You will notice there is only one picture in this blog. That is because there only needs to be one picture. You are looking at five rolled tacos (okay I might have eaten one) covered in cheese, crema (not sour cream), filled with the best tasting pork you will ever eat (I added diced onions to mine). This is not your average burnt piece of carnita, those have their place but not here. These are more like steamed chunks of meat. You can taste the hours that went into their production, though not for long. These chunks of pork will last just long enough for you to cram them into your mouth. The price for these, you ask, one dollar each, and that is a steal.
But I am jumping ahead. A friend of mine was coming down to visit and suggested a certain Luchador themed restaurant that will not be named. I noted that while the place certainly has flare it was lacking in flavor, and I was speaking specifically of their food. Instead I remembered a happier time three years ago when my co-worker would get a nod from the boss to go out and bring back food from a place only spoken of in a whisper, Las Cuatros Milpas. They would arrive back an hour later with some of the best pork I'd ever put into my mouth. Ah, those were the days.
So we decided to meet up at Las Cuatros Milpas, and after searching around the area I snagged a parking spot a block away. Barrio Logan is not the easiest place to park in general, but finding a parking spot in front of this place is nearly impossible. The first thing you see is a line of people coming out the front door. The people span the rainbow of skin colors and ethnicities, but what they do have in common is a love of great Mexican food.
Entering the front door you see two older Mexican ladies working behind the counter dropping rolled tacos into a big, wide bowl filled with oil. At the same time they are shoveling in pieces of meat into small greasy corn tortillas. The operation is simple: grab food, quickly prep, drop on plate, and pay. The whole operation takes a minute or so. You can ask a question, but make it fast as there are a lot of hungry people behind you. The best part, as far as I can tell there is only one type of meat, pork. No confusion or questions, just let me have that. There are other foods there. The beans and rice are pretty good. On Saturdays they have menudo. But what people go there for is the pork, and most people go for the rolled tacos, lots of people, pretty much every day of the week (except Sunday, they are closed Sunday).
There is only one picture in this blog. What you are not seeing are the women behind the counter hard at work putting a meal together. What you do not see are the other women further on in the restaurant working with large industrial sized machines making all the food from scratch. What you do not see are the smiling faces, full stomachs, and sighs of contentment from the people who have just finished their food, or their grimace as they realize they will have to get back in line to get more. There is only one picture in this this blog, and it is the only picture you need to see.
There are few Mexican restaurants so good that I go there and don't feel the need to order meat. Strike that, there is only one. My wife introduced it to me when we first started dating, and told me it was a place that her parents went to in their youth. In the middle of Chula Vista there is a place that looks like a bomb shelter on the outside and an authentic Mexican restaurant on the inside. It is a place of sweet aromas, and kind faces, and people who start off speaking Spanish to me, but quickly realize I am a gringo, and switch back to English. It is one of my favorite places to grab Mexican food, and the only place I order Chile Relleno. That place is El Patio.
Now my wife does not like the fact I mention this, but El Patio is a hole in the wall, and if you have ever been inside of it the lack of a view might turn you off, but the inside is decorated with beautiful paintings that take the eye away from the small windows looking out (if you were to stand on a bar stool) to the street. Recently they have updated the restaurant with new booths, and a new menu. Thankfully the menu only looks new, it still has the favorites that lured my parents-in-law there so many years ago.
So my wife and I were free on a Friday night and felt like something special so we headed down to Chula Vista for a bit. We were greeted at the door, and quickly shown to a booth were we proceeded to snack on chip and salsa with a side of hot carrots (small bowels of pickled slices carrots, onion, and jalapenos). My wife and I ordered while I sipped on ice tea. Before I'd even gotten to my third ice tea (I was pretty thirsty after running right before we came) they'd brought out our food.
I had a number ten, two cheese stuffed Chile Rellenos with a side of rice and beans and a single gigantic tortilla (usually one is enough to fill me up, but I was pretty hungry that night). My wife went with her usual, the Guacamole Enchilada with rice and beans, which I just realized is also Vegetarian, go figure. As usual my Chile Rellenos were perfect. Scrumptious chilies stuffed with cheese. I usually stack it with the rice and beans on a strip of still steaming hot tortilla and shovel it all into my mouth. My wife, meanwhile, managed to finish one and a half Guacamole Enchiladas before calling it quits, but not without a big smile on her face. I should add to this day my wife compares every Enchilada, Guacamole or not, to the ones at El Patio, and they almost always come up short in comparison.
So a smile on our faces, and a bulge in our bellies my wife and I exited El Patio. Who knows when we will return. Judging from my wife's expression I'd guess sometime next week.
It was a beautiful day in Mission Hills, the sun was bright, there was a slight breeze coming from the ocean, and I felt the need for some tasty Mexican food.My first thought was to stop by Mama Testa, really good but a bit pricey for me at the moment , and who can forget El Indio where everything is dripping with grease but after the first bite you don’t care.No what I wanted was somewhere between those two.I wanted tasty and just a little bit bad for me.I wanted something different a little out of the norm.So there I was coming back from the grocery store off Washington when what should I see on my right but the words, “Lucha Libre” and “Taco”.
My eyes lit up, they had had me at Lucha.
Now I’ve walked into my share of trendy/gimmicky eateries in my time.Ninjas, pirates, medieval wenches (by the way they hate being called that, they prefer pre-enlightened serving maids), but I had never been to a place that so thoroughly screamed luchadore in my entire life, outside of the wrestling rings of Mexico.Upon entering I saw a TV, no plasma for this place but an old fashioned square box, playing classic Lucha films, starring my favorite Lucha actor, El Santo.I glanced at the nearest seat only to find myself staring at a luchadore mask sown into the cushion.To my right I saw a large painting of a luchadore posing triumphantly, looking down at me as if to question if I was man enough to enter this establishment.Putting on my best swagger I approached the counter and looked at the menu.
I was happy to see some of the old favorites on the board, including all manner of taco and burrito with chicken, steak, or shrimp.I’ll admit the surf and turf appealed to me, and it was nice to see a vegetarian option on the board as well, a rarity in a taco shop outside of a bean and cheese burrito.I finally settled on the California burrito with marinated steak, while my guinea pi… I mean good friend who I had brought along to offer a contrasting opinion got a Carne Asada burrito.I usually go for more exotic fare like adobo, but I’ve found many of the smaller Mexican eateries tend to overcook the steak until it is like chewy rubber, and I really wanted to test this place out.I also ordered a TJ dog, wondering if it would be as good as the ones I’d bought in, well, TJ.
While I waited for the food to finish cooking my friend and I wandered around the restaurant taking in the atmosphere.The atmosphere consisted of many pictures of famous and some not so famous masked wrestlers that adorned the walls, a collection of lucha libre masks hanging along the far wall over the window, and a disco ball.I could understand the rest but not the disco ball, unless the place doubled as some kind of 70’s night club after it closed down for the night.Most impressive of all the luchedore swag was the seat in the corner reserved for “The Champion.”As you can see in the pictures it is roped off from the public, and, like a little kid, as soon as I saw it I wondered how I could get my butt into that little polished seat and eat off the gaudy gold utensils there-in.I guess that was for another day though because just after I had taken a picture of it the food was ready.
I collected my order from the counter, this is not the type of place where they deliver the food to you, and brought it back to my friend, but not before stopping at the salsa bar, with a fair selection from red hot to verde mild, where I selected some that were sure to leave me sweating for the rest of the day.First we tried the TJ dogs, which were not bad but would take a little bit of work to be classified as great.The overall taste was good, a combination of onions, peppers, and every condiment in the book except relish.There was also bacon wrapped around it, but it was difficult to see, which my friend pointed out to me, as it was wrapped so tightly and was so thin that it could easily be mistaken for the charred outer layer of the hot dog itself.Other than that it was small, about the size of a 99 cent dog from Weinerschnichel.Despite these minor drawbacks I would define it as a good appetizer to the main course.
My California Burrito was filled with French fries, pico de gallo, cheese, sour cream, and steak.I haven’t had French fries stuffed into my food since I was a kid, but they added just the right consistency and heft to my burrito.The ingredients tasted fresh, and the steak was marinated perfectly.As with all food I enjoy I found myself having to slow down so I wouldn’t wolf it down in six or seven bits.I say six or seven but this burrito was pretty hefty and it actually took me more around 20 bites to get through it, more than worth the price I had paid for it.My friend liked his burrito, which had the same ingredients as mine minus the sour cream and fries but with guacamole.
After dumping our trash I took one last look at the place and smiled.It was gimmicky and very tacky, but there was an undercurrent of respect and tradition, much like lucha libre.The food was tasty, the day bright, and I had found a new shade of Mexican food in which to indulge.Once again, life was good, until later that night when my stomach started bouncing around like a cruiserweight jockeying for the belt.
Lucha Libre Taco Shop
1810 West Washington Street
San Diego, CA 92103
(619) 296-8226
