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.
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