.25) By far, the deepest, richest broth of those shown here. Plenty of non-fatty stew beef, potatoes, carrots, zucchini, corn and cabbage, served with tortillas and rice. This broth will satisfy you even more than the chicken broth if you are losing your taste buds due to a cold or flu. There also was almost too much meat in the bowl. Again, not complaining.

I’ll just end this post with the traditional Albondigas Soup ($5.99). At least five of these large meatballs, made with rice, celery and onion as well as the dry spice mix(again, mostly oregano) and in the mix, corn, potato, zucchini, cabbage and carrots. The broth of the albondigas is the same as the pozole broth(not pictred and usually what I have for breakfast when I come here)…kind of what I call “hollow” and absolutely the only broths here that I feel I have to add in those side items to give it a deeper flavor- the lime automatically enriches the flavor and the onions, cilantro and pepper flakes give the depth needed, especially on cold, wet days such as are in our midst right now.

To summarize: there are five main broths for ten soups: chicken, beef, seafood, the pozole/albondigas broth and the menudo. All are used for homemade, flavorful and filling soups. So, don’t be afraid to enjoy the soup at any of your local taco shops – not at all your everyday “Taco Shop” meal. If you are on Clairmont Mesa near the Registrar of Voters office, stop in at Palominos. Parking is tight at lunchtime, but not in the morning or after 3 p.m.

Palomino’s #2 9353 Clairmont Mesa Blvd, suite I San Diego 92123 (858) 292-8470 Mon-Fri 6:00 a.m.-10:00 p.m., Sat 6-9, Sun 6-8

Somerton Tamale Festival

December 16, 2007 ed fromyuma Festivals & Events, Mexican Restaurants, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!, Yuma

Believe it or not, Kirk is letting ed from Yuma do another post on mmm-yoso. Any rumors of my death were greatly exaggerated, though I have been buried under stacks of student papers for the last three months. I finished grading on Friday, and (seredipitously) on Saturday, the south Yuma county town of Somerton was hosting its first annual Tamale Festival.

It’s always a little scary going to the "first annual" of any event; sort of like showing up the first day a
new restaurant has opened. Do they know how to do this right? Are they ready for what is going to happen? But this was a tamale festival. Me miss a tamale festival that’s only a few miles from where I live? Not gonna happen – which explains why I was pulling into the first annual Somerton Tamale festival, a little after noon on Saturday.

The central two blocks of downtown Somerton had been closed off, and both sides of the street were lined with little tentlike coverings under each of which there was one or more tamale vendor happily selling single tamales, combination plates, and bags full of dozens of tamales. As advertised, there were well over 20 vendors, far too many even for the intrepid stomach of mmm-yoso to sample. What’s more, not a single restaurant name could be found; these were all the real deal, homemade tamales prepared according to traditional family recipes.

To pay for the tamales, one had to purchase tickets,and since this was for a good cause (college scholarships for local youth) I bought a few more than I needed.

My first sample came from this nice young woman. At first the rich chili flavor seemed deceptively mild.The long shreds of abundant beef were full of meaty flavor accented by a deep red chili sauce – all complimented by the slightly sour stuffed green olive. After I was half way through, I realized that there was a distinctly picante note of hot chile flavor probably from the thin shreds of green chile mixed in with the meat and sauce.

Then I went across the street to try one of the few tamales de puerco. This was another rich, succulent, spicy, treat. This one was slightly doughier andsaltier than my first tamal. The porky goodness of the meat was a perfect match to the dried red chile sauce.

As soon as I saw these women standing over their tamale kettle, I knew I had to sample their wares. They were having a good time and showed me the festival’s largest tamal.

When I said I wanted a sweet corn and cheese tamale, they insisted that I also had to have one of their tamales de res. Who was I to argue with two abuelas? The beef tamal had more of an upfront heat than the first two I had sampled earlier.

Along with two un-pitted green olives (twins) , there was one additional secret ingredient. Yes, that is a french fry, so maybe California burritos truly have along history.

The corn and cheese tamale was perhaps a little doughy, but the sweetness of the corn and the mild cheese flavor made a nice contrast to what had come before.

The next beef tamal that I purchased came from a couple guys who were hawking their product like carnies outside a sideshow. Theirs was the mildest of the afternoon and contained the most potato. Nonetheless, it was full of beefy goodness, and the beef flavor was nicely balanced by strips of green chile.

By now, I was full enough that I could wait in a line for the spicy beef tamal.

At first bite, I was disappointed; it hardly seems spicier than the previous mild version. However, two or three bites into it, I became aware that yes, indeed, this one packed some fiery punch.

My last tamal (and dear reader, by now I was eating for you rather than satisfying any hunger that I might have had) was made by using a different approach. Not only was this beef shredded, but it seemed to have been sliced or chopped at some point as well, so there were no long shards of beef.

This one also had no potato and the least amount of chili flavored sauce (if any at all) – excepting of course the cheese and corn tamal. It also had a very thin layer of masa, so all together it was extremely beefy, but perhaps a little greasier than its predecessors.

Throughout the festival, music was playing, and as I was getting ready to leave, one of my favorite local bands, the Chuckawalla Rhythm Kings, began playing.

It is certainly a unique group. Probably the only group named after a lizard of the Desert Southwest performing Celtic folk music. Certainly the only one performing this day at a tamale festival, that’s for sure.

When I went to get my half dozen tamales to go, the purveyors of my two favorites from the afternoon had already run out, so throwing caution to the winds, I got my tamales to go from a completely different vendor. Who says I’m not a risk taker? Right now, I have no idea whether they are any good or not as the last thing on my mind is eating another tamale today.

Seeing the turnout and tasting the tamales, I am convinced that the Somerton tamale Festival is going to become a new tradition (now that’s an oxymoron). In any case, it’s also a good thing.

JV’s Mexican Food

November 26, 2007 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants, Taco Shops

First off, my apologies…..I’m sure after eating more calories in a few days, than you would in a month, the last thing you’d want is to have me waving a burrito in your face. But with a small backlog, I decided to start the post-Thanksgiving diet with a very popular taco shop. When we lived in the area JV’s was a regular stop, in those days we thought they made a pretty good burrito. So not having eaten at JV’s in 4-5 years or so, I was wondering how my tastes had changed, if at all, and recently paid a visit to JV’s.

One of the reasons I enjoyed grabbing a bite from JV’s was that service was very quick, and the crew at JV’s were almost always friendly…….

In fact, the attitudes are almost as bright as the orange and yellow colors that comprise the interior…. There always seems to be a steady stream of customers.

The menu at JV’s goes beyond the usual San Diego Taco Shop fare, with items like the Del Mar Burrito(shrimp, fish, beans – $7.10), the Surf and Turf Burrito(Shrimp and Carne Asada – $7.10), the Tuna Melt Quesadilla(!!! – $4.90). On this day, I chose the Al Pastor Burrito($4.40):

For some strange reason, I always like to place my burrito next to another object when taking a photo….just for the sake of determining scale. I guess it’s just a bad habit…. The burritos at JV’s are fairly large.

This was just okay, the Al Pastor (marinated pork) was mild in flavor, though the meat was tender. I thought that the guacamole and large quantity of pico de gallo detracted from the overall flavor of the Al Pastor. In this case it was obvious that the pork wasn’t spit roasted, the hallmark of Al Pastor.

Nevertheless, the burrito did fill me up. I also like the hot sauce at JV’s, and the salsa bar stocks roasted jalapenos, marinated carrots, and the like for free.

Of course, I had to make another visit and grab the ubiquitous California Burrito($4.95):

This burrito, as with all the burritos are pretty hefty in size. The Carne Asada was pretty mundane, dry and bland, not quite what I remembered. I also wished for more french fries, and less sour cream.

Still, not bad for under 5 bucks. But not as good as I recall. These days, I’m less of a burrito guy, and more of a taco dude…..

I had thought of going back to JV’s to grab more of our favorites from not-so-way-back-when, the Red Chile Burrito($4.20), and other stuff(Lengua Plate!), but I think, that at least for now, I’ll just rely on my memories.

Still, if you’re in the mood for some "different" burritos, like the Big Chicken Philly(grilled chicken, onions, and mushrooms), perhaps JV’s is worth a try.

JV’s Mexican Food
1112 Morena Blvd
San Diego, CA 92110
619-276-0758

Open Sunday-Thursday 9am-11pm
Friday-Saturday 9am-2am

Birrias Chivos & Cheves

November 12, 2007 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants

**** Birrias Chivos & Cheves has closed

Several months ago I noticed little shop while driving on Highland avenue in National City.

With a name like Birrias….I knew the Missus would want to check the place out.

The walls of this little shop feature reproductions of vintage photos of Tijuana. The menu is written in Spanish, but there's a English translation on the reverse side of the laminated menu.

Even though the menu features items like Sopes, Huaraches, and Tacos, with a name like Birrias, was there any doubt as to what we'd be ordering? We placed our orders, a "complete order" of Birria de Chivo(goat) and one of Birria de Res(Beef – $8.95/ea).

All "complete" orders (half orders are $6.95) include Tortillas, salsa, onions, lime, cilantro and consomme.

We found the salsas to be nice and lively, the tortillas had an excellent corn flavor, but was very brittle, tearing and falling apart.

The consomme looked very rich, but was really mild, and served lukewarm. More oily, than flavorful.

The Birria De Chivo:

The meat was slightly tender, but like the consomme, it lacked spiciness and much flavor. The Missus added a hefty amount of salt, garnishes, and salsa. The meat was very mild, and lacked the "wild" flavor the Missus enjoys.

The Birria De Res was much better.

The very tender meat had a good beefiness to it. The Missus agreed, and thought this to be quite good. I'd have this again if in the area. How two almost exact dishes could vary….you got me.

The service was very nice and friendly. Though Birrias won't divert us from La Nortenita, it wasn't too bad. The young man told me that Birrias will be opening a Imperial avenue location in the near future.

Birrias Chivos & Cheves
2401 Highland Avenue
National City, CA 91950

Hours 8am-8pm Daily

Saturday Stuffs……

August 25, 2007 mmm-yoso Cooking, Mexican Restaurants, yoso-silly

More aimless weekend wandering………

Juanita’s Tamales:

The Missus sent me on a mission early on a recent weekend, She had been craving Barbacoa from La Nortenita. Unfortunately, suffering from some "vapor-lock" I arrived and parked on Imperial Avenue at 8am…..the restaurant opens at 830! So with some time on my hands, I went for a very hot and sweaty stroll. And on my way back, I decided to grab some tamales from the Tamale cart that always occupies the corner of 25th and Imperial.

I ended up buying 2 pork and 2 chicken($1.25/ea) from the funny Lady who laughed at my pronunciation of "Pollo"……

The Missus is the Tamale eater in the family, and She had a Chicken to start:

Her verdict? Nice flavor, decent amount of chicken, but way too dry……

Coming soon to San Diego:

We were driving down Clairemont Mesa Boulevard when a "coming soon" sign caught my eye. I immediately turned into the parking lot of the strip mall that Thai Cafe is located in, and this is what I saw:

It seems that the Hot Pot fad that had hit the San Gabriel Valley is making its way to San Diego. I know it is much too hot to think about Hot Pot right now, but I’m looking forward to this restaurant. From the sign, it looks to be an outlet of Little (Fat) Sheep, a Hot Pot chain. Hot Pot is kinda going out of style in LA, the Hacienda Heights location of Little Sheep closed down a few months ago. You can read about Little Sheep on Professor Salt’s blog here. So let’s see it took 4 years(after moving from LA) for us to get good Sichuan, 6 years for Marukai, maybe by 2010 we’ll see some Hunan food?

From the "making it’s way to San Diego" department……

Some fads hit quicker than others. Remember the post on the San Gabriel "foot fetish"? Well guess what I saw today?

I guess some fads don’t take very long to get here…..might come in handy if you do a lot of Barefoot Running!

From the "What been cooking" department:

This past weekend the Missus wanted me to grill some Hot Dogs, and joy of joys, She even let me know a day beforehand! Since we’d be grilling, I went and picked up a few "goodies" for me. I went to Zion Market and picked up some thick cut Short Ribs for Kalbi:

I decided to do something I hadn’t done in years…many, many years. That would be to butterfly my short ribs. Back home in Hawaii, my friends and I used to call this "Korean-style" Kalbi, mainly because in most of the good Korean Restaurants didn’t serve cross-cut ribs, but butterflied thick cut ribs.

You separate the ribs into sections…"riblets" if you will.

Making sure that one end has a decent thickness of meat on it, you position the rib bone side down and cut across right above the bone, making sure to NOT cut all the way through. You fold that portion over and continue making 2-3 "flaps".

One thing I quickly noticed, I haven’t done this in a verrrrry long time, and am severely out of practice. So basically my cuts sucked….

Still with my usual Kalbi marinade, it tasted pretty good.

Making the most of my grilling opportunity, I went looking for some chicken…but for some reason, I couldn’t find anything satisfactory, so I modified my "half-cup" chicken marinade, and bought a Tri-tip from Seisel’s. Usually, it’s a half cup of Creamy Peanut Butter, Soy sauce, Sugar, Beer, and Miso, with some garlic and ginger. This time a doubled the sugar and miso, and added this:

And some Red Pepper Flakes for zip. The Sichuan Peppercorns I added having tasted Professor Salt’s fantastic Tri-tip.

Turned out much better than I thought it would……..though next time I’m adding even more Sichuan Peppercorns!

Photo of the week:

If this pooch could talk….

He/She’d be saying, "are we there yet???"

Birrieria Y Pasteleria La Nortenita

July 31, 2007 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants

**** Birrieria Y Pasteleria La Nortenita has closed

I readily admit that at I will over strategize at times. If I'm not sure that the Missus will enjoy a particular restaurant, I'll usually try it out first. But at times, this approach just doesn't work out. La Nortenita is a good example of that. I first drove by La Nortenita earlier this year, and made a note to check it out. The problem was that each time I tried to stop by, the place was either packed, or no parking could be found. Finally, I just told the Missus about the place, and early one weekend morning we made a drive down to La Nortenita.

As you can see this little restaurant is partially hidden by trees, and if you're driving down Imperial avenue at a fast clip, you might just blink and miss it.

But if you slow down a bit, you won't miss this:

So let's all rub our greedy little hands together, and go "mmmm Barbacoa"!

The little restaurant has a "homey" feel to it, except for the "window" which looks a bit out of place. And the wonderful aromas floating in the air!

Though the menu is written in Spanish, it is pretty easy to understand. The Missus and I have a little joke, even though I won't be able to ask for the restroom in Mexico, I sure won't starve……..

The menu is broken down into tacos, gorditas, sopes, and tortas on one page, and the "combination plates" and guisados on the other. First the condiments were delivered to the table:

Since this is a barbacoa/birria restaurant, ordering was pretty easy. I started with 1 Birria de Chivo and 2 Barbacoa de Borrego(in this case slow cooked lamb) tacos($2.14/ea):

Three large size tacos with a generous amount of meat, wrapped in rustic, steaming hot tortillas that were made to order arrived at the table.

The Birria de Chivo taco consisted of shredded roasted meat, that had been dunked into a chili infused broth, which delivered a nice rich chili "punch".

With just a touch of onions and cilantro, I needed nothing else to enjoy this taco.

The Barbacoa de Borrego consisted of shredded lamb that had been mixed with a bit of the lamb broth/consomme.

Adding a tiny squeeze of lime to balance out the richness, and onion and cilantro to act as a counterpoint to the wonderful mildly wild and gamey flavor of the meat. A touch of salsa roja added a nice bit of smokey heat to the taco, making it mucho delici-yoso…….

The Missus was torn, She couldn't decided whether to get the Birria de Chivo or the Barbacoa….so She got both! Luckily, there were medium sized (mediana) portions available.

The Birria de Chivo was the first to arrive (mediana – $4.95):

Along with the good sized bowl of soup, a warmer with about a half dozen thick and steaming tortillas arrived…so hot you could barely hold them! The actual broth was not as spicy as it looks, and had more of a peppery-spicy flavor, with just a tiny hint of sweetness. The broth was hearty, though not too rich.

There was an abundance of meat in the bowl as well.

The Missus also ordered the Barbacoa de Borrego(mediana-$4.95):

A plate arrived with fragrant barbacoa topped with a steaming tortilla. As was our previous experience with the barbacoa at El Borrego a bowl of lamb broth/consomme arrived as well. The consomme was a light broth flavored with lamb drippings, with small shreds of lamb and garbanzo beans. The flavor was not a pronounced as the version at El Borrego, and a small squeeze of lime added some brightness to the dish. The barbacoa had been flavored with the broth as well.

Here's a better look:

The meat was moist, with a nice and rich lamb flavor. As with barbacoa, there's a salt shaker on the table for flavoring…..which I think is unnecessary. As the Missus started to dig in Josefina Ramos delivered 5 more steaming hot tortillas to the table. Man this was good! The Missus, who believes, but doesn't follow the "Yin-Yang" philosophy of eating (i.e. "hot foods" balanced by "cold foods"), told me that even though She almost finished both dishes, there was no feeling of being stuffed silly, probably due to lamb being "hot" food, thus giving Her invigorating energy! Until we went home and She proceeded to go into a food coma…….

A week to the day later, the Missus had a craving for lamb, and so we drove back down to Imperial, and La Nortenita. We arrived at a bit before 10am so the restaurant was empty, and Josefina greeted us with a large warm smile. I think she recalled the Missus's appetite! Not wanting to stuff ourselves silly, the Missus ordered the Birria de Chivo "grande"(sorry, no photo!), and I ordered the Barbacoa (grande – $7.63):

This time a larger plate! Along with the steaming hot tortillas and consomme. On this day, I thought the barbacoa was even better than on our previous visit. Still moist and flavorful, but this time the meat to fat ratio made this an almost decadent dish. The Missus who thought the birria was better, changed Her mind after tasting the barbacoa.

This was very satisfying, and too much for me to finish. Luckily, the Missus was on hand. By this time the little restaurant was completely filled. And through some restaurant ESP, it seemed that everyone knew that the barbacoa was excellent today since almost everyone had plates of barbacoa in front of them. It was interesting watching the different techniques for eating the lamb. Some made little tacos and dipped them into the broth, some poured the broth over the meat and made little tacos, and those dubbed the "efficient eaters" added the cilantro and onions to the plate, and mixed in the broth, and went to town! The Missus kept telling me…just think if we had some rice! So I'm guessing a rather large take out order is in our future.

For us, the experience of eating at La Nortenita is like eating in your favorite Aunt's home. The service warm and friendly, and if they know you love their food….. As an example, while waiting for our food, the Missus was checking out the various cakes, and other confections. Josefina seems to be quite an accomplished cake maker. As we were finishing, the nice young lady working on this day, brought us both a little sample for dessert, now that deserves an exclamation point! The restaurant can be on the hot side, and the ventilation is not the best, so when this tiny restaurant gets full…. The barbacoa is not as refined as El Borrego, but I prefer the rustic flavors and richness of the lamb at La Nortenita. Though I think the broth at El Borrego is much richer in flavor.

Birrieria Y Pasteleria La Nortenita
2455 Imperial Ave
San Diego, CA