An Average Joe in San Antonio

One day while I was ramblin’ around town, I stumbled upon Ruthie’s.  This was one of those days where I was just driving around town on back roads to get to a place instead of staying on the major thoroughfares.  I saw this huge yellow building with a sign that beckoned me to “Eat Here.”  Since I had just eaten, I filed this stop away in my mind as a place to return.

"Eat Here"? Why yes, I think I will.

Fast forward to where I had to be at a going away party for a friend at the Lion and the Rose on Blanco.  I hadn’t eaten all day and I was like, bam, Ruthie’s.  I made my way to the yellow building to see what they were all about.

Strangely enough, this was about 4:00PM, but for whatever reason I had a hankering for some breakfast (if you have followed the blog you know that sometimes I want some odd food combinations…).  I asked the waitress if they still served breakfast and she said that they did so I was pretty pumped.  I was looking at some of the plates but just felt like some tacos.  I ended up ordering the chilaquile taco to satisfy my breakfast urge and the supreme taco to see what they were all about.  Total for both tacos was only like $4 in spite of the fact that the supreme taco had sour cream and guacamole.

The food was out shortly (have to admit, I was surprised they could turn a breakfast order that fast at 4:00PM!) and the plate was enormous!  I just couldn’t believe how much food they were able to cram on these tacos!

The chilaquile taco was dang good; it wasn’t like the chilaquiles that I order at Lula’s or Thousand Oaks.  It has a really rich almost buttery flavor to it.  I asked for some of the green sauce and that spice went really well with taco.  I knew I was going to get full and not touch the other taco if I didn’t put the chilaquile one down at the halfway mark, but I kept coming back to it as it was that addictive!

NOTE: that is not a little plate, those tacos are just that huge.

The supreme taco certainly lived up to the name.  In addition to being huge, it had all that add on stuff like sour cream and guacamole that most places will charge you a buck fifty (I’m talking to you Chipotle!), or almost as much as the whole taco costs at Ruthie’s!  It was pretty good itself, but I have to admit, I didn’t really eat a whole lot of it so that I could go back to the other taco…

I should say that I went in starving; I hadn’t eaten all day and devoured the chips and salsa quick (the waitress asked if she could bring me more, and I told her “No” so I could save room for the tacos), but I could only clear out probably 2/3 of these two tacos!

A final note should be made on the tortillas; they were some of the thickest I have come across in San Antonio (no, I have not been to Blanco Cafe, it’s on the list (I know, I know…))), and man, they were pretty good!

If you are on a budget or have lots of mouths to feed, drop by Ruthie’s and just order one taco, that is all you are going to need!

Value: 10/10 (Two giant tacos for $4 and I couldn’t even eat both of them, amazing! Plus get guacamole and sour cream without paying extra on the supreme taco)
Atmosphere: 8/10 (hole in wall but clean; go to the section further away from the door for better A/C)
Service: 9/10 (no frills but really nice)
Salsa: 9/10 (good tasting, would have liked the green to be a little hotter)
Taste: 10/10 (chilaquile taco was more addicting than fantasy football)
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SanAntonioJoe.com has been around for a little over a year now, and I realized that I had not yet reviewed my favorite restaurant in all of San Antonio, El Jarro de Arturo.  I have told countless number of people how great their margaritas and food are, but I guess I completely forgot to make a post.  This is about to be remedied.

El Jarro is a family owned business since 1975 and is run by owners Arturo and Sandy Cerna.  You can really tell the emphasis is on family as you will see many of the same folks working in the restaurant year to year.  I really like it because in addition to the management, many of the waiters and staff have been there for a while.  You really feel like part of the family when you dine there.

Entering the restaurant takes you away from the hustle and bustle of Highway 281 and transports you into the interior of Mexico.  On the weekends, there is a band that will play a combination of Latin and 60s/70s pop music.  You can even shake it on the smallish dance floor.

The outside patio is nice, however, it is pretty difficult to get away from the fact that you are in a strip mall next to a major highway and Party City.  In spite of this, they do a pretty nice job of trying to set up an oasis to escape the work day with one of their patented margaritas.

Speaking of, I think that the margaritas at El Jarro are the best in the city.  Don’t waste your time with a frozen one or one with a swirl.  Opt instead for the real deal, The Arturo.  Made with Patron, Cointreau, and lime juice, this potent mixture is served in a martini glass instead of the more traditional rounded margarita glass.  The margarita is $8 but packs a punch that makes it completely worth the price.  A word to the wise – if you will be drinking a couple of these you better plan on having a designated driver for the trip back home.

Normally served in a taller martini glass, this margarita packs a punch. Have a DD if you plan on drinking two.

Their chips and salsa are pretty addicting.  The salsa is always made fresh and pretty chunky.  It is almost like a pico de gallo but not quite; depending on how hot the jalapeños are that day it can be medium to really spicy heat.  Arturo recently talked to the San Antonio Express News and gave them his salsa recipe which is pretty quick and easy to make.  Apparently they make 40 gallons of it a day!

If I have a friend visiting me in San Antonio for the first time, we will inevitably make a stop here for dinner.  For all first timers, I make sure that we order the Queso Flameado as an antojito (or appetizer).  As opposed to queso that most gringos are used to (the kind at Super Bowl parties), this is more of a thicker consistency that has some peppers and chorizo mixed in with it.  They will usually bring it out and light it on fire while mixing all the ingredients together.  It is best eaten on a corn tortilla.

In addition to having the traditional Tex-Mex fare, El Jarro offers a nice variety of Mexico-Mex including Norteño and coastal food.  This is why I typically rotate between three main options for my meal:

If I am feeling a little Tex-Mex, I usually order the El Jarro #3 which is two cheese enchiladas, a crispy taco (be sure to sub in the puffy taco!), rice, beans, and guacamole.  At just above $10, this plate will leave you completely full and satisfied.

For all you seafood lovers, you won’t be remiss to go with the Red Snapper a la Pepe.  More on the expensive side (about $22), the fish is served with a tequila tomato sauce that is really nice. You also get a Salad a la George with this meal, which is a Romaine lettuce salad with mango, jicama, red bell pepper, purple onions, avocado and a vinegar dressing.  The salad almost equals the fish; I love this meal because after I eat it I am full but I do not feel weighted down.

The third option I usually go with is a Norteño delicacy called Cabrito, or baby goat.  I know firsthand that this might sound strange to a lot of folks because when I moved to San Antonio 5 years ago and visited El Jarro for the first time I was kind of shocked to see it on the menu.  I kept going back to restaurant and wondered what it tasted like until one day I got the courage to ask my waiter about it.  He said that it was a specialty and one of his favorites so I ordered it.  I’ve been hooked ever since.

Apparently, I’m not the only one.  In 2009, a foodie for the New York Times wrote an article about how he learned to love goat meat.  The taste of cabrito is really nice because it is so tender and really isn’t a greasy meat.  I was a little afraid that it might have a gamey taste (I don’t like venison for this reason), but I don’t think it is gamey at all.  Cabrito is good either by itself or by making a taco on a corn tortilla with a little bit of guacamole.

The cabrito is a specialty at El Jarro; I ordered it this past visit.

After telling folks how much I liked El Jarro’s cabrito, some of my Mexican friends told me I should check out El Rey de Cabrito in Monterrey, Mexico.  Always up for an adventure, a buddy and I took a midnight bus down to Mexico back in 2006 with the express interest of getting the cabrito.  I will say that El Rey de Cabrito is better, but it is only by the slimmest margins.

El Jarro is one of my San Antonio staples.  I go there to celebrate birthdays, new jobs, or life in general along with going there to commiserate after a bad day or a failure.  It has been a place to take friends and family the first time that they visit me in San Antonio, and a place to return time and time again to catch up.  In short, the overall friendliness of the staff and exceptional food at El Jarro is San Antonio to me.  God willing, their doors will be open for years to come.

Value: 9/10 (you can get a Tex-Mex dinner for $10 that will fill you up or some higher cuisine for $20; the margaritas are $8 but pack more of a punch than two of the typical $4 ones elsewhere)

Atmosphere: 9/10 (Inside atmosphere is really nice and cozy; the patio is good, but you are in a strip mall)

Service: 9.5/10 (really nice servers who will guide you through the menu; I would give it a 10 but the thing is that the service can sometimes be slow; don’t worry, you are in the land of mañana, sit back, relax, and visit )

Salsa: 10/10 (different than most in San Antonio, chunky with a nice heat; don’t forget the recipe seen here)

Taste: 10/10 (my favorite spot in town; if you visit me for the first time we are probably going there)

Website: http://www.eljarro.com

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So I haven’t done this in a while.  It wasn’t because I stopped eating; my waistline can assure you of that!  However, I have started eating out way more infrequently as I have been on a budget.  This is primarily due to the fact that I have quit my job in pursuit of a dream of doing my own thing.  I have always been thankful to what companies and corporations can provide: benefits, a paycheck, friends, and structure.  It is just that I have always enjoyed doing something on my own terms.  I need a little more flexibility and freedom to either obtain wild success or abject failure on my own.  For this reason, I have decided to chase after that dream before I settle down and have other people dependent upon me instead of just myself.  Consequently, I don’t have the money to eat out near as much…

However, there are always exceptions; sometimes they come in the form of a Groupon, while other times they come in the form of just having to go out and have a nice meal.  This was an example of the former where I had a Groupon to get $10 worth of food at THAT Taco Shop for just five bucks.

First off, the shop is kind of smallish so if you want a place to sit you better get there pretty early.  The owner, Robert, seemed pretty nice.  He helped a couple of ladies behind me as he talked through the menu and how his ingredients made him a different taco shop than others in San Antonio.  From what I overheard, it was primarily due to the fact that they use fresh ingredients and native ingredients to Mexico.

I decided to order a burrito and a bowl of posole to take home and eat at another time.  While I was waiting for my food, I got some chips and the homemade salsa’s (I particularly liked Eli’s Crazy Green salsa which was named after the customer who submitted the recipe along with the spicy Ranch sauce) and sat at the table.  The owner was talking with another patron about the beans and what he could do to make them better.  I liked the fact that the owner is willing to listen to his consumers.

The burrito was all right, the posole was really good.

The burrito was your standard size Chipotle style burrito, and it was just as good.  There was nothing earth shattering about the burrito and the price was in line with what you would pay at a chain like Chipotle and FreeB!rds.  The posole on the other hand was pretty dang amazing!  The flavor from the pork complimented the hominy really nicely.  I don’t really find posole that often in San Antonio so it was a treat to find it here.

Since the price was in line with what you would pay with a chain, I would definitely say to give this restaurant a try.  Plus, if you are in the mood for some posole then this is the place to go.

***UPDATE***  This restaurant closed shortly after I visited it.

Value: 7.5/10 (In line with the chains that serve the big burritos)
Atmosphere: 7.5/10 (Small inside that is very clean.)
Service: 9/10 (The owner really cares about what people think about his restaurant and food and is always looking for feedback.)
Taste: 7.5/10 (Run of the mill burrito, however, the posole was really amazing!.)
Website: http://www.thattacoshop.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/thattacoshop

I have quite the prejudice when it comes to restaurants on the Riverwalk; I have had a bad taste in my mouth from several in the past where I get overprice food that doesn’t have flavor and some expensive drinks.  A big group of friends and I had rented a riverboat to go tailgating before the Texas Tech v. Michigan State football game for the Alamo Bowl, and before we got on the boat a few of us decided to eat at Mexican Manhattan.

Located further up the river, many tourists would miss seeing it because it really isn’t near anything.  This is most certainly changing as the Riverwalk continues to expand and remodel.  We got a nice seat outside that overlooked the river.  A couple of my friends were pretty hungry so they decided to order some tamales as appetizers.  Our waiter said that they were really good and that the ladies make them fresh everyday (part of it is done by hand, other by machine).  He did warn us that the portions here were rather large, and asked us to reconsider ordering the appetizer if we weren’t really hungry.  We decided to go for it anyway.

The tamales were delicious; the masa was thick on the outside and the inside was chocked full of meet.  They were not very greasy, and had just a good flavor.  I would highly recommend them (even as a complete meal) as they are only $3.75 for a half dozen.

I ended up going for the namesake, Manhattan Dinner, that included guacamole salad, two cheese enchiladas, beans, and rice covered in carne guisada.  The plate came out and it was ENORMOUS!  The guacamole salad was not a lame-o little scoop but a giant sized portion worthy of being an appetizer at most other restaurants.  While the enchiladas aren’t the best I have ever had, the carne guisada covering the rice was absolutely amazing.

This guacamole salad that comes on the side of a plate would be a guacamole appetizer at most places!

Come hungry, the portions at Mexican Manhattan are HUGE!

Next time I return to the restaurant, I think I am going to invent my own plate and ask for the half dozen tamales covered with the carne guisada.  That right there will be a meal fit for a king and I bet I can get it for under $5.  Mexican Manhattan is just a myth buster; they prove that not only is it possible to have good tasting food on the river, but you can also get it pretty cheap.

Value: 10/10 ($10 for a HUGE meal on the Riverwalk plus a beer for like $3.50?  You can’t beat it.)
Atmosphere: 9.0/10 (Don’t judge a book by the cover here.  The sign and the street level entrance looks kind of shady, but you enter into an old diner type atmosphere on the inside.  The riverside tables are nice, but as of now there is not a whole lot to look at because you are off the beaten path part of the river.)
Service: 9.5/10 (Great service and our waiter offered excellent suggestions and was very friendly.)
Taste: 9/10 (Solid tasting food, especially for the Riverwalk.)
Website: www.mexicanmanhattan.com
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San Antonio is rich with many different neighborhoods and pockets sprinkled throughout our million+ person city.  However, most of the time it seems that we stay in our little pockets and rarely venture out to explore other neighborhoods (with the exception of taking a visitor to the Riverwalk).  I think that this is human nature as we don’t like change and want to stay in our comfort zone.  I have tried going to different restaurants all over the city, but in my posts I think you can see one overarching trend – most of them are North of downtown.  For this review, I decided to go snag a bite to eat at Maria’s Café off of Nogalitos on the Southside.

I was alerted to this restaurant by Andy Benavides, a local artist who owns a frame shop/gallery on South Flores when I dropped by to pickup something (Andy’s frame shop deserves a post unto itself; I will have to do this in the near future).  Andy says that Maria makes some of the best Mexican food in town at some of the best prices; you have a good probability of running into him there during lunch.

There is an old adage of not judging a book by the cover; well the same should apply for restaurants.  Maria’s is a smaller building and there is really not a defined parking lot (I park just across the street to the south).  The inside is definitely small with plenty of ephermera on the walls and a television showing the news; the floors are uneven and the aisles are not very big.

As I took a seat, a lot of the locals were coming in and talking amongst themselves and the staff even though they were sitting at different tables.  You could hear some people discussing the news with the waitress and each other; it felt like the way café dining must have been in a different time when people interacted more instead of gulping down food before the next meeting (unfortunately I would have to gulp down the food to get back to work within the hour).

I ended up ordering the lunch special which was two chicken puffy tacos, borracho beans, fideo, and an iced tea for $5.50 (remember to bring cash as I don’t think Maria’s takes credit cards).  Before I got my meal, I got some chips and salsa that was really good.  The chips were homemade which I think was essentially a deep fried corn tortilla that was cut into pieces.  The salsa was thick and a darkish color that was a sneaky type of hot.  It was tasty, but man, it had a slow burn that would kick in after you swallowed it.  The heat continued to burn and felt like it lasted longer than that one guest who won’t leave your party after it is over!

Here are some of the homemade chips with a salsa that has a slow burn!

The meal came out pretty promptly and was nice and hot.  I don’t know how she did it, but it seems as though Maria’s Café is the first place I have been to in San Antonio that can make a puffy taco in which the tortilla will not disintegrate after you start eating it!  The tortilla was nice and crispy and the shredded chicken was to die for.  It was nice and juicy and full of spices and flavor; it tasted almost like the shredded chicken that is in caldo that has had time to simmer with all the vegetables and ingredients.

The borracho beans were a little weak in the sense that they really didn’t have much spice/flavor to them other than that of the beans themselves.  I ended up adding a little salt and salsa to wake them up.  The fideo on the other hand was magnificent!  Since coming to San Antonio, I have really enjoyed being introduced to fideo; for all you gringos out there who are like me and do not know, fideo is a pasta that is in a soup that has a garlic kind of taste to it – in a way the broth kind of has a similar flavor to the Spanish rice.  It is served hot and really warms you up on a cold wintery day.

That's fideo at the back right; it is amazing.

When I left to pay the bill at the register, Maria joked with me and said, “That’ll be $1,000.” I kind of looked at her and laughed and man who was eating at the table by me said, “Tell her that the food sure is as good as a thousand bucks, it’s just that you’re not gonna pay for it!”  This is the type of interaction that makes eating out more than just about the food itself.

Value: 10/10 ($5.50 for a full plate of food and a tea is all right by me!)
Atmosphere: 7/10 (small, uneven floors, quirky things all around; I like this type of stuff but others might not)
Service: 9/10 (nice staff who makes sure you are taken care of)
Salsa: 9.5/10 (do not eat this salsa if you don’t like spicy things; it is slow burning and I really enjoyed it!)
Taste: 9/10 (the chicken and fideo were packed with flavor; the homemade corn tortillas were nice and thick; the borracho beans didn’t have a ton of flavor, but add a little salt and salsa and you’re good)
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