Yesterday TC and I were running errands and were pondering where to go for lunch...
Fred's on the Southeast corner of Palomar and 3rd used to be a Sonic. Although we were curious since we hadn't been to Fred's yet, I remembered a place literally across the street that La Ley recommended...
That place is El Charco which opened up earlier this year. It's right behind the building for Kanpai/Gunco Ramen.
We were excited to try something new...
It's pretty spacious inside. See the three wall openings? You can kind of see the meat spit in the first window.
It wasn't too busy when we went that afternoon. The server was super nice, friendly, and patient as we made our choices.
Here's a look at their menu:
We knew we had to try a few of these:
I also picked one of their quesadillas for us to try...
She brought out some chilled condiments for our tacos - radish, salsa fresca, chopped onions with cilantro, and lime slices.
Plus four kinds of salsa - green, red, tomatillo, and one that had a bit of a punch to it (maybe it had chipotle, I'm not sure).
TC and I shared an horchata. I normally don't like horchata, but this was one of the best I've ever tasted. So smooth with just a hint of cinnamon.
La Ley recommened this an an appetizer, the Chicharon de queso, one of their specialties. When the girl brought it out, we couldn't stop looking at it!
It was a sight to behold - a wafer thin roll of grilled Monterey Jack cheese with the most delicate lacy edges. It was served with a side of chunky guacamole.
Seeing this reminded me of an Indian "dosa".
This was so pretty and so so good. Cheesy crisp goodness.
We hated to break it apart, but we got over that pretty quickly, ha ha.
There. Destroyed.
First to come to the table was the Quesadilla with Flor de Calabaza (squash flowers) and cheese.
The tortilla was grilled nice and crisp and the filling was gooey! I've had this before at other places but wanted TC to try it. She thought it was okay.
Our tacos:
This was the Villamelon which included smoked meat (beef), chorizo, and pork rinds!
The platter held three types of tacos - Costilla (ribs), Bistek Campechana (traditional Campechano steak), and Pastor (marinated pork).
Not knowing how hot the sauce was, TC ended up not really enjoying her costillas taco. I think she thought this was a quacamole sauce but it wasn't. I finished it for her and she didn't put sauce on her pastor.
She really liked the pastor with the pineapple slivers. It was just the right amount of fruity sweetness which went well with the marinated pork.
Here's one of the squash blossoms and a blob of cheese...
We are definitely coming back here! Asides from TC's aversion to the hot green sauce, we enjoyed everything that we tried. We polished off only half and saved the rest for Bert, including the fried cheese crisp.
Right across from El Charco is a Tacos el Gordo. I never even knew that there was one of these here. It doesn't look like it lasted that long.
See that? Closed!!!! The doors are chained!
El Charco
1310 Third Ave, Suite C-301
Chula Vista, CA 91911
(619) 420-0200
el-charco.com (they have a cool commercial in Spanish)
*plus their Facebook page
Reviews and an article:
Chowhound, topix, and that four lettered site
El Charco: Mexico City style cuisine right in the heart of Chula Vista - SanDiegoRed.com (February 21, 2013)
I can't wait to go here again to try their Alambres (which La Ley as well as our server recommended)....
*Speaking of Sonic earlier in the post, there will be a new Sonic across from Sweetwater High School in National City. It will be in the same strip mall that has Peter Piper Pizza and El Super. Can't wait to give Sonic a try! It'll be much closer than the Santee location.
4 comments:
Fred's used to be better. This location is okay but I think we've kind of given up on it. Oh well! That Tacos el Gordo has been sitting empty for quite awhile. I was wondering if it had ever been open, or if it was still coming soon? We were there last December and it still had the sign but wasn't open. This place looks good - I like the variety of street style tacos they have! I think we'll have to put this on our to-try list as well.
hi mary - we haven't tried Fred's before, in any location but i'm willing to give it at least one shot. it's diagonal from the notorious D's Nuts (it used to say KD's Donuts) - those donuts sucked. I went there a few years ago. Ugh.
I don't know if that Tacos el Gordo was even open. If it was, it sure didn't last long.
You and Jake would like el Charco. Give it a go next time you're down in CV!
Hey CC - The Al Pastor has been the best thing we've had at El Charco thus far. Good concept.
Wow, the best, eh? I'm glad we tried this place then. Looking forward to your post on el Charco!
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