First Impression: Better Than Average

Mama's Kitchen
504 West Hildebrand

(between San Pedro & Blanco, by the railroad tracks)

There used to be a different little family-owned Tex-Mex restaurant in this space; and another one before that; and probably another one before that, and so on all the way back to when this was a house on the edge of town in the 1940s. Both predecessors that I tried were pretty run-of-the-mill on a good day, and they didn't seem to have that many good days.

Knowing that, I only went here for breakfast because of my halfway-serious desire to try and review all the restaurants along what I call the Hildebrand Corridor, that stretch of the avenue between McCullough and Fredericksburg, along with the side-streets.  I put off dining here for a long time, expecting something not worthwhile in a town filled with so very many good Tex-Mex cocinas. 

I'm happy to say that this place was, if not a revelation, at least a pleasant surprise. 

The interior is not substantially different from what it was under the former régime: clean enough, not too many ticky-tack tchotchkis around; a few interesting or amusing wall hangings (including an enormous map of Mexico, such as one would find in a schoolroom in Morelia). The furnishings are all small-family-restaurant standard, apparently in decent enough shape. One noticeable drawback is the adhesive quality of the heavy clear vinyl table covers, which make it difficult to move things around on the surface. Not really a problem until you go to slide a water glass out of the way and, oops! Top moves, bottom doesn't. Also the noise from the hardworking window-unit air conditioners is distracting at first, until you get used to it and it becomes just another bit of white noise competing with the stereo and the conversations from other tables. 

The server was prompt and courteous; she spoke just enough English to be able to deal with my friends who speak no Spanish, but clearly Spanish is the preferred language here. And although my own Spanish has rusted away to dust in most applications, I still retain enough restaurant-Spanish to place the right order and answer most questions a server is likely to ask, even if it's only slowly and with poorly-constructed sentences.

What's that mean?
Last city inspection: February 2014
3 demerits (very good)

I went with one of my standard orders: one machacado taco on flour, one chilaquile taco on corn, with coffee. The coffee was in the average range: not too bitter, not too acidic, not too strong, not too weak. Really not too anything. There's nothing about it to recommend, but nothing to condemn either.  It's just ... coffee.

The chilaquiles here are of the variety that I like best, often called a la mexicana: prepared with eggs, tomato, peppers and onion. The chilaquiles themselves (meaning the fried pieces of corn tortilla) were done a little past perfection, but maintained enough crunchy texture and toasted-corn flavour to satisfy. The egg and vegetable mixture was very well done, clearly not rushed as so many kitchens will do. The vegetables were cooked through but not overdone, and the eggs were cooked to moist solidity. There was a satisfying quantity of cheese, and the salsa picante roja in the mixture gave it just the right kick.

The machacado was even better. The meat was dry and chewy, as it should be, though a good deal saltier than I like; the egg mixture accompanying it was as perfectly done as with the chilaquile taco. (No surprise, since they were made at the same time.) I added a little salsa verde to this taco, and the result was exceptional: a very satisfying blend of textures and flavours.

The menu states proudly that the restaurant makes its own flour tortillas. They also make their own corn tortillas, and if I were running this restaurant I'd be prouder of those. The flour tortillas were on the high side of good, but the corn tortillas had outstanding texture and coherence, and very good flavour. I recommend them to all my gringo friends willing to step back from the flour tortillas.

 

An update: I reviewed this place two years later, in 2016, and found it improved. That review is on Zomato.com. Since then I've been back a number of times, and since the current owners took over, it has come to be one of the reliably good taquerías in the Hildebrand corridor. The food is consistently good, the service excellent, and the prices still good. They sometimes get Mexican pastries from a local provider, and when they have them, they're excellent. 

Much Improved

Taquería Chapala Jalisco
1902 McCullough

(at Dewey)

This taco house recently moved from a repurposed Pizza Hut across the street into a larger, and much nicer, new building.  The improvement to the atmosphere is more than matched by the improvement in the food on offer, and the service and value remain as good as before.

what's that mean?
The city hasn't inspected this
restaurant since the move.

The chilaquiles, which on a previous visit had been disappointing in every particular, were tremendously improved. The eggs were still moist, the tortilla strips were thin and nicely fried, the vegetables were plentiful and thoroughly cooked but not over-done. The cheese was a fancy-grated Jack, and the recipe included a delicious and only slightly picquant sauce; the very good red salsa from the table made the seasoning exactly to my liking. The flour tortilla surrounding the whole was large and full and pillowy, with good flavour and good texture.

I also tried the machacado, which was well done, with plenty of meat and a similarly superior accompaniment of egg, vegetables and cheese. This was wrapped in a fresh, well-made corn tortilla. I   added a little of the green salsa to give the taco the level of heat I liked, though the green was not as satisfying as the red in this case.

Even the coffee has improved. Where before I noted it was on the acidic side, this time I found it full-bodied and entirely pleasant.

Meh...

El Jarrito Café
2014 Blanco

(just south of Hildebrand)

I was reminded recently of my intention to review all the restaurants along what I call the Hildebrand Corridor: that stretch along the road, a few blocks wide, that runs from Fredericksburg to McCullough, and harbours a couple dozen taquerías. It's been a while since I expanded on the series of reviews, and I'm sure no one would notice if I never finished it.... But, being embued with a revived, even if momentary, sense of commitment to worthless tasks, I resume with a report on my visit this morning.

This is probably the third time I've been to El Jarrito. It hasn't impressed on any occasion, but it had, on previous visits, been at least okay. Today it was less than that.

First, the good: there's plenty of parking. A large lot on the north side of the building, and street parking on the side-street to the south. And the prices are pretty good, just enough to warrant a rating half a chili pepper above average. And the portions in the tacos are pretty good as well. The coffee was not at all bitter; I even thought it was a little weak, but I kind of like it that way. Most people probably wouldn't. The food itself is still just so-so.

I ordered a machacado taco con huevo in a corn tortilla, and a fajita ranchera taco in a flour tortilla. Both tortillas were acceptable, and I might even go so far as to say that the corn tortilla is better than your average of that type. The fajita ranchera was liberally dosed with a very spicy red salsa, which some people might find overwhelming; if that's you, it can be ordered without the sauce and you can add just as much as you like. Me, I enjoyed it.

last city inspection: November 2013
14 demerits
about ratings

The machacado taco ... well, I don't know what that's like. The first bite made me wrinkle my brow to identify the unusual flavour I found. What was that, I asked myself? I knew I'd had it before.... Took another bite and thought, Yes, I've had this before. It's not really objectionable, like, say, peanut butter and mole, but it was really odd for machacado. The texture was all wrong, too.

A third bite -- and by now, I'm halfway through the taco -- and it comes to me: it's not machacado, it's chorizo. Not my favourite breakfast meat, nowhere near machacado in the rankings. So as a taco of chorizo con huevo, it was alright, just not what I ordered, and not what I wanted. And I'm not the sort to send back a half-eaten taco.

A wrong order happens from time to time, and I try not to fixate on it; it's worthy of a mention, but not necessarily a downgrade of the rating. But in other ways the service here was less than good. It took longer than it should have for us to get menus, and the waitress never came to refill my coffee cup or my friend's ice tea. 

As for the atmosphere in the place: in many ways it is your typical Tex-Mex taquería: brightly coloured walls, with an icon of Our Lady of Guadalupe and a few Mexican landscape pictures. But these were a little on the tatty side, and the walls seemed to have need of a good cleaning. The noise was obtrusive, too, even though the sound on the television was turned down fairly low; there seemed to be a stereo playing somewhere in the back, to go with all the conversation bouncing off the hard surfaces. I thought it was just a little too loud. Not Rosario's-loud, and certainly not Lukë-loud, but too loud for comfort.

In short ... with so many better places so close by, I wonder that this place is still around.