I was disappointed to see La Guanajuatence close, what with its salsa bar and delicious tacos. But just in a matter of weeks, Taqueria El Jalapeno came in to fill the void, and it’s doing a serviceable–but not knock-your-socks-off–job.
First, you can’t believe how fast the service is. Every meal I’ve ordered there has taken about five minutes to be served to me. You don’t get much chance to eat the one free order of chips and salsa (as noted on the menu), but maybe that’s a good thing, as these aren’t the freshly fried tortilla chips you come to expect at taquerias.
The menu consists of a few a la carte and side items, plus the requisite lunch specials, “Authentic Mexican Dishes,” tacos and even weekend specials. Of the lunch specials, all of which come with rice and beans, I ordered the tamales ($7.99). Both the chicken and soft corn shell were super dry, and I had to douse the dish in salsa to get through it.
Fortunately, items from the Authentic Mexican Dishes section were better prepared. I’m a fan of molcajete, which is a stone grinding bowl filled with pork, steak, chicken, shrimp and chorizo. I would rank Taqueria El Jalapeno’s version ($16.99) second to Cuco’s in Verona, mainly because the large petals of onions clumped together (which weren’t properly sliced) became filler over more meat, and the vast majority of the meat was chorizo; I would have preferred a better balance.
I also enjoyed the tender carne asada ($10.99), though I’m sure there are diners out there who wouldn’t appreciate the large amount of gristle on the steak. For my next visit, I have my eye on the caldo de camaron ($9.99), a shrimp soup with a tomato base and chipotle sauce.
My favorite taco was the lengua ($1.99), which was piled high with meat and full of flavor. On the other hand, the chorizo overpowered the steak in the campechanos taco ($1.99); it may as well have just been a chorizo taco.
Taqueria El Jalapeno is open every day for lunch, dinner and carryout.
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See more photos on our Taqueria El Jalapeno Flickr set.
