Jalisco #1 – Survive or Perish

Outside

Jalisco #1
902 South Port Avenue, Corpus Christi, TX
361-881-8379
Chorizo & Egg – $1.39
Carne Guisada – $1.75
Bottomless Coffee – $0.99

Survival in Tacotopia is not something to be taken for granted.  You’ll notice a taqueria or two that we’ve reviewed where our record of the experience is all that we have left.  When hunting for new spots we see little red pins on google maps pointing to places we know aren’t there.  It stands to remind us that we could be just as gone, just as quickly, if we don’t watch our backs. I turn on the news at night and I’m always surprised at the degree of violence. It’s good to have backup when I show up at these taco shops, especially when I’m carrying around enough camera to supply a crackhead for, well, about an hour.  Crackheads have an uncanny ability to adjust their intake so that however much they have it’s done in about an hour, but enough about crack. It’s not like I don’t have my own addictions: whiskey, tacos, eggnog, corned beef, troll dolls.  The eggnog & corned beef I keep under control, seasonally satiating myself and then sublimating the craving.  The tacos are another story.  It’s just like in nature: when you want to find an animal, you go to the source of its food and wait. It’s dog eat dog, play or be played, we’ve got a president that accepted the Nobel peace price while waging two wars. Private Joker said it better in ‘Full Metal Jacket.’ “The dead know only one thing: it is better to be alive.”

Taqueria Jalisco has used a classic technique to defend it’s place in the Corpus Christi food chain. Boasting ten Corpus locations on their website it’s not easy to find a spot in the metro area that isn’t 4 or 5 blocks from a Jalisco, and that’s just in Corpus. Jalisco’s reach must extend further as one of their CC locations is #19. We ended up at the first, Jalisco #1, this morning.  Dug in on Port, on the west side of Crosstown Fwy, Taqueria Jalisco sits between Carniceria Jalisco and the the Jalisco Bakery on both adjacent blocks like a cult compound. This is a neighborhood where you’d do well to live in a compound, though not nearly as dicey as some – and it’s caddycorner to the lot where the chicken trailer parks on weekends.  Opinion is mixed on the quality of Jalisco’s food. Some locals will tell you to avoid them, but they are always busy with full parking lots and drive-throughs. An inquiry directed toward the lady at the counter determined that this location had been open for around 25 years. That’s no small papas. They must be doing something right in order to survive that long.

the 'ladybug' presentation

the 'ladybug' presentation

The Hat and myself walked in the front door, half expecting to find a butcher greeting us with a blood-soaked apron and a cleaver. No such luck, it was nice, tidy, and clean. The waitress was on point, and we couldn’t go 2 minutes without her offering to refill our coffee cups. The tacos quickly arrived in the ‘ladybug’ formation. The chorizo & egg was not bad: dry but not too dry, without a strong flavor of chorizo but still quite serviceable.  The carne guisada was about the same – not bad, not great.  The flour tortillas weren’t standout but they came hot, fresh and soft.  The salsa was powerfully hot – and not at the expense of flavor.

The most impressive thing about the place is the signage, and not even the signage on the taqueria itself, but on the carniceria.  It is a work of art, flawless in its execution.  You see tags around this part of town but I could see no evidence that anyone had tagged that wall. Taggers are not entirely without respect for talent.

TripasYChicharronWhile we try to quantify the tangible qualities that make a place good or bad there’s so much that we can’t put our fingers on. Jalisco #1 is not excellent but well worth the trip. In any other town you’d be hard pressed to find anything better. It just so happens we aren’t in any other town, we’re in Corpus Christi.  The Great Corpus Christi, a little town I like to call Tacotopia – Breakfast Taco Capital of the World.  You might think different but if your tacos try to upset the natural order of things, they might become part of the circle of life.

From the Hat

We found ourselves at Jalisco because the taco joint we had selected was closed.  Gallus gallus hadn’t even announced the day and we were standing in an empty parking lot on Ayers.  I wonder what the street life thought at the sight of two Nerds brandishing iPhones, bringing technology to bear to locate a suitable substitute taqueria…”prey” probably.

Prey…Back in the day, I used to be quite the hunter.  Bow, black powder, rifle or shotgun – it was a great way to spend some time, spend some money, visit with friends, and perhaps bring home something for the freezer.  But I haven’t been hunting in more than five years… dove hunting a few times, but no deer.  So I decided that I’d go out and try to shoot a deer this year.  My uncle Bob sets up blinds on our place in Papalote and has taken a few pigs.  He’s seen some deer, but nothing he thought about shooting.  He hunts often so is looking for big impressive deer, or those that need to be culled.  Me, I prefer the does.  I’ll shoot a buck or an atypical of course, but does are so tasty and I’m in it for breakfast.

So I got up early and went and sat on a blind.  I’d never been up in one of these tripod blinds and I must say that I felt a bit uneasy hoisting my butt 12-15 ft in the air and sitting on a swiveling chair – a swiveling chair filled with water my butt would tell you.  Lesson one, take towel.  From my gantry view, I could see and hear the brush wake up.   I love the sounds of the dawn chorus.  Foghorn Leghorn in the distance, coyotes yapping, the occasional mystery sound, and wild birds of all kind singing as if the coming sun had just thawed their syrinxes.  It was steamy when I got there and there were mosquitoes as big as bumblebees flying around.  That didn’t last long, though.  A front blew in and it got cold, and my wet butt got cold.  I hung a couple of hours and watched a feral hog and a doe, but didn’t get a shot at either.

I went back out that afternoon and put in another several shivering hours and was rewarded with a nice doe.  The rifle was true and the deer dropped where she stood.  I always feel kind of sad when I kill a deer.  They’re really quite beautiful up close and she hadn’t done a thing to me.  But I’m looking forward to backstrap and eggs for breakfast, not this morning, though.  This morning it’s tacos.

We hadn’t reviewed one of the ubiquitous Jaliscos before and figured why not?  You can’t turn around in Corpus without running into a taqueria, and there’s a good chance it’s a Jalisco.  We chose the one on Port because it was fairly close.  They had tripas on the menu, and chicharrones, so I had one of each.  The tripas taco on a corn tarp was not stellar – but not cellar either.  The tripas were ice cube-sized Borg ships cut from a frozen block then fried in very hot grease.  Most were so fried that they had very little taste, but there were a few in the center of the cubes that were still too soft.   The corn tarp was of higher quality than those al paquete, but did not hold up to being manhandled.  Not my favorite execution of the dish, but I managed to assimilate it.  The chicharron con huevos taco was better, on a better (flour) tortilla.  The chicharrones were toothy and there were plenty of them mixed with the eggs.  The vegetables making it a la Mexicana were fresh.  Both tacos had ample filling.  The red salsa was screaming hot.  I think jalapenos.  Ian may differ.  It was good though.  The service was excellent and my Bunn-driven coffee never dropped more than a half an inch below the brim.  Tomorrow, venison and eggs.

Salud

Jalisco-1

Signeage

Survival in Tacotopia is not something to be taken for granted.  You’ll notice a taqueria or two that we’ve reviewed where our record of the experience is all that we have left.  When hunting for new spots we see little red pins on google maps pointing to places we know aren’t there.  It stands to remind us that we could be just as gone, just as quickly, if we don’t watch out backs. I turn on the news at night and I’m always surprised at the degree of violence. It’s good to have backup when I show up at these taco shops, especially when I’m carrying around enough camera to supply a crackhead for, well, about an hour.  Crackheads have an uncanny ability to adjust their intake so that however much they have it’s done in about an hour, but enough about crack. It’s not like I don’t have my own addictions: whiskey, tacos, eggnog, corned beef, troll dolls.  The eggnog & corned beef I keep under control, seasonally satiating myself and then sublimating the craving.  The tacos are another story.  It’s just like in nature: when you want to find an animal, you go to the source of its food and wait. It’s dog eat dog, play or be played, we’ve got a president that accepted the Nobel peace price while waging two wars. Private Joker said it better in ‘Full Metal Jacket.’ “The dead know only one thing: it is better to be alive.”
Taqueria Jalisco has used a classic technique to defend it’s place in the Corpus Christi food chain. Boasting ten Corpus locations on their website it’s not easy to find a spot in the metro area that isn’t 4 or 5 blocks from a Jalisco, and that’s just corpus. Jalisco’s reach must extend further as one of their CC locations is #19. We ended up at the first, Jalisco #1, this morning.  Dug in on Port, on the west side of Crosstown Fwy, Taqueria Jalisco sits between Carniceria Jalisco and the the Jalisco Bakery on both adjacent blocks like a cult compound. This is a neighborhood where you’d do well to live in a compound, though not nearly ad dicey as some – and it’s caddycorner to the lot where the chicken trailer parks on weekends.  Opinion is mixed on the quality of Jalisco’s food. Some locals will tell you to avoid them, but they are always busy with full parking lots and drive-throughs. An inquiry directed toward the lady at the counter determined that this location had been open for around 25 years. That’s no small papas. They must be doing something right in order to survive that long.
The Hat and myself walked in the front door, half expecting to find a butcher greeting us with a blood-soaked apron and a cleaver. No such luck, it was nice, tidy, and clean. The waitress was on point, and we couldn’t go 2 minutes without her offering to refill our coffee cups. The tacos quickly arrived in the ‘ladybug’ formation. The chorizo & egg was not bad: dry but not too dry, without a strong flavor of chorizo but still quite serviceable.  The carne guisada was about the same – not bad, not great.  The flour tortillas weren’t standout but they came hot, fresh and soft.  The salsa was powerfully hot – and not at the expense of flavor.
The most impressive thing about the place is the signage, and not even the signage on the taqueria itself, but on the carniceria.  It is a work of art, flawless in its execution.  You see tags around this part of town but I could see no evidence that anyone had tagged that wall. Taggers are not entirely without respect for talent.
While we try to quantify the tangible qualities that make a place good or bad there’s so much that we can’t put our fingers on. Jalisco #1 is not excellent but well worth the trip. In any other town you’d be hard pressed to find anything better. It just so happens we aren’t in any other town, we’re in Corpus Christi.  The Great Corpus Christi, a little town I like to call Tacotopia – Breakfast Taco Capital of the World.  You might think different but if your tacos try to upset the natural order of things, they might become part of the circle of life.

Taqueria Jalisco on Urbanspoon

Elva’s – the End of an Era

DestroyerTacotopia brings us, oh ye sinners, to a gathering in which we celebrate the loss, hopefully temporary, of a Corpus Christi institution.  For more than 25 years Elva’s has served up quality in their eatery on Staples, in the heart of old Corpus.  It has changed very little over that time. They still serve up their signature taco, the Destroyer – which has eggs, bacon, cheese, potatoes and more.  It will destroy any hope you have of not making a late morning bombing run at the company bathroom.

EggsI was accompanied by tacho-nical consultants Kevin & Shelly N. and we arrived at 6:45, only to find it closed.  While snapping a picture, George came out evidently ready to kick some ass and asked us why we were taking a picture.  Elva’s is being closed so that he may deal with health issues, although I’d have assumed he was in the best health of anyone there.

The tortillas were excellent – a pillow of floury clouds.  The chorizo was rich sultry – of you can say that about chorizo and in this case I think you can.  You could barely taste the egg because is was so beaten down by the chorizo.  It was better than the destroyer – which was also good.

The carne guisada was less than exciting – with a nearly clear gravy and little flavor but the beef was good, and the tortillas, well, I’ve already talked about the tortillas.

Elva’s will be missed by its regular patrons, and the students of Ray High School (around the corner).

I also discovered, while chiming in on a conversation at the next table, that we have also lost one of the taquerias that shaped my love for tacos – Austin’s Las Manitas.

Let’s all have a taco in remembrance.

Kitchen

ElvasGraph20090522

El Campero – Industrial Decay

ElCamperoFrontSmThis taqueria was recommended by Corpus OfficeWorks’ own in-house saviour Heather Lynch.  If you like industrial urban decay, you’ll enjoy your drive here.  I did have to fend off one panhandler upon entering the drive through but he was deflected by a mere wag of my head.  Great signage.  The drive-through has no remote speaker or menu, but the server spoke english natively and was sharp.  The drive thru sign itself is a rustic masterpiece.

ElCamperoTacosThe tacos are slightly larger than normal, with thick homemade tortillas measuring around 8 1/4 inches.  The salsa wasn’t spectacular and they only gave me red.  The chorizo could have had more grease.  The carne guisada was quite good, with a sauce almost as thick as the beef was tender.  It countered the flavor of the salsa well.  Standard coffee. Well worth the short drive.  Especially with the Gabfest.

ElCamperoGraph20090508

This taqueria was recommended by Corpus OfficeWorks’ own in-house saviour Heather Lynch.  If you like industrial urban decay, you’ll enjoy your drive here.  I did have to fend off one panhandler upon entering the drive through but he was deflected by a mere wag of my head.  Great signage.  The drive-through has no remote speaker or menu, but the server spoke english natively and was sharp.  The drive thru sign itself is a rustic masterpiece.
The tacos are slightly larger than normal, with thick homemade tortillas measuring around 8 1/4 inches.  The salsa wasn’t spectacular and they only gave me red.  The chorizo could have had more grease.  The carne guisada was quite good, with a sauce almost as thick as the beef was tender.  It countered the flavor of the salsa well.  Standard coffee. Well worth the short drive.  Especially with the Gabfest.