Non - Fast Mexican

[jsibley]

I published this in the wrong thread yesterday. Sorry about the duplication.

Five Burro Tacos in North Bergen is a hole in the wall with a couple of stools, but they make good, authentic (Mexican, not Tex-Mex) tacos. The owner is actually a CIA grad, who used to work in NYC and opened this place with some Mexican colleagues. My only regret is that they don't have carnitas (and that they aren't in Montclair).

[Rosie]

jsibley--Have you been to Carmelita's in Maplewood?

[thereuare]

I frequent the Baja somewhat regularly, and the only thing that we have ever ordered is the Baja Special.  Although it is still good, the consistency has gone WAY down hill in the last 2-3 years.

There have been too many instances of cold food coming out of the kitchen, drink orders messed up, water glasses that require begging to get refilled.  It's been "hit or miss"... sometimes i go and it's as good as ever, then the next 2 times will be terrible, then it's good for a few times again (with no rhyme or reason as to days or the week OR busy vs. non-busy time at the restaurant).

They DO, however, still have the best chips and salsa in town.  Also the best "on the rocks" mararita (the frozen kind are better at East LA).

[jsibley]

Rosie, I don't want to upset anyone, but I thought Carmelita's was fine, but not great, and a bit Americanized. That was my impression.

[Jason Perlow]

jsibley: check out the thread on La Posada in Teaneck on this board. I really liked it.

http://www.egullet.com/cgi-bin/topic.cgi?forum=6&topic=181

[Rosie]

Quote: from jsibley on 2:30 pm on Jan. 15, 2002

Rosie, I don't want to upset anyone, but I thought Carmelita's was fine, but not great, and a bit Americanized. That was my impression.

No one will get upset if you disagree except me! ;) I am not big on Mexican food and  eat it less than often.  Maybe twice in my lifetime! So--your opinion is respected. Perhaps if I have the REAL stuff and like it I would seek it out more often.

[tommy]

what is the place up in wycoff? blue moon?? isn't it a "chain" of some sort? i think i remember a perlow talking about it somewhere. is it any good?

[coffeetaster]

Try the Mexican Food Factory in Cherry Hill (yes, South Jersey!!)

[jhlurie]

I am not big on Mexican food and  eat it less than often. Maybe twice in my lifetime! So--your opinion is respected. Perhaps if I have the REAL stuff and like it I would seek it out more often.

Rosie... have you ever eaten it out west? California, Texas... heck I've ever had great Mexican in Kansas City.

[201]

Be careful what you ask when you say you want "real" Mexican!  There is an authentic Mexican place in Red Bank across from the train station called "La Chalupa" that is run by Mexicans and caters to the recently booming Mexican immigrant population.  If you go there, English spoken by the staff or customers is in the minority.

Since we're bringing these Mexican threads back up top, I might as well share my little (read: long and drawn out) tale of La Chalupa. I was down in Red Bank last Sunday for the Red Bank International Film Festival and had a couple of hours to kill between features, so I headed over to La Chalupa around 1:30pm or so.

The place was pretty packed but there were a few open tables. I sat down at one next to the door, facing the street. Two women sat at a table directly across from me just a moment later. A waitress (one of three in the room) provided them with menus and dashed off. I figured she was probably going to get a menu for me, since there's no way she could have missed the only "guero" in the place.

As is often my custom when dining solo (which I was), I took out my sketchbook and began sketching (what else?). After a minute or so, the women across from me decided to dine elsewhere and walked out. Shortly thereafter, a waitress walked over to their table and picked up their menus. I looked up at her and she walked right past me without a glance. At this point, I was curious... just how long would it take for them to realize that I might actually want something to eat? I decided to let things run their course rather than actually flag down a waitress.

Any guesses? 5 minutes, you say? 15 tops?? Well, after 1/2 an hour or so, I was really finding it amusing. After all, I had my sketchbook to entertain myself, I wasn't really very hungry, and it was an interesting sociological experiment. I began to wonder if perhaps they didn't serve whitey in this establishment, because the lunch crowd was starting to thin out considerably, but I was still without so much as a menu. A few minutes later, an older white couple (late 30's) sat down and were given menus within 90 seconds. There goes that theory.

Finally, after 45 minutes, my peripheral vision registered a waitress standing sheepishly to my left. I looked up at her and waited for her to say something (it WAS an experiment after all) which turned out to be, "Did you want anything?" My reply, "Do you have any menus?" after which she exhibited an appropriate look of disbelief and said, "You didn't get a menu... this whole time?" She looked a bit like she expected the next words out of my mouth to be a string of profanity. Instead I just said, "Not that I know of, no."

After that, she brought me a menu and things became pretty standard in the service department. It was as though the first 45 minutes never existed. Pretty odd. She complimented my sketch, we talked a bit about drawing, and she had that look of being impressed with my Mexican food knowledge when I asked for a Jarritos. All in all, it was a pretty surreal dining experience.

The chips and salsas were terrific. The Bistec a la Mexicana was less impressive. I forgot to specifically order it with jalapeños, so they assumed I wanted bell peppers instead. Regardless, the steak itself wasn't as flavorful compared to others that I've had (cough! cough! Potrero Grill! cough!), but after 45 minutes of waiting, it was satisfying just to have food in front of me. I used the salsas to spice it up a bit.

I'll give this place another shot the next time I'm in Red Bank, but after the results of my sociological experiment, I'll be sure to make myself the squeaky wheel as soon as I sit down.