Mexican Restaurants – Page 37

Porkyland

March 20, 2006 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants

With a name like Porkyland, well…..the food better be good! Located in Barrio Logan(and also La Jolla – go figure!), on the corner of Logan Avenue and Sampson Street, and right down the block from the landmark that many consider to be the "heart" of San Diego’s Latino Community, the colorful Chicano Park, resides Porkyland Restaurant and Tortilla Factory.

Once in Porkyland (The Happiest Place on the Planet?), you’ll notice that the kitchen area takes up over half of Porkyland’s space. The menu is limited, but still has a pretty good variety of the "usual suspects."

I did have my mind made up, and with the help of the very friendly Young Lady, I placed my order. I originally ordered a pound of Carnitas, but the Young Lady, told me that for $8.99, I could get the "Carnitas Special." Which consists of a pound of carnitas, fresh tortillas, beans, cilantro, and onions. this being a mere 50 cents more then the price for a pound of carnitas she won me over. Of course, she then had to ask me, with a giggle, if I’d be eating this here! I think she was joking………

For those who are used to the roasted then deep fried, greasy, and salty carnitas; these will surprise you. These carnitas are very tender, and the flavor is slightly smokey; rich, yet not greasy or overly salty in the slightest. Though the carnitas at Carnitas Michoacan have a much more assertive flavor, these are soft and mild, yet you know you are eating "oink".

I usually chose not to "defile" good carnitas with too many "accouterments", and prefer just some onions, cilantro, and a good hot sauce, on one of the steaming hot fresh tortillas. Delici-yoso!!!

The fresh tortillas were decent, with slight elasticity, and not brittle in the least. But not even close to those I had in Yuma, which had a nice rich corn flavor. The beans were good, slightly chunky, and not too salty or greasy.

Price wise, this was a bargain, about a dozen fresh and hot tortillas, a pound of carnitas, a container of beans, for $8.99. Enough for the four of us (Me, the Missus, Sammy, and Frankie), with a bit leftover.

The menu at Porkyland also features Rolled Tacos, Carne Asada, and even Salads(at Porkyland!!!), by if you make the effort to get there, you might as well get at least a Carnitas Burrito!

Porkyland Restaurant
2196 Logan Ave
San Diego, CA 92113

Tacos El Panson

February 12, 2006 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants, Taco Shops

El Cajon Boulevard can sometimes seem like an ocean of restaurants, arriving wave after wave. After passing the twentieth Pho’ or Mexican Restaurant your senses can shut down. And in the end, I’ll end up at an old standby. But once in a while something will catch my eye. At El Panson, it wasn’t the generic sign, that got my attention.

But it’s that Baby on the right that grabbed me. That’s a "trompo" or "top", a vertical spit of meat, typically Al Pastor. This meant of course, an immediate right turn and a search for parking. For the uninitiated, cooking with a vertical spit was supposedly brought to Mexico by Lebanese immigrants. And the cooking style has been adapted, using a "roll" of thinly sliced pork that has been marinated and rubbed with herbs and spices, called Tacos Al Pastor(Shephard style tacos). The meat is turned and shaved off, much like Gyros, and made into tacos. During that visit, the Missus and I had several good tacos, but the photos never really came out(see photo on the right). And now with the weather a bit warm for February, I wanted to grab a few tacos, and decided to see if my camera would work this time. On this afternoon, El Panson was quite busy, and the sounds and smells of various herbs and spices hung in the air. One Gal was hard at work on tortillas, while one Gentleman flew around in the small little space filling orders.

I ordered three tacos(all tacos $1.50), and had a seat. After a short wait, a Young Lady popped out of the door and into the small dining area and I had my tacos:

I quickly hit the salsa bar, and grabbed some pico de gallo, and some of the extra hot salsa, and some lime, and I was good to go. I’m not one for over garnishing my tacos. As I learned on my trip to Yuma, the flavor of the meat really needs to come through. As per standard, these tacos came on small corn tortillas, which gave the flavor a little boost.

Here’s the run down on the various tacos. First up Tacos La Cabeza:

Tacos De Cabeza, or "head tacos" are usually made from beef cheek meat. Most versions of Tacos De Cabeza in San Diego are horrible. Made from undercooked waxy, fatty, and stale tasting chopped chunks of mystery meat. The version at El Panson was very moist and soft, with no greasy and waxy texture. The meat was lacking the intense "beefiness" that I’ve experienced in good Cabreza, but was pretty decent. The onions and cilantro added flavor and crunch to the taco, and the other garnishes made it complete. Overall, pretty good, not oily or greasy, and lacking the rich beefy flavor I enjoy, but mile above most of the Cabeza I’ve had in San Diego.

The Adobada.

I guess I get confused, I know it’s Al Pastor, I even order it as Al Pastor, but it’s on the menu as Adobada. I watched the meat sliced from the trompo, juices flying everywhere, and vaporizing as it hit the heating elements, I had high hopes for the Adobada. In the end, the flavoring was much too mild, though the meat was very soft and moist, and the caramelized "bits" added some nice flavor. I enjoy my Al Pastor/Adobada seasoned a bit more aggressively, though I’d happily have this again.

Birria De Res

So what I’ve learned is Birria De Chivo is stewed goat(yum!), and Birria De Res is stewed/roasted beef. On my first trip with the Missus, the Birria had a good bit of spice, and the flecks of chilies could be seen in the meat. The Birria was also much more moist. Today, the meat was much milder and not as juicy. Still enjoyable, but not great.

What ‘s really interesting is, that because the various meats are quite rich, you’ll find that three to four tacos, with garnishes may make you quite full. Portions can be deceptive.

Here’s one of the surviving photos from our first visit. The taco with Guacamole is the Carne Asada, and it was quite dry and tasteless.

If you’re in the area, and want a nice snack El Panson might fill the bill. BTW, I understand that El Panson means something like ‘Fat Man’…….

Tacos El Panson
4433 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92115
OPEN DAILY
Sun-Thurs 10am – 12am
Fri – Sat 10am – 3am

El Dorado Mexican & Peruvian Restaurant

January 30, 2006 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants, Peruvian Restaurants

*** El Dorado has changed ownership and no longer serves Peruvian food

One day on a trip down to Hogetsu Bakery, I noticed El Dorado, sitting in a strip mall on the corner of Palomar Street and 3rd Avenue in Chula Vista:

The Missus and I had nice memories of Peruvian in Los Angeles, so we had to make a trip down to Chula Vista for a visit. We arrived during a week day for a lunch, and found the colorful restaurant completely empty. Looking around we started to realize that this visit may be a bit of a mistake.

The decor and signs screamed out "Sports Bar". But we forged ahead! The very friendly and helpful Waitress, took our order and brought over some chips and Salsa.

The chips were not oily and tasted fresh, with a nice corn taste. The salsa had a nice spicy and sweet flavor; for some reason it reminded me of Trader Joe's Roasted Garlic Salsa, except fresher and more spicy. Things were looking up! While we were waiting for our order, we watched the Young Lady who served us cleaning with complete awe. I'm talking about really clean, really fast, and really thorough. If we could give her a "letter grade" Ala DOH, she'd get an 'A+'.

Finally our dishes arrived. I ordered the standard Lomo Saltado ($5.50):

Lomo Saltado, is a traditional Peruvian "stir-fry" dish, with strips of beef, onions, tomatoes, and most of all french-fries, yep french fries! A carb lovers dream! The dish usually has a touch of heat provided by some hot pepper. This version was a major disappointment. The steak was tough, dry, and tasteless; giving new meaning to the term "two-dollar steak". The onions and tomatoes were over-cooked and mush, as were the french fries. Though the taste of remnants of the onions, fries, and tomatoes(skin) was fairly tangy, there was a lack of any heat. The rice with frozen peas and carrots,was really dry. 'Nuff said.

The Missus really surprised me and ordered Anticuchos($5.50):

Anticuchos is a skewered meat; in this case beef heart, marinated in vinegar and chilies. This was served with a pretty weak "white" sauce, the thin slices of heart were decent; slightly gamey, but not too rubbery. The thick slices tasted too much like liver, which I don't care for, and was much too dry. Overall, the beef heart was really under seasoned and bland. The best part of the dish was the slice of deep-fried yucca. Crisp on the outside, with a dense and starchy interior.

We had pretty much written off this meal when the Deep Fried Plantains arrived($5.50):

We were a bit turned off at the almost black, charred appearance when the dish arrived. But the plantains were just darkly caramelized, and were sweet, tangy, and rich. The condense milk like "leche" helped to smooth out the flavor. Unfortunately, the plantains are not reason enough for us to return. The menu is quite extensive, with dishes like Cau Cau (tripe stew) and Arroz Chaufa (Peruvian Fried Rice), but we'll leave that for others to explore.

El Dorado Peruvian and Mexican Seafood & Grill
311 Palomar St
Chula Vista, CA 91911

Lalo’s Tacos Al Pastor, Etc

January 11, 2006 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants, Taco Shops

**** Lalo's has closed.

I can hear you all now…."oh no, not another taco shop!" Believe me, we've said that a time or two. But one of the great things thing about San Diego is that there are Taco Shops everywhere. On the other hand one of the bad things about San Diego is that there are Taco Shops everywhere. In certain neighborhoods, it is possible to find a Taco Shop on every corner of a given block, and very mediocre Taco Shops at that. But sometimes it's either a Taco Shop or some Fast Food joint, in that case, I'll usually take a Taco Shop. After a recent shopping excursion to Trader Joe's in Hillcrest, we were a bit hungry, and stopped by Lalo's.

There always seems to be a few people in Lalo's, and the menu is pretty extensive, with everything from Flautas to Torta's. In fact, there's so much "stuff" on the menu, that Vietnamese Menu overload can occur.

After staring at the menu for about ten minutes, we took the easy way out and ordered the "specials".

The "Hillcrest"($4.99):

The plate featured four "mini" Al Pastor tacos, refried beans, and rice. Quite alot of food for $4.99! The rice was rather dry and tasteless, but I rather enjoyed the taste and texture of the beans after I added some salsa from the Salsa Bar to it. The four tacos had a nice amount of Al Pastor in them.

The good; the Al Pastor was seasoned well, with a nice chili flavor, and good caramelization. The bad; the Al Pastor was pretty dry, and the Guacamole flavorless and "gluey", the tortillas were fairly crumbly. The tacos tasted much better without the "Guac" and with just a squeeze of lime. If I ever have these again, that's how I'll get them.

The "Uptown"($4.49); featured a Fish Taco, Two Rolled Tacos(1 beef, 1 chicken), and same beans and rice.

I'm glad that the Fish Taco had cabbage, instead of lettuce. Though it looked like a large piece of fried fish, the taco actually contained two "fish nuggets", and there was a "gap" between the pieces of fish. The fish was well fried, and tasted okay with the salsa from the bar. The Rolled Tacos (taquitos) were very bland, with very little filling. I really couldn't tell which was the beef and which was the chicken.

In the end Lalo's really didn't stand out from the plethora of other Taco Shops in San Diego, though the prices are fairly reasonable.

Lalo's Tacos Etc (Yes, "Etc" is part of the name)
1266 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92103

Postscipt:

When I typed the word "plethora" above, a really weird conversation entered my "stream of consciousness". I guess this is kind of dated, and pretty un-hip….

El Guapo: Jefe, would you say I have a plethora of pinatas?
Jefe: A what?
El Guapo: A "plethora".
Jefe: Oh yes, El Guapo. You have a plethora.
El Guapo: Jefe, what is a plethora?
Jefe: Why, El Guapo?
El Guapo: Well, you just told me that I had a plethora, and I would just like to know if you know what it means to have a plethora. I would not like to think that someone would tell someone else he has a plethora, and then find out that that person has "no idea" what it means to have a plethora.
Jefe: El Guapo, I know that I, Jefe, do not have your superior intellect and education, but could it be that once again, you are angry at something else, and are looking to take it out on me?

Taqueria El Guero

January 8, 2006 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants

I’ve always noticed the “Farmers Market” sign while driving on the 5 Freeway when passing the exit for the Coronado Bridge. I’ve also passed the structure on Imperial Avenue, and have wondered just what was in this large brick building.

The main business in the building is the Plaza Del Sol Market. But walk East past the Market and enter through the doorway, and you’ll enter another world. This half of the building contains a huge collection of stalls, selling everything from Car Insurance to Carnitas. Among the many food stalls, on the far east side of the building among the crowds eating even at 2pm on a Sunday lies Taqueria El Guero. I decided to stop here, mainly because many of the other stalls were either packed or closing down. But “El Guero” was going strong, except for the empty Trompo(verticle spit, that holds and cooks Al Pastor). The trompo was enough to make us stop and grab some tacos.

All tacos here are $1.16 each, ad include items such as tripas(intestines), buche(stomach), and carne asada. The drill is, a Gal with a order pad meets you at the counter and you place your order; in our case Cabeza(cheek), Al Pastor(marinated and rubbed pork, grilled on a verticle spit), and Carne Asada. We had originally wanted lengua(tongue), but they were out. When your order is ready, you get just tortillas with the meat on it. You walk over to the “salsa” stand, and load up on what you want, from radishes to onions. (Sorry, no sour cream!!!!) Walk on over to a empty table and eat. Be careful, there are pigeons in the rafters, and they create the major pigeon by-product, you really don’t want that on you, or your taco!

We really don’t put much on our tacos, at least these type of tacos. The well marinated, or well stewed meat has alot of flavor. In this case the Asada was too mild, and the Cabeza was pretty good, but a bit too waxy, and not cooked to the moist tenderness that I enjoy. The Al Pastor, was excellent though, very moist, and slightly spicy. The Al Pastor needed no additional flavoring, though perhaps it could have been a bit more caramelized, but I think that’s the product of our late arrival.

3 Tacos and Horchata for 5 bucks ain’t bad. The Al Pastor makes this place worth another visit.

Over the next few weeks I’ll cover the other eating stalls within the Farmers Market, especially Carnitas Michoacan, which besides selling carnitas in tacos and tortas, sells carnitas by weight and “part”(i.e. leg, shoulder, skin). Today we arrived late and there was only leg and “skin” left. Though we were the only Non-Hispanic people I saw in the market, most people(except the tamale guy) speak English.

So if you have a chance, go ahead and enter another world at the San Diego Farmers Market.

Taqueria El Guero in the San Diego Farmers Market
2100 Imperial Ave.
San Diego, CA 92102

Ch-Ch-Chain: Chipotle

January 4, 2006 mmm-yoso Chains, Mexican Restaurants

~~Chi-poodle~~, um, Chipotle is one of the "regular stops" for our office. To the extent that we’ve won a few "free lunches" for the office. You know how those work, you throw a business card in a glass jar, and they make a weekly drawing. And sometimes you do win! Chipotle is one of those "Fast Casual" chains, and subsidiary of McDonald’s Corporation, that serves modified "Mexican Food".

You can tell when a restaurant becomes a regular part of the work rotation when you give it a nickname. I’ve started calling Chipotle, "The Poodle", as in "Chi-poodle". Not to slight Chipotle, but if you like a salty, drenched in sour cream, burrito stuffed with rice and beans, and pay 6 bucks for it, Chipotle is your place.

One of the great things about Chipotle, especially for our office is that you can fax in your order by filling out one of these handy-dandy order sheets:

When I order form Chipotle, I’m strictly a vegetarian, yes, VEGETARIAN. I’ve tried all of the "meats", and really don’t care for them. So what I get is a Burrito "Bowl"(you can tell how much I love the tortillas here), with Black Beans, Corn Salsa, Hot Salsa, Sour Cream, Guacamole(extra $1.40), Cheese, and Chips(45 cents).

Can you imagine all of that in a Burrito, along with some "meat", sheesh! I mix everything together and use it as a "dip". The only thing is, that it costs me almost 7 bucks! To be perfectly honest, this veggie bowl is alot better then some other "Fast-Casual" offerings I’ve eaten.

I do enjoy the rather large portion of chips that have been flavored with a lime-salt. Nice and salty, and tastes rather good with the "Veggie-Bowl".

So I’m satisfied just to be able to fit in, at least I know I can order something from "The Poodle".

Question – The quickest way to turn me vegetarian?

The Answer – Keep ordering from all these "Fast-Casual" restaurants.

Chipotle – Coming to a neighborhood near you!

El Potosino Mexican Food

December 27, 2005 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants, Taco Shops

**** El Potosino has closed

I had heard that El Potosino Mexican Restaurant in Lemon Grove made good Cabeza(Beef Head/Cheek) tacos. So we took a drive down to the strip mall near the intersection of Federal Boulevard and College Ave. You could say, I really work hard looking for some……..cabeza.

Entering the large and "breezy" dining area, we looked over the fairly large menu that included Mojarra (usually deep fried tilapia), Cosido De Res(Beef Shank Soup), and all the usual suspects.

We decided to try several of the "meats" and the best platform would seem to be ordering several tacos. We started with Shredded Beef($1.89) and Cabeza($1.89) Tacos. First off these tacos were pretty large. The shredded beef was served in a fried corn tortilla "shell", and overall was pretty bland, and forgettable.

We had made this trip mainly for the Cabeza, so the Cabeza Taco was the focus of my attention. The Cabeza taco was served up in the traditional way, with onions and cilantro, in a mediocre, brittle double corn tortilla. The portion size was fairly large. This cabeza was just okay, fairly gamy, but lacking the condensed beef flavor I was looking for, and not nearly as tender as my favorite Cabeza tacos. The meat was very much like head cheese, and cut into chunks, and more waxy than moist. Not bad, but not good.

In order to "cover" the meal, in case the Cabeza and other tacos are horrid, we will always order a few standard tacos, like the Beef(above) and a Carne Asada($2.29), along with a Adobada($1.89). The Carne Asada, was moist and tender, but flavorless. In fact, this tasted like a guacamole/pico de gallo taco.

The Adobada was the real winner. I had thought that Adobada was pork stewed in a "red" sauce, that included oregano, vinegar, and chipotle. But this Adobada seemed really close to Al Pastor, the dry rubbed, and sometimes marinated pork, usually grilled on a vertical spit(trombo). In fact this would qualify as a real good Al Pastor in my book. The meat was nicely grilled and caramelized, with a balanced "chili" flavor, slightly spicy, with some sweet hints. Delici-yoso!!! I enjoyed the additional taste the onions and cilantro added to the taco, and a squirt of lime brought it all together. If I ever return I'll have an Adobada Burrito, maybe an Adobada with Rice Burrito.

Overall the adobada made this a successful trip. The tacos here seemed to be on the expensive side but were quite large. In fact we left El Potosino more then satisfied. As is the norm, a red and a green hot sauce is served with the tacos. The hot sauces are pretty unremarkable, the green sauce has a better flavor.

El Potosino Mexican Food
6929 Federal Blvd
Lemon Grove, CA 91945

Ray’s Mexican Restaurant – And the Post That Didn’t Want to Be….

December 21, 2005 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants, Taco Shops

Ray’s is a neighborhood taco shop located on El Cajon Boulevard, whose delivery service is very popular with one of the Departments that the Missus works with. Everytime she’s there they order from Ray’s, but it’s always been delivery, and the funny thing is, none of them have ever set foot, nor do they even really know where "Ray’s" is located. I guess it’s called legacy ordering. Maybe once in the past a former Employee was a regular customer of Ray’s and would always place an order, and said practice has perpetuated itself, now becoming a ritual.

That said, trying to create a post about Ray’s has been the bane of my existence. On our first visit I forgot my camera, and thus you missed a very tasty Birria(Goat) Soup, nice tomato flavor and slightly spicy, though a little short on the goat meat. The Missus had the house specialty Mojarra($5.99), which turned out to be a whole deep fried Tilapia(I thought it was a kind of ocean perch, but found out later that the term is also used for Tilapia), served with beans, rice, salsa fresca, and tortillas. I must say, even though I really don’t like tilapia, the fish was fried perfectly, crunchy on the outside, with a moist interior, and not muddy tasting at all.

Then last week, I had finished my post on Ray’s and Typepad crashed…….. So now like a Phoenix, or at least a Tilapia, my Ray’s post has risen from the ashes. No thanks to Typepad though. I had to recreate it from scratch.

What really keeps those people ordering from Ray’s is the Carne Asada and the Shredded Beef. And on our next visit, the Missus ordered Soft Shredded Beef Tacos($3.95), with no cheese(go figure):

Nicely moist and slightly stewed shredded beef filled some corn tortillas. Unlike other versions, these were quite tasty, and with the provided Salsa Verde these were nice a flavorful. Tomato and oregano flavors stood out. I have gotten used to cabbage in my tacos though, and have a problem going back to lettuce…..

She also ordered the Carne Asada Nacho Deluxe($5.50), with no sour cream and other stuff(sigh….)

The Carne Asada at Ray’s is fairly tasty, with nice lime overtones. Though not grilled I still enjoy the Carne Asada here more then Santana’s.

I ordered the Texas Burrito($3.99), something I first heard about from Howie of A Foodie’s-Eye View.

Basically Pollo Asado ("Grilled" Chicken), Potatoes (most version have french fries, but these had cubed potatoes), Salsa Fresca, Sour Cream, and Guacamole. Actually very tasty, and slightly artery hardening. Though moist, I found the chicken to be not as flavorful as the carne asada(of course, you dummy…). The potatoes were nicely salted and fried, and is of course a starch, ’nuff said. And need I to say, quite filling.

On our next visit the Missus tried the Fish Tacos($3.95):

Ordered no sauce and no cheese, just bleh….we’ll stick with El Zarape.

The 3 Rolled Tacos($1.95):

We ordered 1 Beef, 1 Chicken, and 1 Potato. I guess this is great if you got two bucks and are really hungry. There ain’t much in them taquitos, only the potato tasted like anything.

My advice? Stick with the Carne Asada Burrito($3.75), maybe a bit on the salty side, but at least not bland. Make sure you get the "green"(salsa verde) salsa, tangy and spicy.

Or maybe the Mojarra. Ray’s is a good example of a San Diego neighborhood taco shop. Perhaps not outstanding, but with good prices, and some pretty good food.

When the Missus mentioned to Ray’s "Satellite Customers" that she had actually been here, they had one major question; was it a dump, what did it look like? Ray’s is definitely not a dump. The interior is well lit and clean. Service is very efficient. And the one Gentleman always working (Ray?) is very nice and friendly. Yep, that’s Ray’s a nice neighborhood Taco Shop.

Now hopefully this post will finally see the light of day…..

Ray’s Mexican Restaurant
2885 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92104

Open Daily from 8am to 10 pm.

Santana’s Mexican Grill – Hillcrest

December 4, 2005 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants

**** This location of Santana's has closed and is now Tony's Mexican Food

Santana's is part of the "rotation" at the office, along with El Cuervo and ~~Chi-Poodles~~ Chipotle. We usually order from one of these three places about once a week.

Doesn't it look like Santana's is having a little cerveza there? Once one of my favorites, I've been rethinking that designation based on 3 "surprises" on my recent orders.

I really only get two items from Santana's; either a Carne Asada Burrito(CAB) or my favorite cholesterol bomb; a California Burrito(Cali). The Burritos that Santana's serves is relatively large, and wrapped in the usual flour tortilla:

Well here's the first surprise. Santana's had raised their prices 50 cents since our last visit, and the Cali now costs $4.25. Not really a big deal. For those who don't know what a California Burrito is; in San Diego, it's a burrito that contains at minimum Carne Asada(marinated and grilled beef), Cheese, and most importantly, French Fries. Santana's version also has pico de gallo(tomato, onion, cilantro, and chile garnish).

This burrito had a pretty good amount of carne asada, and fries and cheese are always great, right? But here's the next surprise, the carne asada was extremely salty. So salty, that all the other flavors were eliminated. It had become a "salt lick" burrito……The usual starchy, meaty, cheesey, and mildly spicy burrito was utterly ruined.

Well, two weeks later the office decided that it was time for another Santana's run. This time I decided on a Carne Asada Burrito($4.25). I had believed that my previous experience was just a blip on the Taco Shop radar, I opened up my burrito:

First thing I noticed was that my burrito was somewhat "swollen", in a water balloon like way. Sorry to say that this is the only photographic evidence that I have of my Xiao Long(soup) Burrito. For as soon as I cut into it to set-up a photo, a huge amount of liquid poured out everywhere; creating a new office game – chase the soup. My third surprise! I really don't know how Santana's managed to get all of that brown meaty liquid and salsa into the burrito. At least this time it wasn't too salty! Could you imagine if I had just held my burrito and bit into it? Saved by Food Blogging again. Maybe Santana's has been dipping into the cerveza……I'm just wondering what surprise is in store the next time, if there is a next time!

Santana's Mexican Grill
719 W Washington St
San Diego, CA 92103

Cotijas – Clairemont Drive

November 22, 2005 mmm-yoso Mexican Restaurants, Taco Shops

**** This location of Cotijas has closed.

Cotijas is one of three "Taco Shops" in our neighborhood. This is about the only view we've ever had of Cotijas:

You see we've never been in Cotijas, we've always just used the drive thru, aren't they wonderful?

And in the several years we've lived around here, we've only ordered two dishes. Either this:

Or this:

Yes, look closely, these are two different dishes. The first is an artery hardening American Mexican concoction called Carne Asada Chips, the second is an equally cardiac unfriendly creation called Carne Asada Fries(both $5.09). Whoever invented these are obviously on the Surgeon General's ten most wanted list.

But oh, man these a really pretty darn good! I could go on and make glib, obtuse comments of how all the major food groups are represented; but I'm sure you can see them for yourself. The chips are in my opinion better then the fries, which get soggy much too quickly. I like versions with larger cut fries. But why split hairs? If you do need an inventory of what's in this, I'll list a few; sour cream, two cheeses, guacamole (not bad), Salsa Fresca, carne asada(little too mild, but what the heck), refried beans(luckily, not too much), cilantro, green onions, and either fries or chips. Now I know I've missed a few, but what the heck. Oh, and don't forget the hot sauce…….

Calories, we don't care 'bout no stinkin' calories, right? But in all honesty you really don't want to eat too much. Why? If you can't figure it out for yourself, let me spell it out for you:

As we're exiting the drive-thru I always laugh at this sign:

Yeah, if I live that long…..

I've never had a Shrimp Burrito from here. Can't get past those chips. I'm still trying to figure which is the lesser of two evils; this or Loco Moco's. Would it help if I said, "I just tasted, but I never swallowed?" Hmmmm, didn't think so.

Cotijas Mexican Grill
3066 Clairemont Dr
San Diego, CA 92117