Chiripita, Take Dos

I walked down the street towards El Buen Gusto this evening but made a left on Spring Street and quietly snuck behind the laundromat on my way towards De La Guerra. Such is my love for the almighty El Buen, that yes, I do feel a tad bit guilty when I stray elsewhere. But on a street chock full of fine Mexican grub, I feel a little bit like Hugh Hefner at the Playboy mansion in the 70s....there's a lot of good stuff in the near vicinity, so best not settle down to one thing.

The destination of this evening's feast was Super Taqueria La Chiripita, which I'd only eaten at once (a few months ago). On that visit they didn't give me what I ordered, which was irritating, but I remember being quite pleased with their verde sauce. The general opinion was that, if it survived at all, it'd have potential. Well, it's still here, and upon perusing the expansive menu for a second time, I think I might've found the cheapest taqueria around. I don't know of anywhere else in town that you can get a super burrito for $4.95. That's what the menu says....a super burrito....meat, sour cream, guacamole, the works.....for $4.95. I had to check this out.

I had them roll me up a super burrito asada, packed up some salsa verde and headed home. The verdict is that it's a good, not great, burrito. Everything was neatly put together and the ingredients for the most part were tasty, but the meat was lacking in quality, lots of not so great bits that went straight into the waiting mouth of Tuco, a decidely less discriminating eater than I. A super burrito at El Buen Gusto runs $7.95, pretty sure it's the same at Super Cuca's, but I don't look at the prices because it doesn't matter. It's a bargain at any price because those are the finest burritos on the planet. The meat is nearly always top-notch and very rarely do I go away disappointed (although yes, it has happened).

So on the one hand I was pretty ecstatic about how cheap this burrito is, as I'm always out for a bargain, but on the other hand I'm brought back down to earth when the 'meat' of the matter isn't so great. But hell, I'll be going here again no doubt and I'll filter through the meat choices until I find one that suits me.

Maybe it'll be the tripitas.

Super Taqueria La Chiripita

This is the newest place in town, located in the old ChiliTown/Doghouse/etc./etc./etc. building at the corner of De La Guerra and Milpas. They just opened up a few days ago, although their sign next to the register says “since 1980” and the sign above the building says “since 1985”. I guess either of those, although an outright falsehood, is better than “since yesterday”. Either way, I was excited, as usual whenever a new place opens up, especially when it’s the 3rd closest Taqueria to my house…easy walking distance makes me happy.

They’ve got a huge menu, and a huge staff. I was standing outside ordering at the counter and saw no less than 7 people scurrying around in the kitchen .(including a cashier poached from El Buen Gusto and a cook poached from the Rose on Haley....if you're gonna poach, do it from the best). Keeping this many people on the payroll is frightening if you’re at all business minded and my first thought was that no matter how good the food is, this place is not long for Milpas. For example, on the busiest nights at the almighty Rose Café on Haley ( a restaurant that has been there since the 50s) they have a staff of 5 at the most, and one of those is usually sitting in the corner watching everyone else work.

Regardless, I ordered up a ‘burrito ranchero” with chicken, because it sounded good. And when I got it, after far, far too long of a wait for a kitchen with 7 people in it, it was decent. Decent is all. It also wasn’t chicken, it was asada, which is not what I ordered. So that pissed me off, but I couldn’t take it back, because I was already home, had already opened a beer, and wasn’t going to go back and complain about a meat mistake. But the ranchero sauce was verde, and in my world, verde sauce doesn’t go with beef, so the dish would’ve been better with the chicken that I had fucking asked for in the first place. That said, I was longing for chicken even more, because the sauce was quite excellent.

I can’t recommend anyone rush out to this place yet, but I’ll let you know what the next couple times are like. And hopefully I’ll get what I ordered.