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

Comments
  • Heather Lynch - Guerrero says:

    Since we don’t live to far from the Port location we can be found there atleast 3 or 4 times a month. The waitresses there are always so sweet and friendly and the service is excellent. The food is always awesome. We have lived in the area for over 7 years and it is still my favorite restaurant.

    Food for thought. There are always folks that give you ideas of what restaurant to visit next. Need to maybe meet up at the same restaurant where you had breakfast and get some dinner tacos to mix it up. Just an idea. Different times of the day the food could be better or worse , same with the waitstaff.

    I learn something every Friday from your Tacotopia postings. A troll doll fetish ey. Great post. Keep it up! Bring on home to Corpus some Tacotopia competition.

  • Agnes Lynch says:

    May I challenge you both. I have eaten at many, dare I say most, of the Jalisco locations and they all have different atmospheres. One may be upscale and classy while the other is like being at your Mom’s house for dinner around her table, as well as most have their own menu.

    My challenge is for you to take off from #1 and visit all of them in Corpus Christi and compare them. The one on Cimmaron has the freshest food and the best service of any I have been to. The Port location you were at has very fresh food as well because of the amount of business, but pleeeeaaase check all of them out.

    Different, but all great. Take it from me, I’ve gained a lot of weight since living in CC over the last 13 yrs due to my addiction to the breakfast taco.

    Thank you for your blog and pick me up a taco or two to go next time. 🙂

  • Fabian says:

    The service was garbage the waiter didnt even refill our drinks, it was a waste of time and money I wish I never went there. I got a torta and a gordita and the gordita had nothing on it and the chicken was really burnt, it is very nasty the server when I told her that this wasnt a good gordita and I didnt want it she looked at me and said “Its good whats wrong with it?” and for someone thats suppost to be working for a tip why would she be questioning a customer and she looked at me as I was stupid. Then when I was paying I asked if the gordita was on the bill and the manager, picked it up and put it right in front of my face and said no. I will never go here again and would advise anyone not to go its Taqueria Jalisco #19.

Leave a Reply to Fabian