Mexican Restaurants – Page 35

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

Tacos El Rico

July 23, 2007 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants, Taco Shops

*** Tacos el Rico is now a location of Tacos el Paisa

I've tried unsuccessfully to eat at Birririeria El Nortenita on Imperial a few times in the last 2 months. Call it bad timing if you will, but the place is always too busy, so I usually just have a meal elsewhere. On a recent trip, the elsewhere was a colorful new Taqueria called Tacos El Rico:

If I recall this used to be Delia's, the Clairemont Drive location of Delia's has closed as well, I'm not sure what happened. One thing is pretty clear, El Rico sure makes good use of the colors red and yellow!

As you can tell from the lively and brightly colored menu, basic taco shop fare is served here. The variety of "meats" is pretty decent, with all usual suspects; Carne Asada, Al Pastor, Lengua, Cabeza, and Tripa, all present and accounted for……… And all served as Tacos, Burritos, Gorditas, or Mulita.

I placed my order, and waited a few minutes, grabbed my tacos, and went to sit outside, under the bright sunlight, and the even brighter red umbrellas.

I had ordered 3 tacos ($1.75 each). From left to right Birria(I was going to get some Birria one way or another!), Cabeza, and Al Pastor.

Please excuse the somewhat unsightly "bloody" tint to the photos. I didn't realize until I downloaded my photos, but the light filtering through the, yep you got it! Red umbrellas gave the photos this strange tint. The tacos were served on double corn tortillas which had a nice flavor, a bit chewy, and not brittle at all. Each taco also had a generous portion of meat as well.

I started with the Al Pastor:

The pork didn't have the caramelized appearance of typical Al Pastor, and was very "wet". I think of this as more of a marinated pork, rather than something spit roasted on the Trompo. The flavor was very mild, with just hints of chili flavor. There was also the problem of the pool of oil at the bottom of the taco, if you look at the photo closely you'll notice it. Not the best Al Pastor I've had.

The Tacos de Cabeza, was more of the solid "chunk" style, rather than the long cooked shredded meat that I enjoy.

This meant that the texture of the meat tended toward a more "waxy" texture. The overall flavor was very mild, not like the condensed beef flavor I enjoy. On the good side, this wasn't oily in the least, and it tasted okay with a touch of the Salsa Roja. As you can tell, there was so much meat, it was falling out of the taco.

And of course, I had to get my Birria.

This was by far the best. The meat had been cooked until soft and moist, than shredded. It had retained some of the "wild" flavor I was looking for, gamey and rich. The onions and cilantro helped to cut through the richness of the meat, and the corn tortilla stood up well to the moist, but not watery meat. This taco made the meal a success….I did get my Birria! Which made me a happy man(call me obsessed – but you know that already…).

The reason I sat outside, was so I could check this out:

Yep, this Taco Truck looks pretty new(where's all the bright red and yellow colors??). Got me wondering where we might be seeing it soon!

I'm not quite sure if I'll be stopping by Tacos El Rico anytime soon, since there are so many choices in the area. But who knows, I may run into that taco truck one day.

Tacos El Rico
2494 Imperial Ave
San Diego, CA 92102

Los Manjares de Pepe – Yuma

July 12, 2007 ed fromyuma Mexican Restaurants, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!, Yuma

It’s just ed from Yuma again – this time writing a real long post about probably the best restaurant in town. Just in case you might someday be stuck in Yuma at mealtime, this is one place to remember.

Los Manjares de Pepe is widely recognized among the culinary cognoscenti of Yuma (well, at least among my friends and me) as the best Mexican restaurant in town – and that’s saying something considering how many good Mexican restaurants our town boasts of. It doesn’t get this acclaim because of its wonderful signage:

Or because of a beautiful building:

No, people love Pepe’s for several reasons, all of them connected with the great food served. First, Monday through Friday, the restaurant features incredible specials, all at $4.99. On Mondays, you can get a caldo de albondigas. Like all meals here, the soup comes with good chips and spicy (if somewhat thin) salsa. You also get rice, beans, and your choice of tortillas. This great bowl of soup contains a nice rich stock, filled with 4 or 5 large and flavorful meatballs and an assortment of vegetables – celery, onion, carrot, and potato. Like the other specials, this a great deal.

On Wednesday, the special is peurco en salsa chipotle. This dish may be the tastiest thing I have ever eaten in Yuma, anywhere. Chipotle is not a common flavor used in most of Yuma’s Mexican restaurants, but Pepe achieves something fantastic in this dish. The large chunks of rich and slightly fatty pork are bathed in a intensely smoky and moderately picante sauce. The balance of flavors achieved is excellent. The chipotle flavor is strong and rich enough to please the palate without drowning out the meaty flavors of the pork chunks.

Friday’s special is truly special as well. I have always liked pozole since I first had a taste of this wonderful concoction of pork, hominy, and chile flavors years ago. The version at Los Manjares is, nonetheless, far and away the best I have ever eaten: Pozole broth with its meaty richness and deep red chile flavors is basically a great taste. Plus, Pepe doesn’t short change customers in any way with this dish. This stock is as powerfully rich and as densely flavored as it looks. The bowl is full of hominy kernals and huge chunks of pork. In addition to the chips, salsa, beans, rice and tortillas, the customer also gets a selection of add-ons (the picture is of the extras for two). Each bowl is served with chopped onions, lime wedges, chopped cabbage, and a generous helping of cilantro. These can be dumped into the soup to add flavors and crunchy textures. Other people add these extras onto the tacos or burritos made with the pork and tortillas. Either way, they provide a nice addition and add to the taste and mouthfeel of the dish.

For those of you who are sure that your cholesterol has gone up twenty points just looking at the last set of pictures, I need to add that another reason why I think that Los Manjares is so outstanding is its chicken. We all have experienced lousy Mexican restaurant chicken. Take a chicken, boil it until tasteless, shred it, and then dump these wet flavorless shards of fowl into a flour or corn tortilla. But there is no boiled chicken at Pepe’s. For example, take a look at an order of Pollo Deshuesado (boneless chicken)($7.99):

Each of these chunks of chicken is a delight to the mouth – tender, well-spiced, and full of chicken flavor. But Pepe uses his flavorful grilled chicken in his whole range of chicken dishes. I recently ordered the chicken enchiladas (senior size with 2 enchiladas, $4.99) and was served this wonderfully flavoful plate:

As much as I love posting at Kirk’s wonderful blog because I can show all of you folks pictures of these wonderful things I have eaten, this picture does not do justice to this savory and succulent meal. The enchilada sauce, although it looks like most other enchilada sauces, has double the intensity of deep red chile flavor. And inside each of these rolled cylinders of tasty corn tortilla hides spicy and tasty morsels of Pepe’s flavorful grilled chicken.

A picture does begin to convey the quality of the world’s greatest chicken taco salad (no shell, $5.50):

It is hard for me to write about this salad without sprinkling superlatives over my sentences the way some of us sprinkle black pepper on scrambled eggs. On top of a smear of creamy frijoles, a mound of iceberg is surrounded by shredded pollo asado and topped with diced tomato, dollops of crema, rich fresh guacamole, shredded queso, pickled red onion slices, and chopped cilantro. Is it by chance that the colors across the top reflect the colors of la bandera – the flag of Mexico? Anyway, as beautiful as this looks, the looks don’t come close to the flavors. Each shred of chicken is full of spice and is chewy tasty. The neutral background of crunchy lettuce brings together each biteful of salad. Overall, my mouth is full of multiple contrasts of temperatures, textures, and tastes (particularly after I drizzle salsa over the whole thing).

One of my favorite meals at Los Manjares – and years ago at El Zarape when Pepe cooked there – is the pollo al carbon, bone-in, well marinated chicken grilled outside over charcoal. Sometimes, after smelling the aromas of the chicken cooking outside, it is impossible not to order it for lunch (with beans & rice – 2 pieces $4.99, 4 pieces $6.99), so I have probably eaten this meal 20 times at least. I knew I had to have a photo for this post, so on a recent dinner visit, I order the 4 piece dinner:

Sad to say, this was the sorriest version of the pollo al carbon I’d ever eaten. First, the 4 pieces were 2 legs and 2 thighs. And the pieces look bigger in the pic than they were in real life. Second, the chicken had either been overcooked on the grill or had been sitting around under heat for too long so that the crunchy exterior almost extended to the bone. In any case, this was a disappointing meal. Still, though, the chicken had an excellent flavor, and the overly crunchy meat was OK in tacos. I just missed the usual moist and chickeny interior that I have come to expect from this dish. It also reminded me that sometimes even the best places don’t always get everything right.

In addition to the daily specials and the (usually) great chicken dishes, Los Manjares also serves a wide range of wonderfully prepared Mexican restaurant standards. Since I had decided to do this post, I have been trying a few dishes that I could not remember eating before at Pepe’s. So recently, I ordered a carnitas torta ($3.99):

I was astounded by the size of the sandwich; it filled up an entire plate. I know now that I had never ordered this dish before because it was a truly memorable torta, and not just because it was so large. The bottom layer of filling was a smooth beany smear of frijoles. On top of that was a layer of porky and crunchy carnitas. The carnitas was covered with chopped lettuce. The upper half of the bolillo was spread with Pepe’s flavorful fresh guacamole, chopped cilantro, and pico de gallo, that flavorful fresh salsa of diced tomato, onion, and jalapeno. I never for a moment considered trying to pick this sandwich up with my hands and eating it. Doing that would have spilled goodies all over my shirt, and goodies this good need to be in my mouth, not on my wardrobe. So I attacked the torta with knife and fork and began devouring. Nonetheless, as good as it tasted, I could not completely finish it. Wow!

Los Manjares also prepares a number of dishes in a rich and tomatoey ranchero sauce:

This is a plate of Camerones Rancheros ($10.99), one of the most expensive dishes on the menu. The shrimp were tender and tasty, their mild flavors enhanced by the subtle ranchero sauce. Equally good is the Steak Ranchero and the Lengua, which is also served in this sauce. Unlike the deep red chile or chipotle flavors of some sauces, the ranchero with its tomato and bell pepper accent stays in the background and compliments the flavors of the shrimp or meat.

I want to end this long post by looking at one last dish done very well by Pepe, Al Pastor:

Believe it or not, this gigantic order of tender dry rubbed pork slices sells for $7.50. No, that is not a misprint. There is so much food here (and don’t forget the chips, salsa, and tortillas) that I only order this if I am really hungry, and I still often bring enough pork home for a midnight snack. I doubt if there is a vertical spit in Pepe’s kitchen, but this dish does not suffer from that in every way. The spices rubbed onto the meat before cooking add flavor to the meat. What’s more, the pieces of pork are often tastily charred:

As this picture also illustrates, my favorite way to eat the Al Pastor is folded into a taco with the pico de gallo (and sometimes the pickled onions) from the plate added to the taco. Moments after this photo was snapped, I ladled a couple of teaspoons of salsa on this homemade taco and chowed down. Chewy, spicy, meaty, tender, crunchy and corny all at once. Yum!

I do have one fear about writing this post for Kirk. I can imagine some big city restaurateur reading this blog and suddenly deciding that he could make a fortune selling Mexican food this good in New York City. Then virtually overnight, Pepe would be pulling down six figures, living in a Manhatten condo, and charging willing diners, who had lined up outside the restaurant 2 hours before it opened, $50 for a plate of Al Pastor. If that should happen, New York, as well as Pepe and the restaurateur, would be the richer, but poor old Yuma would be left with a huge culinary hole. So if you are a New York restaurant owner, just let me say, "Nah, it’d never work."

Los Manjares de Pepe, 2187 West 8th St., Yuma AZ. (928) 782-2366

Borders Cafe – Yuma

July 1, 2007 ed fromyuma Mexican Restaurants, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!, Yuma

No, Kirk has not moved to Yuma. This is just Ed from Yuma doing another post for mmm-yoso!!! Hope you all don’t mind.

Just a brief update – I dropped into Border’s last week (Jan 21, 2008) and didn’t recognize anybody there. Tried to order a couple of my favorites (fish ball soup and sting ray soup) and were told that they no longer made those. Found out that a new family was running the place. I did have a bowl of rightous, beefy albondigas de res, but this post is no longer a useful guide to the place. R.I.P.

I feel a little strange writing another post about Yuma for Kirk’s marvelous blog that generally centers on San Diego dining. I guess my justification is that in my mind Yuma is just a distant suburb of San Diego – it is thinking like this that keeps me sane when it’s 115° here. In this post, I’d like to focus on a small, family run Mexican restaurant in which the chef, the grandmother of the family, has around 30 years of experience of cooking in Cabo. The place is called Borders and located on Yuma’s main drag 4th ave.

Many of the items available here are fairly standard dishes found in many Mexican restaurants, although always done very effectively at Borders. For example, the chiles rellenos here are long and beautiful to look at:

Although the chilies themselves are not especially picante, they have a good flavor and the rellenos are not lost in a thick layer of breading, a soup of sauce, or a mound of cheese. Even the cheese stuffing is fairly thin so that the overall effect is a balanced flavor.

Another standard dish done very well here is the taco salad with carne asada:

The flavorful slices of steak were not just the topping of the salad but extended all the way through. Yum. The fish tacos are another treat:

Each taco contains two small crunchy fish fillets. These are as good as you would get in Yuma. While lengua is found in many Mexican restaurants in town, Borders serves it as lengua estofada – or lengua stew.

My friend Betsy raved about this molé after she had it, so I had to order it also and I agree with everything that she said. It is easily the best in town. Most moles are too sweet, and sometimes plain boiled chicken is just topped with sauce. In this case the mole sauce is nicely balanced, slightly spicy, and full flavored. The chicken is fall apart tender.

Borders also offers some interesting dishes that cannot be found in another Mexican restaurant in Yuma.

Caguamanta, or stingray soup, has been heretofore available only at Deliciosos del Mar, a taco truck. Borders’ version is rich and deeply flavorful, if a touch too salty for my taste.

It is full of small chunks of the stingray and various vegetables, such as potatoes, carrots, onions, tomatoes, green peppers, and olives. Another amazing dish here is albondigas de pescado. The deeply flavorful and chili infused broth is full of pale and mildly fishy meatballs along with some veggies. Unlike fishballs in Chinese cuisine, these balls have a texture more like meatballs and a taste that is enhanced by the wonderfully rich and tasty stock:

My only concern about this restaurant is that it contains only about 10 tables, and it seems like every time I come there it is busier than it was the last time. I guess that’s good for the restaurant, but I always worry that I may have to stand and wait if the customer base continues to grow and if winter visitors find out about it. Prices are very reasonable. Most medium soups (lunch size) are 4.99. I believe all the entrees are under $8. While there is minimal atmosphere, the service is efficient and caring. Another reason to visit Yuma, the great metropolis of Southwest Arizona.

OK, the only metropolis of Southwest Arizona.

La Casita Mexican Restaurant- Good Mexican Seafood in El Cajon

June 26, 2007 Cathy Mexican Restaurants, Taco Shops, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso is the blog, which Cathy is doing today because Kirk isn’t. He just isn’t.

Hello again. Looking at the past few weeks of the blog, it seems that none of us has gone out to eat, except maybe to a "regular rotation" . So, here is one of our favorite places, yet another Mexican Restaurant, in El Cajon. La Casita "Especialidad en Mariscos"-specializing in seafood. If you are at the interesection of Magnolia and Bradley, ready to turn onto Highway 67- the In-N- Out is on your left, so you are facing south…right there behind the gas station …see it? (So, it is basically on the southwest corner at 67 and Bradley)

OK, park and it looks like this. It is also the Radiator Repair Shop parking lot. One row for cars.

You walk in and there is a menu on the wall in front of you. Order, pay, get a tray with chips and some cups for salsa, load up and sit down. Your food will be brought to you. *** The prices on this printed menu are off by about $1 on some items; new menus are being printed***

It was Friday, so I decided on a fish taco ($2.25)

Two corn tortillas, a lightly breaded, crispy fried fish piece,tangy white sauce, salsa, guacamole and cabbage. Fresh tasting and oddly, light.

I also had a craving for a ceviche tostada ($3.50). It is made with only shrimp here and so wonderful. The mix of tomatoes, onions, cilantro and jalapeño was jsut perfect. Some nights though, I htink there is too much jalapeño. It is always this overfilled.

The Mister wanted a salad, and there is only one on the menu- #9, Ensalada la Casita- beans, lettuce, cheese, sour cream, guacamole and olives, with a choice of shredded beef or chicken ($5.50). Substantial food. Not much lettuce. Great shredded beef. The Mister usually likes the Camarones la Casita plate ($9) 5 very large shrimp with a cornmeal breading and rice, beans, salad and tortilla.

As I said, you do pay first, but the food is brought out to you at these lovely tables. There are murals over all the walls, but I like this one on the back wall the best.

Really, The Mister and I come here for breakfast more often than not. All of the items are $6. We go to the Starbucks in the In-N-Out mall, one block North, for coffee after.

La Casita Mexican Food 1503 N. Magnolia El Cajon 92019 (619)444-8228 Open 7 days 6 a.m.-9 p.m.

Yuma Taco Truck Update

June 18, 2007 ed fromyuma Food Trucks, Mexican Restaurants, Taco Shops, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!, Yuma

Hello, this is Ed from Yuma. I know many of you think that I am just a fictional character who exists only in Kirk's imagination and on his blog, but on my good days, I am actually a real functioning in-the-flesh human being. In a moment of folly (or perhaps just laziness), Kirk has asked me, ed from Yuma, to write a post for this wonderful blog of his, so here goes.

Careful readers of this blog will remember that Kirk visited Yuma a while back and sampled some of our unique taco truck cuisine. Considering how much the taco truck scene can change literally overnight, it is remarkable that Kirk's posts are still very relevant in 2007 – though some trucks are closed for the summer. In this post, I will look at the best of the new taco trucks and revisit some old favorites from Kirk's trip here.

Tacos y Mariscos Juanita's

The most important new addition to Yuma taco truck choices is Juanita's. It is located in a lot just west of Avenue A on 8th St. Unlike many taco trucks, Juanita's is more than just the truck. There is a covered ramada with five small tables each offering plenty of hot sauce choices. In addition, restrooms for men and women are provided as well. Not only do these come in handy for obvious reasons, but they also provide a way to clean taco sticky hands.

During Yuma's main season, there is also an outdoor grill next to the truck, preparing meat for carne asada tacos, but seafood is the specialty of the truck. Both shrimp and fish tacos are available ($1.25 each):

The fish taco is on the left, and the shrimp is on the right.

The fish taco (taco de pescado) contains a generous portion of fresh meaty white fish. The lightly flavored white sauce adds a bit of moisture and a little tang , the diced cabbage adds crunch, and the chopped tomatoes add a nice color contrast. While numerous bottled sauces are available, I always use Juanita’s own homemade salsa, and a squirt bottle of this spicy and powerful sauce sits on every table. My only complaint about the fish taco is that its breading is not crunchy. Normally I'm not a huge fan of shrimp tacos (tacos de camerones), but Juanita's version is outstanding. Each small shrimp is individually breaded, and these have the required crunchiness that makes them a delight to eat. In this case, as you can see, I squirted too much of Juanita's great salsa over the taco so that some of the shrimpy taste was lost in picante overload. Very tasty nonetheless.

My favorite item at this truck, however, is the campechana "con todo," with everything, meaning with all the seafood choices and chopped red onions and cucumber ($11):

Juanita’s serves one of the most outstanding campechanas I have ever eaten. The mildly flavored tomato water (who knows exactly what is in it, along with tomato juice, lime juice, and perhaps a little Clamato) provides an outstanding backdrop for the fresh and tasty seafood. One or two squirts of salsa and I am ready to devour. The shrimp here are large and perfectly cooked – completely succulent, juicy, and flavorful. The octopus chunks (pulpo) are not at all tough and rubbery; instead the pieces of octopus are tender and almost soft, having just enough chew to provide some complexity in mouth feel with the other ingredients.

But there is more than just octopus and shrimp:

Yes, your eyes are not lying. This seafood cocktail also contains raw and extremely fresh bay scallops, squarish chunks of canned abalone (thanks Melanie), and three flavorful oysters. For some reason, the oysters are always my favorite as, in my mouth at least, the briny and slightly funky oyster flavor perfectly complements the tomato water while the soft texture contrasts with the crunchy onions and cukes.

If I have any complaint about Juanita's, it is that it is too popular. At peak times during the winter, there is no room at any of the tables, and I have to stand in line to order. However, the food is quickly prepared – and tastes great even when eaten in the front seat of my car.

Taco Trucks Redux

In this part of the post, I just want to add some information about three of the trucks that Kirk visited in Yuma. First, Tio Juan is still making an outstanding mixed seafood cocktail (campechana) although they are closed now for the summer – which is why I have no pictures (sorry). But twice this winter when I visited the stand, the coctele contained unusual and very flavorful black clams. While the exterior of the clam is grayish, the interior is solid black like coal. No matter how strange they looked, the firm textured flesh was clammy sweet. The young man who made my campechana told me the clams came from Los Mochis.

I also watched carefully as he made my campechana and was surprised by the complexity of the liquid. He used small amounts of ketchup, lime juice, Clamato, canned tomato sauce, and dashes of bottled hot sauce. He then ladled shrimp water (“this is the water we get from boiling the shrimp,” he said) into the mix. The liquid was much fishier tasting than in other cocteles I've eaten. My only complaint was that the shrimp were hammered, so overcooked that their texture was not ideal.

Of course, I have returned often to Mariscos el Nayarita as no one can get enough of their wonderful shrimp empanadas. There are, however, at least two other dishes that are done very well at this stand. One of them is whole fish:

This perfectly fried whole tilapia is served with corn tortillas and salsa. The outside of the fish has a nice crunch, but most of the flesh was still moist and juicy. There was no greasy aftertaste whatsoever. As you can see, we liked the fish:

We also tried a very special dish at the truck, pescado zarandeado, a traditional style of fish preparation common along the eastern shore of the Sea of Cortez. Here the whole fish is split in half, sprinkled with Mexican spices, and grilled outside over charcoal:

This type of fish is served only at the height of the winter season, and often one needs to let them know an hour or more in advance so that they can prepare the coals. Again, the fish was served with salsas and corn tortillas. The Mexican spices add a flavorful touch to the fish although this one was slightly overcooked for my taste.

Recently, I was driving along 8th St, trying to locate any new trucks and see which ones were still open. Well, okay, I was also hungry, so this wasn't purely a research exploration. Unfortunately, one of the new trucks I was looking for had vanished, and a couple others are closed for the season. So that brought me back to Deliciosos del Mar, the wonderful little truck that makes the tasty caguamanta, stingray soup. At first it looked like it was not going to be my day as the nice lady at the window finally was able to communicate to me (her English being worse than my Spanish – and that means almost no communication at all) that the soup was not ready yet.

Well, I was too hungry to look for any place else, so I ordered two tacos:

The taco on the right is a decent shrimp taco though I prefer the ones from Juanita’s. The taco on the left was the revelation. It had never before occurred to me to try a cabeza taco at a truck that seemed so focused on seafood. Now I have learned my lesson as this was the best cabeza taco I have ever had in Yuma:

Look carefully at the chunks of Cabeza here. Each one was like a tender flavor bomb, full of meaty and beefy goodness. If you look carefully, you also can see some of the fat that added so much to the richness (and, no doubt, cholesterol) in this taco. The chopped cabbage and red onions and the leaves of cilantro contributed flavors and textures and helped make each bite a true joy.

So even now, a person can find good taco truck cuisine in Yuma, and with temperatures reaching around 110°, the town has plenty of parking places and no lines at the taco trucks. Come visit.