Dallas Food - Mexican on Maple (Part 2)

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Mexican on Maple (Part 2)
Posted on Friday, April 22 @ 07:11:16 PDT
Topic: Mexican

Continuing the exploration along Maple Avenue, this report focuses on two adjacent restaurants near the Tollway underpass: Esquivel’s and El Rincon Tapatio #3. Each makes claims of regional influence from the central plains of Mexico. On to the food...

Esquivel’s, 4114 Maple Avenue.

Esquivel’s immediately grabbed my attention with its colorfully painted sides and large banners announcing, “Barbacoa al estilo Ixmiquilpan.” Ixmiquilpan (pop. 75,000) lies in the Mexican state of Hidalgo. I didn’t know anything about their style of barbacoa, but was ready to learn.

While I waited for my barbacoa tacos, I munched on their chips--very thin and crispy, just the way I like them. One of the table salsas was a fairly restrained tomato-based salsa, while the other was scorching with chiles de arbol.

The tacos arrived. First of all, take a good look at that torn tortilla at the top of the picture. This is a thing of beauty--something rare in Dallas taquerias and absolutely unheard of in even the frilliest of our gringo-oriented Mexican restaurants. It’s a tortilla hecha a mano. A fat, beautifully-textured, hand-patted corn tortilla. My tacos took some time to arrive because these babies were being made fresh to order. Forget about those thin, stiff, gritty, out-of-a-sack, yellow-corn tortillas you’ve had at Tex-Mex joints, the memory of which still haunts you, leading you to always ask for flour tortillas. Take a chance. Try a good handmade corn tortilla. I think you’ll like it.

Accustomed to smallish taqueria tacos, I had ordered three of the tacos de barbacoa. When the waitress set down the plate, I knew that was way too much for me. Just guessing, I’d say there was between a third and half pound of meat in each taco. I looked at the fibers of meat, trying to figure out what might be distinctive about it. It appeared roasted, rather than braised. And it showed no signs of the “stewy” treatment some barbacoa around here gets. The question was answered with the first bite. It was lamb. Perhaps it wasn’t lamb according to Hoyle (i.e., under one year of age), as it had a mild, but not unpleasant, hint of gaminess. But it fell well short of the funkiness of mutton. A spritz of lime juice is all it took to make this meat sing.

According to the waitress, they use the whole carcass of the lamb (rather than just the head, as is typical with beef barbacoa), roasting it in the oven. (She used the Spanish word for lamb, rather than sheep, to describe the meat, for what that’s worth.) When I set off down Maple, I was hoping to find uncommon dishes and delicious ones. With the lamb barbacoa in handmade corn tortillas at Esquivel’s, I scored on both counts. And at two bucks per taco, they’re a good value.

Whether it’s because of the configuration of the building (with parking in the back) or some other factor, business has been pretty sparse on the days I’ve visited Esquivel’s. Looking around, there are indications that they’re struggling to get more business on this highly competitive stretch of road. Redacted signs show that they’ve gone from weekend-only barbacoa (which is pretty common around here) to barbacoa every day. They’ve extended the menu to include some Tex-Mex items and even a cheeseburger lunch special.

As best I could tell, the other customers on each visit--Mexican-Americans across the board--tended to stick with the barbacoa tacos. I decided to try a few other things on the menu, though, in the hopes of finding more gems. Pictured above are beef enchiladas. (It’s hard to see them under the cheese; but that’s not unusual.) The three enchiladas were filled with well-seasoned ground beef and some diced potato. The sauce was a meaty gravy with bits of onion and carrots. I usually like gravy-style enchilada sauces and started out liking this. After a few bites, though, I picked up on a very processed feel, leading me to believe the sauce may have been adapted from a can. And while the handmade tortillas were great with the tacos, they proved to be highly absorbent of the enchilada sauce, turning into mush. Not bad (especially with a price of $3.99), but probably not something I’d order again. The refried beans were above average, with full flavor and a drizzle of lard over the top (suggesting they’d been fried to order) for some added richness.

The flautas--appearing under a mountain of lettuce and cheese--were much more substantial than the delicate cigarillos I usually see around here. The tortillas were fried to a pleasant crispness. And the larger diameter allowed the chicken filling to remain moist. With refried beans and fresh tortillas, this was another pretty good meal for under four bucks.

There’s probably more to discover at Esquivel’s. (I still haven’t visited on a weekend to see what specials they might offer.) But it’ll be hard to pass up the barbacoa tacos in future visits.

El Rincon Tapatio #3, at the intersection of Knight and Maple.

Next door to Esquivel’s is El Rincon Tapatio #3. This taqueria/restaurant holds itself out as a Jalisco-style establishment. Jalisco, another central plains state, is adjacent to Guanajuato, which has supplied Dallas with a huge portion of its immigrant population. So most of the dishes here will be familiar to local taqueria explorers. I didn’t notice many of Jalisco’s more distinctive dishes on the menu (e.g., birria de chivo, carne en su jugo, molcajetes, etc.). But it’s not unusual for a taqueria to claim a regional style, but come up short on the delivery. More specialties would have been nice, but the menu looked okay.

The above average chips (thin, crisp, and served warm) came with two enjoyable table salsas. One was avocado and cream based, pepped up with jalapeno. The other was an earthy chile de arbol salsa with lime undertones. Neither was remarkable in a way that would ordinarily draw comment. But they’re both very addictive. Over multiple visits, I’ve seen the heat levels of the salsas rise and fall, but they’ve always been very good.

Noticing a sign advertising “tortillas hechas a mano,” I tried to confirm that with the waitress. She informed me that the flour tortillas were handmade to order, but that the corn tortillas, while made on site, were pressed, cooked in advance, and reheated. So, instead of ordering my tacos with corn tortillas, as I ordinarily do, I went with the flour. For the meats, I chose carne guisada (pictured above), pastor (which is often considered a Jalisco specialty), and barbacoa. The big chunks of carne guisada were moist and tender, if somewhat bland. The pastor had good flavor, though its stew-like texture was inconsistent with the pineapple-capped vertical rotisseries that are synonymous with that meat.

The barbacoa was probably the best of the three meats. The moistness and flavor intensity of the beef were consistent with braising. Not a truly sublime barbacoa, but pretty good for these parts. Overall, these were decent tacos, particularly distinguished by the excellent tortillas.

The chicken enchiladas in sour cream sauce, pictured above, were simple and direct, but satisfying. Workmanlike beans and rice.

This quesadilla was held back somewhat by the corn tortilla’s average quality (by taqueria standards). The warm, melted cheese and crispy bits of fajitas, however, were terrific. Lifting the quesadilla, flavorful drippings from the fajitas dribbled out the bottom. This is why it’s always a good idea to hold your taco over your beans and/or rice. You don’t want that flavor to escape--least of all onto your lap.

Here we have a sincronizada de camaron. A generous portion of tiny shrimp are nestled into a bed of white cheese, sandwiched between two handmade flour tortillas, then griddled till warmed through. A sprinkling of lime juice accented the shrimp well enough that other garnishes would have been superfluous.

Since Jalisco is often credited with the invention of pozole, I decided to visit El Rincon Tapatio on a weekend, which is the only time the dish is offered. The bowl arrived, accompanied by the traditional garnishes (i.e., shredded cabbage, Mexican oregano, cilantro, onion, limes, and tortillas, but no radishes). Though this isn’t the best pozole I’ve had in Dallas, it was competent. The thin broth had big flavor and a gentle spiciness. Since no fork or knife were provided, I was happy to discover that the large chunks of pork were “spoon tender.” In fact, the meat would come apart just by pressing it against the side of the bowl with the back of the spoon. The hominy hadn’t quite “flowered” as it should; but that’s a matter of texture, not flavor. This was a good pozole. But, now that I think about it, I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad pozole at a taqueria. Tradition will do that for you.

El Rincon Tapatio #3 is a solid taqueria/restaurant. There’s nothing flashy about it. But everything I’ve had there has been pretty good. As with last week’s La Condesa, I think patience and persistence will pay off here. And, since none of the dishes above cost more than five bucks, menu exploration won’t break the bank.

Next week: La Guadalupana Meat Market and Barbacoa al Estilo Hidalgo.