Cilantro Mexican Grill

I always love it when restaurants want to be bigger than what they really are by adding fancy words like "Grill" to their name. Cilantro is no Grill, it is not a Mexican Restaurant either. What it is, is some of the best Burritos and Tacos you can get in Rhode Island, plain and simple.

FINAL VERDICT

AUTHENTICITY: 3 out of 5

AMBIANCE: 3 out of 5

FOOD: 4 out of 5

PRICE: Affordable; $5 to $10.

I've been going to Cilantro for a few years now, so this was no new adventure. This time the crew consisted of 2.5 Gringos, 0.5 Spanish, and 1.0 Mexicans. This is a fast food place; it is quick. It's what I call WYSIWYE eating (What You See Is What You Eat). You see them make the burrito in front of you. Lots of choices of meats from shredded pork, to steak, to chicken and veggie options. Tons of condiments, including, like the 0.5 Gringa = 0.5 Spaniard said, really really good fresh guacamole. As I mentioned before, most of us have been here a bunch of times over the years, and the quality is always great, the service is great, the food tastes great. Now, to the food:

Christina: Overfilled Pork Burrito - 4 out of 5

Denise: Ground Beef Burrito - 4.5 out of 5

Jim: Ground Beef Hard Shell Tacos - 5 out of 5

Pete: Grilled Chicken Quesadilla - 4 out of 5

Juan: Grilled Chicken Burrito - 4.5 out of 5

The entrance

Getting ready to order...

Massive romaine on Jim's Tacos. Jim likes romaine.

The experts

A wide view of Cilantro.

Pete's jumbo quesadilla.

Denise's mammoth beef burrito.

Christina's gargantuan pork burrito with guac.

My baby as it was first delivered. I had to slap it a couple times before eating.

The end of the burrito, spilling guac left and right.

Well, as you can see by the photos, it was a barbaric feast, with extra napkins and lots of drippy guacamole. Food was great, as usual. Pete mentioned it is one of the few places where it doesn't matter if you order the small of large, because everything is large. Christina and Denise, who are lightweights, only ate half their burrito. I should've followed their lead, that thing was huge!

The one negative thing we all agreed on was the ambiance. In their effort to franchise the Cilantros in RI, they must've hired a "Designer" that did a really great job of coming up with cool distressed graphics and a color palette of brick red and mustard yellow, and with all this uniformity it lost the innocence of a local burrito place and travelled to the assembly line look of the big chains. The booths are nice, the place is sparkling clean, but Jim thought the lightbulbs should be halogens instead of CFLs because they wouldn't have such a harsh light. Leave it to the Rocket Scientist.

So, while we mourned the loss of personality from the previous decor, we celebrated that the food is still "para chuparse los dedos."

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Cilantro Mexican Grill
www.cilantromex.com
121 Weybosset St.
Providence, RI
Tel: 401-421-8226

Flan y Ajo

FINAL VERDICT

AUTHENTICITY: 4 out of 5

AMBIANCE: 5 out of 5

FOOD: 5 out of 5

PRICE: Affordable; tapas $3 to $8 each.

Well, today I steered away from Mexico and back to the Madre Patria. I usually wouldn't write a review of a restaurant unless it was a latin restaurant of some kind, but sometimes you have to make exceptions in life. Flan y Ajo was worth the deviation.

Flan y Ajo is truly a hole in the wall. The word "diminutive" may not fit here. It makes the old Cuban Revolution feel big. But this is not a bad thing, instead, it's a great thing; it makes you feel you're having dinner at the kitchen of Siobhan and Diego, the owners. You feel at home.

The wife and I went, because we've heard it was a good Spanish Tapas place. It's BYOB, so we went next door to ENO where we bought a moderately priced ($15) Argentinian Malbec wine. At Flan y Ajo, we sat at the bar. Diego was doing the serving at first, and he was so friendly, it was a joy to sit at the bar. The menu has a long list of tapas. At first we ordered the Lomo, the Tortilla Española and the Saetas Salteadas (mushrooms). Oh yeah, we also ordered the Pulpitos (baby octopus) with oil, paprika and coarse salt. I've had octopus in many variations; cooked in their ink, sauteed with garlic, grilled, yet Flan y Ajo managed to introduced a completely new taste and texture to my pulpo lexicon. Perfectly cooked with a peculiar texture, and great with bread, the pulpitos are a must at Flan y Ajo. The Lomo was to die for; we ordered it twice. I don't eat this type of dried cured meats often, and I forget how delicious they can be. It makes the best bacon or prosciutto taste pedestrian. Complex, yet simple. After a good discussion on cooking large octopus with Diego and the banning of bullfighting in Spain with Siobhan, we had some Spanish deviled eggs with tuna, some tomato bread, and some flan to finish things off.

I highly recommend Flan y Ajo; priced moderately, great ambiance. I'd recommend you don't go with a lot of friends, but instead, sit at the bar and make some new ones. That's how it's done in Asturias. I'm planning to go back soon to take some pictures of the place to complement this review; maybe the Dia de Reyes (Jan. 6th) celebration would be a good time!

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Flan y Ajo

225a WESTMINSTER ST.

PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND

Wed-Sa 16.00 - 23.30

Phone: 401 432 6656

Viva México! Cantina and Grill

Another Mexican restaurant trying hard to take the torch from El Sombrero, and doing a great job in ambiance and location, but falling short on the food.

FINAL VERDICT

AUTHENTICITY: 3 out of 5

AMBIANCE: 4 out of 5

FOOD: 3 out of 5

PRICE: Not so affordable, $12 to $15 dishes at lunch.

The place is nicely decorated, painted tables and chairs, cool tin piñata-inspired lamps. A long bar on the right. 5 gringos and I decided to try it out for lunch this Friday. There was Jim, Colin, John, Jon, Patrick and I. Very friendly, they got a table setup for us right away. The front of the place was full, so they put us all the way in the back, but it was a nice back. They were so attentive it was a bit confusing: a lady walks you in, another guy brings the table settings, another woman asks if we want any drinks and another guy actually takes our order. I wasn't sure who our waiter/tress was. No crazy ranchero music blasting in this one, just the NFL network on a couple large TVs. Nice Manus with color photos with traditional mexican fare like enchiladas, tortas, tamales, mole, tacos, and a few fancier dishes.The food took a little longer than I would've liked, specially for a lunch crowd. They had Mexican Coke! This was a bit hit with the gringos. I guess when you've grown up tasting only High Fructose Corn Syrup, getting some actual sugar in your blood is a treat. I had the Jamaica and John the Horchata.

This is what we ordered:

Colin: Tacos (Carnitas, Chicken and ??)

John: Fish Tacos

Jim: Camarones al Mojo de Ajo (grilled Shrimp with garlic)

Patrick: Pork Combo (Taco, enchilada, flauta)

Jon: Chicken Combo

Me: Torta de Milanesa and Tacos (Pastor, Asada, Tripa)

So, get this: No free chips and salsa! May be like the only Mexican restaurant I've been to that does not serve chips and salsa. This is not going well.

I always say that I rate a good Mexican restaurant by their salsa and their tacos. It is the basics. If you cannot get these right, there's no hope for anything more complicated. Well, we ordered 2 sides of chips, and they came with red, green and refried beans. The red salsa was disappointing; no flavor, no intensity, no spice, none of that woodiness from dried chili pepper. The green salsa was no better. The refried beans were average, bland. Chips were good. Yeah!!

The food finally arrived. They got Jim's order wrong but they were very nice about it and they let him have the dish for free (he got fish in green salsa by mistake ) and they made his dish right away.

To the food:

Tacos (2 Carnitas, 1 Chicken) - Made the traditional way: 2 soft corn tortillas, meat, onion and cilantro.Colin: The Carnitas were not very good. He was disappointed by the dish overall. 2 out of 5.

Fish Tacos - 4 tacos, with lettuce and avocado.
John: He thought they were pretty good. Not Baja good, but good. 4.5 out of 5

Camarones al mojo de ajo - They came with rice.
Jim: They were good. 4 out of 5.
The Fish in green salsa rated as terrible by Jim. He only took one bit. Overly strong. 1 out of 5.

Combos - Pork and Chicken, with shredded lettuce
Patrick and Jon: They were good. 4 out of 5.

MeMilanesa de Pork - Big sandwich with Pork chicken-fried-steak, fresh cheese, avocado, beans. Pretty good, a little dry but good. The best thing I ate. 4 out of 5.Tacos (Pastor, Asada, Tripa). The pastor was ah, nothing special, the Tripe was mushy, not crispy like it's supposed to be. Didn't taste good. The carne asada was average. 2 out of 5.

I don't know about this place dude...

Torta de Milaneza, hmmm.

2 tacos de carnitas, 1 chicken

Pork Combo

Chicken Combo

Fish Tacos, yummy!

Pastor, Tripe and Asada Tacos. Skip the Tripe for sure.

CONCLUSION: Overall, not bad, but they need to work harder at their food. Maybe trim the menu down and focus on less things but make them better. Seems like a good place to hang out and have a few beers. They're trying to be authentic, but the preparation and seasonings didn't reflect that. Pricey for lunch. They need to focus more on their lunch crowd. It's worth a shot.

129 Washington Street

Providence, RI

(401) 369-7974

www.vivamexicocantinagrill.com

Mi Guatemala Second Visit

Why did the Guatemalan cross the road? Just so he could get hit by a car. Some idiot driving on Broadway in Newport not paying attention hit the Guatemalan and messed up his knee. He's recovering now and to cheer him up we took him to where else? but My Guatemala.

We had a large crowd, like 9 people. Place wasn't too busy, we got the big table on the back. Service was fast, no fuss, just quick and friendly. We had a lot of food, and overall, all of it was excellent. This time I took a lot of photos, so you'll get to see what we look like!!

Let's see, here's what we ate:

PARRILLADA (El Gringo) - 5 out of 5
His eyes were bigger than his stomach, because he ordered the Parrillada, which is a huge board with steak, chile steak, chorizo, beans, grilled scallions, guacamole and salad.

CHURRASCO (Juice and Lizzy) - 5 out of 5
A Churrasco is grilled steak, with a side of guacamole, rice, beans and scallions. They both really liked it.

CHURRASQUITO (Teak) - 5 out of 5

This is just like the Churrasco, but just a smaller portion. Quote: "Awesome"

TACOS SUAVES (Logan)- 4 out of 5
Soft corn tortilla with steak, rice and lots of onions.

PUPUSA DE QUESO (Dan) - 4 out of 5
Dan's a vegetarian, so he had the corn Pupusa with pickled cabbage on top, and I think he also had a tamal, but can't recall.

PIPIAN DE POLLO (Pat) - 4 out of 5

This is a couple of chicken pieces in a stew like broth served in a clay bowl. Pipian is traditionally made with ground pumpkin seeds, and sometimes tomato sauce is added to it. This is a very traditional dish, widely eaten in southeast Mexico as well.

CARNE ADOBADA (The Guatemalan) - 4 out of 5
Carne adoba is steak that's been marinated in "achiote" sauce (anato seed). I tried this one, it was very good.

PORK PUPUSA (The Mexican) - 5 out of 5
I've had this before and it was just really good this time around, the pork rind is melded into the corn masa, and the sweet pickled cabbage is the perfect pairing.

We had a lot of fun, had a few beer, hopefully made The Guatemalan a little bit cheerier!

EL RANCHO GRANDE – Mexican cuisine

The new darlings of Mexican food in Providence, El Rancho Grande won’t disappoint you. Traditional Mexican fare at its best in a cozy location, fit for friends or dates. Simple dishes freshly prepared, like sopes and gorditas, stand out. A terrific dining experience.

• FINAL VERDICT
• AUTHENTICITY: 4 out of 5
• FOOD: 5 out of 5
• PRICE: Affordable

El Rancho Grande
311 Plainfield Street
Providence, RI 02909
Tel: (401) 275-0808
www.elranchogranderestaurant.com
Open daily from 8am to 10pm
Parking on the street. Eat in or take out. Catering available
CLICK FOR DIRECTIONS


IN NOT A FEW WORDS
This is the first restaurant to seriously fill the void left by El Sombrero, from Dexter Street in Olneyville. It is actually at the same location where Don Jose Tequilas (now on Federal Hill) used to be. “I thought the place looked familiar” said the gringo. El Rancho Grande has a sweet backstory, about a son who built the restaurant that his mother always wanted. Read all about it on the prominently framed Projo article on the back wall. El Rancho Grande is bright and clean, tastefully decorated with orange walls, some small paintings and Mexican artwork. Don’t miss the bizarre small painting that looks like 2 old people but on closer inspection turns out to be 2 indians sitting.

Well, we now know where the East Side crowd that has a craving for Mexican food hangs out. The place was busy but not hectic. I work with a gringo-italian that seems to eat here once a week, if not more. The service was quick and corteous, although speed of delivery is not their strength. It didn’t really matter because it’s a nice restaurant to sit and chat, and enjoy the delicious home made chips and spicy red salsa. They have all kinds of Mexican beer, like Pacifico, Corona, Dos Equis, Modelo, and even the hard to find Carta Blanca. (Chiquitibum a la bim bom bau…) Only if you were living in Mexico in ’86 you’ll get this reference.












We ordered Enchiladas Rancheras, a Sope Rojo, and a Gordita de Rajas. I also ordered a Tamal Oaxaqueño for my señora.

ENCHILADAS RANCHERAS: 4 out of 5 (gringo)
You know what enchiladas are, right? Chicken rolled up in a corn tortilla and smothered with some type of sauce, crumbled cotija cheese and crema. The ranchero enchiladas have a red tomato sauce with a hint of chipotle. Came with a side of refried beans and red rice. The gringo thought it was pretty good, not great.


SOPE ROJO: 5 out of ५
Well, I hadn’t had such good simple Mexican food since I left the streets of Cholula back in 97’. A sope is another variation of the thick corn tortilla, like the gordita and the huarache. A sope has pinched sides to form a small ridge to hold food in. This handmade Sope Rojo had a mild tomato sauce, crumbled cotija cheese and chopped onion. That’s it. And that’s the genius of great food universally, simple ingredients that are perfectly paired to create an unforgettable flavor.

GORDITA DE RAJAS: 5 out of 5
Traditionally a Gordita would have a bit of dry black refried beans inside the corn dough. Not sure if I tasted any. The Gordita was covered in Rajas de Chile Poblano, with cooked onions, lots of cream and crumbled cheese। It was so good. Chile Poblano is one of the most famous chiles in Mexico, and once cooked and peeled and recooked, it is not spicy at all but has a deep strong flavor. This one is a must get.

TAMAL OAXAQUEÑO: 4 out of 5
A Tamal oaxaqueño is not wrapped in Corn husks like you’re used to, it’s in Banana leaves. You see this in the Yucatan as well. This one had so many ingredients, I had to order it. It had mole, chicken, large sweet plum, a couple chile poblano rajas, olives and green pepper. It was well cooked and with good consistency, it was quiet, not exciting.

Rico Sazon

Right on the beaten path that’s seldom visited by non-latinos, you find Rico Sazon. A window into the palate of Boricuan and Dominican cuisine, this diminutive place gets right to business and delivers island favorites like Mofongo and Chicharron the Pollo. If adventure is your middle name, and want to be surprised, point your nose to Rico Sazon.

• FINAL VERDICT
• AUTHENTICITY: 4 out of 5
• FOOD: 3 out of 5
• PRICE: Hyper-cheap

Rico Sazon
690 Atwells Avenue
Providence, RI 02909
401-455-1900
Deliveries and Catering available.
Parking on the street or at Fidas (I think).
CLICK HERE FOR DIRECTIONS


THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED
You have probably driven by Rico Sazon a thousand times, and never noticed it. Look up “Tiny” on Wikipedia, and this place is the definition. Formerly a Chinese take-out place (judging by the overhead backlit displays), Rico Sazon is right on Atwells Avenue, corner of Valley St, next to the maligned Fidas.

Rico Sazon is more of a take-out place, but if you decide to stay, just don’t bring a lot of friends. It seats 6, plus 3 or 4 more that can eat either standing next to a bar or on high stools. Place was not immaculate but clean. Walls are white stucco, no décor whatsoever. Service was quick, although ordering was a little bit of a leap of faith. See, Rico Sazon’s menu, although in English and Spanish, has no descriptions for their foods; you can order Pork Chops, Meatballs, Chicken Breast, Fish, Shrimp, Fired Beef. Just like that. How’s the chicken or the shrimp prepared? Beats me. We ordered “Mofongo”, “Fried Beef”, and inadvertently, we also ordered “Chicharron de Pollo”. The gringo got a Coke and I got a Tamarind drink.

MOFONGO: 4 out of 5 (Mexican), 3 out of 5 (Gringo).

Mofongo is what people in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic eat when they’re short on their starches. Just kidding! Mofongo is a giant ball of cooked plantains (or sometimes Yuca), with chorizo (or was it fried pork?) and chicken (or was it pork again?). It just looks weird when you get it, it’s the size of a softball and it has some salad on the side. It was surprisingly good, and I’m not a fan of plantains. It came with a little dish with some type of broth to dip your Mofongo pieces. It was a bit dry but I thought it tasted good. The gringo thought it was OK, but by the surgery he performed on his piece, I could tell he did not like plantains at all.

CHICHARRON DE POLLO: 3 out of 5

So, we got this somehow. I thought this was going to be inside the Mofongo, but I guess when you get Mofongo, you get it with something. As if a 1 lb ball of plantains and fried something wasn’t enough, you get it with a plate of fried chicken bits. This Chicharron de Pollo is not chicharron in the Mexican sense of the word. It’s more like when you go to KFC and you order the original recipe extra crispy, and you get pieces of chicken you cannot recognize. It tasted good, but it was full of little chicken bones, and eating so much fried stuff gets just overwhelming.


FRIED BEEF: 3 out of 5

I was really looking forward to this, because I was like “How the hell do they make fried beef?” When I asked they just kinda mumbled some explanation, which is usually what you get when you act all gringo and don’t know what you’re talking about. Well, Fried Beef is just that, pieces of steak deep fried with a slice of lime on the side. No breading, no nothing. It was chewy and tasty, real tasty. I wish I had some tortillas and some salsa to make myself a killer taco but no, you just eat it straight up like that soldier.

El Paisa Restaurant & Bar

Traditional Colombian food in a family setting. Large menu with lots of foods we’ve never heard off. Don’t drop what you’re doing to go to El Paisa, but if you feel adventurous and want to get off the all too well traveled Mexican food road, go to El Paisa. Definitely order the Arepa.

• FINAL VERDICT
• AUTHENTICIY: 4 out of 5
• FOOD: 3.5 out of 5
• PRICE: Medium range, about $8-$12.

DIRECTIONS
589 Dexter Street
Central Falls, RI
(401) 726-8864
(401-726-5700
Website with hours and menu: www.elpaisa.com

THE LONG ROAD
This time we had an extra gringo, I mean gringa, come with us. She owns a successful restaurant in Newport, so we figured she’d offer a different point of view, an expert one. We’ll call her Verushka to protect her identity.

El Paisa has been open for 30 years. This a big restaurant, everything looks and feels new. Upscale is the word. It has a huge open kitchen, and a bar covered in mirrors. Not sure who wants to drink and look at themselves, but oh well. They have 2 TVs that were tuned to soccer. It is decorated rather tastefully with lots of very nice high-end photos of Colombia, not covered in with random souvenirs like most latin restaurants. Bryan Adams was playing as we sat down.

Service was quick as there was only 2 other tables occupied. The woman almost seemed a bit impatient, or maybe it’s because Colombian people speak like they’re on cocaine or something (sorry, couldn’t help it). The menu was really nice, with pictures of Colombia, and maybe it had some pictures of the food as well. It was both in English and Spanish.

We ordered a little bit of everything, as none of is was really familiar with the menu. We ordered an Arepa de Loroco, an Arepa de Queso, a Pork Tamal Colombiano, A Picada of Chorizo and Chicharron, some Morcilla (blood sausage), and for dessert a Torta de Guayaba. No chips or anything here. We ordered 3 Tecates and a Modelo Especial. Food came pretty fast.

AREPA DE LOROCO Y AREPA DE QUESO: 5 out of 5
An arepa is a square patty made with corn, similar to corn bread but very moist and sweet. They serve it with 2 big thick slices of some kind of fresh farmer cheese, and puzzlingly, Parkay squeezable butter (not butter) to squirt on top. The arepas were truly delicious. Sweet, chewy, little bits of real corn on the Arepa, the cheese on top was the perfect compliment, the Parkay butter made it a bit too rich, but it was still great. Unexpected, in a good way. The Arepa with Queso (cheese) was a bit better than the one with Loroco, because that one could’ve had way more loroco. Either way, they were both great.

TAMAL COLOMBIANO DE PUERCO: The usual suspects: 4 out of 5; Verushka: 3 out of 5
This thing is the size of a burrito, no joke. Huge. Nothing like a Mexican tamal. It comes with a side of rice and a long slice of fried plantain. The dough was abnormally yellow, and the masa (dough) is different from a Mexican tamal because of the addition of starch and coloring. This one had Pork, carrots and peas inside. Verushka noticed that the masa is more like a shell and it doesn’t blend in with the ingredients. She didn’t like that. The insides were more like stewed, and she didn’t like that either. The insides yummy, but I agree the stewiness was a little off. Sometime you got a chunk of pork that was mostly fat, and ouch!. I brought one home and my wife wasn’t crazy about it either. We thought it tasted pretty good.

PICADA DE CHORIZO Y CHICHARRON: guatemexigringo: 3 out of 5; Verushka: 4 out of 5
This read inoffensive enough, but we all went WOW went it showed up. A large plate covered in tiny boiled potatoes, homemade tater tots, chunks of chorizo, and chunks of fried pork rind with fat and meat. It looked menacing. And it was the $10 plate, not the $20. We all tried the tater tots first, they looked harmless. They were nice and airy, refreshing. The tiny boiled potatoes were good too. The chorizo had an unexpected flavor, it had some kind of herb that had a strong taste. It was more like a fried sausage than chorizo. The Pork rinds were very tasty, but not for the faint or heart. Or for people with high cholesterol, or heart disease for that matter. It was dry and hard to eat and chew, but somehow it was good. It’s a shame they don’t give you some kind of salsa or cabbage or something to add to this, because it was kind of dry. All the carbs you need in a month for only $10.

MORCILLA EN AREPA: 2 out of 5
Something was lost in translation from Mexicanese to Colombianese. This read in the menu as a blood sausage on top of an arepa, which I thought would be daring to order. It came in as a large plate full of blood sausage. We all looked at each other and giggled like junior high girls. Surprisingly, this was the mildest and most well mannered “morcilla” any of us had ever tried. It looked nasty and mean, but when you bit into it, it was dry, flat and monotone. It didn’t even have that overwhelming smell you’ve come to expect from guts and blood that’s been boiled and fried. Upon further inspection, it looked like this blood sausage was mostly rice with blood. I always thought blood sausage was a poor man’s food, but this must’ve been a really poor man’s sausage.

TORTA DE GUAYABA: 2 out of 5
Dessert, why not? The Guatemalan was keen on trying the Guava cake. A huge slice came in with a petrified dollop of cream on top. It was a 2 layer sponge cake with guava paste filling and covered in it as well, like frosting. The taste wasn’t horrible, it just that the bread was really dry and it tasted like it had been in the refrigerator for a week, or longer.

La Hacienda Restaurant

Mexican food has never looked so fast, or fast food that is. Once a D’Angelo’s, La Hacienda now delights customers with enchiladas, burritos, quesadillas, and, not surprisingly, hamburgers and fries as well. Lots of love were poured into decorating La Hacienda, too bad that effort didn’t translate into the food, which is just your average run of the mill Mexican.

• FINAL VERDICT
• AUTHENTICITY: 3 out of 5
• FOOD: 3.5 out of 5
• PRICE: Low

DIRECTIONS
1955 Westminster Street
Providence, RI
(401) 275-2385

Parking in front, takes credit cards.

THE LONG ROAD
This time we had an extra gringo, I mean gringa, come with us. She owns a successful restaurant in Newport, so we figured she’d offer a different point of view, an expert one. We’ll call her Verushka to protect her identity.

We came here because it was recommended to the gringo by a mutual friend, the best Salvadorian food in Providence. Well, it turns out it wasn’t from El Salvador, and it was definitely not the best. Like I mentioned before, this used to be a D’Angelos, but they’ve done a great job and put their hearts into decorating it. All types of old photos of the Mexican revolution hang in the walls, as well as a large display of Mexican money. The walls have an orange faux-marble finish. The windows have Mexican fabric valances and the lamps were apparently painfully painted by hand to resemble giant sunflowers. Still feels like a former fast food joint, but they did a great effort decorating it.

This is a family restaurant, clean, booths everywhere. Service was fast. Menus were in English (I think), mixing mexican with American food. They had steaks, enchiladas, burritos, quesadillas, and even hamburgers and fries. Looks like they wanted to put something in the menu to please the latin-born clients, and something for their raised-on-macdonalds offsprings.

On weekends, they have Barbacoa de Borrego (lamb bbq)। They brought us homemade tortilla chips, with a very different salsa, that tasted west-indian, mustardy. Habanero perhaps?



We ordered a Torta de Milanesa, a pupusa de loroco, and a pupusa revuelta. We ordered 2 sidrales, and a mandarin and a pineapple Jarrito.

TORTA DE MILANESA 3 out of 5
This is a chicken-fried pork steak sandwich. Very traditional in Mexico, every town has a handful of Torterías, and people are always arguing about who makes the best tortas. They use a “bolillo”, which is like a roll, then they put mayo, black refried beans, guacamole, tomato, the chicken-fried pork steak, and pickled jalapeños. It tasted good, the jalapeños were nice. The milanesa could’ve been tastier, it lacked punch. Nothing special.

PUPUSA DE LOROCO 4 out of 5
I’ve explained the pupusa before, like a gordita or corn patty, stuffed with loroco leaves and pickled cabbage on top. It was pretty good, moist, but short on Loroco, you couldn’t taste it.

PUPUSA REVUELTA 3 out of 5
This pupusa is mixed, and has black beans, pork and cheese. It tasted pretty good, but it was real dry. If it wasn’t for the cabbage and the salsa, you wouldn’t be able to eat it.

DON GALLO

Stop reading this review, get your butt off the couch and run to this place. We mean it. We were basically moaning in delight all night here. Hmm, oh yeah, oh my God!, WOW!

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Hands down the best taco place we’ve found in the state. Authentic, fast, delicious. A no-brainer if you’d like to enjoy some real Mexican food.

• FINAL VERDICT
• AUTHENTICITY: 5 out 5
• FOOD: 5 out of 5
• PRICE: Baratisimo. All our food was $18.00. Tacos were $1, Huarache was $3, Burrito $6.50, Drinks $1.

DIRECTIONS
Google Map
On Chalkstone Ave, almost corner of Chalkstone and Academy (around 1100 Chalkstone Ave.)
Don’t have hours or phone number yet.
They take credit cards.
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THE LONG OF IT
Enough already. Don Gallo is a brand new restaurant, they’ve been open for a month, but they haven’t had their grand opening yet. Don Gallo used to be a taco stand inside the Poblanita Bakery and Store on Academy Ave. Now, they’ve opened as a restaurant just around the corner on Chalkstone Ave., across from the Walgreens.

The place is small, painted in like a salmon pink color. It has a huge wall painting of Mexico, with actual topographical relief, and a few other paintings around. It has about 12 tables, made of this fancy red granite with nice metal chairs. They didn’t even have a menu yet; they just told us they had the usual tacos, huaraches, tostadas, tortas. They said they had some new items, like enchiladas and some other chicken dishes. They were very casual about the whole thing, like you had to have been there before and they expected you to know what to order. The crowd was all local, families just walking in from the neighborhood.

As a manner of disclosure, we had all been to this place when it was a taco stand before and we’ve always liked it. The Poblanita store is a place where you can buy all type of Mexican and hispanic sundries, plus hard to find dry chiles and cheeses. Plus, they bake their own Mexican sweet bread, even Day of the Dead bread.

We ordered 2 tacos mixtos, 1 taco de chorizo, 1 taco de pastor, 1 Huarache de Steak, 1 Burrito de Chorizo, and 3 sidrales. The gringo said it was quite paradoxical that the food was so good it was almost gourmet, but they serve it in Styrofoam plates and plastic forks.

They started us off by bringing a basket of seemingly homemade corn tortilla chips, but instead of your traditional salsa, they had a chipotle and mayo dip that was plainly addictive. The guatemalan and I could not get enough of it. It was spicy. I was sweating.

TACOS MIXTOS: 5 out of 5
A traditional Mexican taco is a double small corn tortilla (4 in.) with some type of meat, cilantro and chopped onion. Then you squeeze a little lime on it and put either red or green salsa. A Taco Mixto, or mixed, has a bit of every meat they have. This means our tacos had tripe, chorizo, beef and pork. They were unbelievable. So many flavors hitting you all at once, I wanted to order more.

TACO DE CHORIZO: 5 out of 5
The chorizo was very good, and with a little of the red salsa, they were like a punch in your mouth. So good. The salsa wasn’t very spicy. The guatemalan assessed that it was made with cherry tomatoes and chile de arbol.


TACO DE PASTOR: 5 out of 5
A Taco al Pastor is traditionally a lot of thin sliced pieces of pork marinated in a red adobo, and then put on a spit with a pineapple on top and grilled, similar to Gyros. In Mexico City, people argue all them time about where to get the best Tacos al Pastor. It is hard to get good ones in the US because no one really does the spit, they instead marinate the meat, and then grill it to get as close to the flavor as possible.

Don Gallo did a pretty good job here, the pork having a sweet taste of pineapple. Very juicy and tasty.

HUARACHE DE STEAK: 5 out of 5
Oh my God! Were the gringo’s first words when he tried it. Then it was Wow! Every bite after that. We concurred with his assessment. A Huarache (which is also a type of sandal), is a long piece of corn masa stuffed with refried beans, then it had the most delicious skirt steak ever, covered in lettuce, thick yummy Mexican crema and cheesy queso cotija crumbled on top। It was just so intense and amazing। We order you to get a Huarache when you come to Don Gallo.

BURRITO DE CHORIZO: 5 out of 5
This was your traditional burrito, wrapped in a flour tortilla, with refried pinto beans, rice, fresh onion, lettuce and chorizo. What made this burrito special was definitely the Chorizo.

SIDRAL MUNDET: 5 out of 5
Apple soda, the best.

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TACOS: 5 out of 5
HUARACHE: 5 out of 5
BURRITO: 5 out of 5

Rincón Salvadoreño–authentic flavor from the Maya world

(also known as El Rey de las Pupusas)

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It’s worth a try, maybe it wasn’t their best day, or maybe we should’ve tried a different pupusa. If you’re in the neighborhood, and want to try something new, go for it.

• FINAL VERDICT
• AUTHENTICITY: 5 OUT OF 5
• FOOD: 3.5 OUT OF 5
• PRICE: Cheap, it all cost $22

RINCON SALVADOREÑO
Google Map
1019 Chalkstone Avenue
Providence, RI 02908
401-274-6266

I forgot to write down their hours, but they’re closed on Wednesdays.
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THE LONG OF IT
This time we went a little more south and east to El Salvador। El Rincón Salvadoreño is in a little strip mall, next to a Chinese restaurant. When we walked in, the Gringo remarked that it looked like it used to be a beauty parlor. The Guatemalan disagreed. I didn’t care. The place was clean, bright and smelled good; it had a mix of tables and booths. It was decorated with travel guide posters and salvadorian knick-knacks. The crowd was all hispanic.


Their menu was small, but with a great variety: Seafood (shrimp a la diabla, with garlic), Pupusas (with chicharron, pork), Tostadas, Steaks, Chicken dishes, Soups, Tamales, Apetizers and a Kid’s Menu for the little americanized salvadorians (fries, hamburguers).

We ordered a Pupusa de Chicharron, a Churrasco con tortillas, a Tostada de chicken, a Tostada de beef, and the guatemalan and I had horchata to drink. The gringo had (sigh!) a Coke. Service was quick and the waitress was nice.

*They did have one TV, and we found ourselves riveted to E! Entertainment tonight.


PUPUSA DE CHICHARRON: 4 out of 5 (Everybody)
This seems to be their specialty, since they are the King of the Pupusas. Like a mentioned before, Pupusas are thick discs of corn stuffed with a variety of fillings. They have similar dishes to this all over central america, like Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pupusa) says. This pupusas had Chicharron is fried pork rind, and refried beans. The dough in this pupusa was really tasty, but the chicharron was just OK, nothing to write home about. We wished it would’ve had cheese.

CHURRASCO CON TORTILLAS: 3 out of 5 (Everybody)
Churrasco is esentially grilled meat. This churrasco was probably flank steak or skirt steak, and it was served on 2 small thick tortillas. No salsa or anything on top, just straight up steak and tortilla. The steak didn’t have the greatest taste, mustardy, and chewy. The tortilla was awesome, probably hand made. We expected a lot more of a simple piece of well grilled steak, but we didn’t get it.

TOSTADAS: 3 and 4 out of 5 (Everybody)
You know what a Tostada is, right? No? Geez. Well, a tostada is a fried flat corn tortilla which then you put a bunch of food on top, like beans and chicken, and cream, and lettuce. Our chicken tostada was chicken with ICEBERG lettuce and cream. The chicken was really plain, kinda just not that good. The beef was better, but the guatemalan noted it was kinda dry, it could’ve used some sauce. We did get a lot of beef.

HORCHATA: 4 out 5 (Guatemalan and Mexican)
Probably not homemade, but pretty good. Horchata is a rice drink, very refreshing, sweet. The gringo was happy he ordered a Coke after trying the horchata. If you ever go to a hispanic restaurant, do try some of their traditional drinks or Aguas. Latin america is known for flavorful drinks, and it’s a missed opportunity everytime you go to a local hispanic restaurant and order an american soda.

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PUPUSA DE CHICHARRON: 4 out of 5 (Everybody)
CHURRASCO: 3 out of 5 (Everybody)
TOSTADA DE POLLO: 3 out of 5 (Everybody)
TOSTADA DE RES: 4 out of 5 (Everybody)
HORCHATA: 4 out 5 (Guatemalan and Mexican)
COKE: 5 out of 5 (Gringo)

My Guatemala Restaurant

This place has to be the pride of the guatemalan immigrants in Rhode Island. I know the Guatemalan looked very pleased we were so impressed with the place. You walk into a wood paneled room with a large topographical map of Guatemala, a large Guatemalan flag, pictures from el Peten and other Guatemalan sites. The bar has Quetzales coins glued to it, nice touch. The place is big, not huge, but probably 35 tables or more. There wasn't a lot of people there, just one gringo as we walked in and a large table in the rear room with about 10 people. Mostly gringos, except for a woman that was explaining the food to the others, so she must've been from Guatemala.

The Gringo said it was definitely a family type restaurant, covered in Guatemalan knick-knacks, dolls, posters, etc. Half the tables are booths and half regular tables. It didn't smell that great as we walked in, but it didn't smell in the restaurant area. It had like 5 TVs showing the Red Sox game and the mexican soap opera.

The menus were just brilliant. Extra colorful, chock full of pictures from the 80s of the most beautiful places in Guatemala. The Gringo said it felt like a travel brochure, like you could just hop on a plane after eating. It was both in English and Spanish.

The food is similar to mexican food, that is if you're familiar with mexican food. Lots of meats, pupusas, tamales, chicken, stews. We ordered a gigantic dish called a "Parrillada" and a "Pupusa". We also wanted to have Guatemalan beer, called "Gallo Famosa", but they were out of them, so we settled for the closest thing, Corona. The Guatemalan noted that the beer was really cold and they gave you frosted mugs. Sweet.

As we were waiting for our food, we got the usual chips with salsa. They tasted homemade, yellow and red. 2 salsas. The spicy one was made of Chile de Arbol, which has an earthy taste, strong, but fades away. The other one was a mild tomato based one, very mild.

We also received complementary broth bowls before our meal. Sweet tasting broth, not beefy at all, with a chunk of corn and Chayote. Very tasty. The Guatemalan said that the broth comes from a gigantic pot where they may cook chicken, beef, vegetables like celery, corn, chayote, onion, and a lot of other stuff.

PARRILLADA
A parrillada is traditionally a large amount of food that is split between 2 or 3 people and mostly consists of items that have been cooked in a parrilla, which is the same as a grill. This one was served on a cutting board about 18" x 10", just huge. It had soft supple skirt steak, an intense tasting serving of pork in achiote, a tender chicken drumstick and thigh, one piece of strong and slightly spicy chorizo, a piece of the best longaniza I've had in a long time, a small serving of black beans, white rice, guacamole, and a salad made with lettuce (iceberg of course), beets, cream and crumbled soft cheese. Damn, everything was just outstanding. The skirt steak had nice grill marks and it was just so tasty. The pork tasted like it had marinated in the achiote for years, it was a knockout. The chicken had grill marks, but it was very moist inside. The Guatemalan asked and the waitress said they par-boiled it first before grilling, probably in the broth we just had. All in all, it was so much food we didn't finish it all.

PUPUSA
A pupusa it's a thick round disc or bread of corn masa, that is cooked in a pan. The Gringo noticed it was similar to a gyro bread. It was stuffed with the Loroco plant and cheese. Covered in a pickled cabbage that wasn't sour, but more sweet. Very nice tasting indeed, just mild but great.

TAMAL OF CHIPILIN
Since I didn't bring my wife to this meal, I had to make up so I got her a tamal with chipilin. If you don't know what a tamal is, it's a large chunk of corn masa, stuffed with whatever, then wrapped in corn husk or banana leafs, then steamed. This one had c and cheese. Chipilin tasted like spinach, maybe a bit more sour. Chipilin it's a legume, and its leafs are used for cooking in central america. She had it the next day, and it was still moist and very good.

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PARRILLADA: 5 out of 5 (Everybody)
PUPUSA: 5 out of 5 (Gringo and Mexican. The Guatemalan didn't try it, he was too full)
TAMAL DE CHIPILIN: 5 out of 5 (Mexican and wife)
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AMBIANCE: 5 OUT OF 5
AUTHENTICITY: 5 OUT OF 5
PRICES: Also cheap. The Parrillada was $25, the Pupusa was $2.50 and the beers only $3.

We so recommend this place. The place was just cool, lots of love put into it, and of course, the food was great. We have to come back and try something different.

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MY GUATEMALA RESTAURANT
Google Map
1049 Atwells Ave.
Providence, RI
401-621-9147
Open 7 days a week

La Lupita - Taqueria y Productos Mexicanos

The Guatemalan first took us to a Mexican Taqueria. It was a Thursday night around 7PM. La Lupita (Lupita is short and diminutive for Guadalupe) it's right on Westminster street in the Olneyville area. It has a bright storefront, wedged between 2 local businesses. I believe one sold clothing.

La Lupita is not your traditional American restaurant. 75% is a restaurant, 25% is a mexican store. As you walk in through the glass doors, there are 7 booths against the right wall. On the left wall, there are Productos Mexicanos, like Chocolate, Pan Tostado, canned goods, corn husks. Also there's like 4 coolers with US sodas and Mexican Jarritos. You walk up to the counter on the back an order. There are huge photos of their food and they're numbered and written in both English and Spanish. You order, get a number, then get up and get your food. The restaurant feels very authentic but it's not screaming MEXICO, MEXICO everywhere. The Gringo thought it felt like you were in another country as you were sitting there. As the resident Mexican expert, I agreed. It looked like a little taco place anywhere in Mexico, plain, simple, not pretentious, except for the booths. In Mexico you would've had white plastic chairs with "Coca Cola" on the back and a white plastic table with a colorful plastic tablecloth. And a stray dog. And a little kid selling gum. And a lady selling flowers.

The crowd on Thursday was mostly Hispanic, a couple Gringos came in behind us but I think they got their food to go. The Guatemalan even ran into 2 of his neighbors from Guatemala, isn't that insane? I mean Guatemala is like thousands of miles away and we run into his neighbors? Must be Rhode Island.

The menu consists of tacos, burritos, quesadillas, soup, tortas (sandwiches), tamales, and a couple of dishes. This is all quick food, nothing too elaborate.

We ordered the following:
1 Quesadilla
1 Plain Tripe Taco
4 Crispy Tacos
3 sodas

QUESADILLA: 3 out of 5 (Everybody)
The quesadilla was different than the quesadillas I'm used to. A quesadilla traditionally is a hand made thick corn tortilla that gets cooked in a comal (like a clay skillet), then gets manchego cheese and whatever (chicken, chorizo, pork, mushrooms), gets added to it and then you fold it and let the cheese melt. This quesadilla was like they took some corn masa, shaped it an oval shape, fried it, then opened it, and stuff it with cheese and pork. Then they top it with shredded iceberg lettuce (only lettuce you ever see in Mexico) and crema. This is similar to a "Molote" in the Puebla area, not a quesadilla. Anyway, the quesadilla wasn't really that great, it just didn't taste like much. Just average.

PLAIN TRIPE TACO: 1 out of 5 (Gringo), 2 out of 5 (Guatemalan and Mexican)
A plain taco it's 2 corn tortillas, with tripe (they also had steak, beef tongue, pork and maybe chicken and chorizo), onion and cilatro. Basically the reason this taco wasn't that good, is that traditinally the Tripa (tripe) is ddep fried so it's crunchy and chewy. This one was grey, soft and just like weird. It tasted OK, but the texture just killed it for us.

CRISPY TACOS: 5 out of 5 (Guatemalan), 3 out of 5 (Gringo and Mexican)
Basically the Guatemalan is just too nice. These tacos are rolled up corn tortillas that are then fried, then filled up with either steak, chicken or pork. They are served 4 (or 5?) on a plate and covered with the iceberg lettuce, crema and avocado chunks. They were OK, kinda bland, too simple. No flavor jumped out at you.

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FINAL VERDICT
AUTHENTICITY: 5 out of 5
FOOD: 3 out of 5
PRICE: Pretty cheap, around $5 per dish.

Would we go back? We'd give it another try. It wasn't horrible or anything, we've just had better.

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La Lupita
Google Map
1950 Westminster St.
Providence, RI
401-331-2444
Open Mon to Sat from 9 to 9, Sun from 9 to 8.