El Cuervo - Where Half of Hillcrest Eats.

On any given weekday it seems that half of Hillcrest has lunch at El Cuervo, the other half at Bronx Pizza. People from various professions, laborers, "suits", and "scrubs" from the nearby Hospitals, are all holding a spot in line.

After comments from both Jack (whom I'm sure I must've been standing next to in line several times) and Annie of Green Beans in San Diego mentioning El Cuervo were made, I finally decided to get down to business and actually do a post. I guess because of the close proximity to our offices, it's relatively easy to take El Cuervo for granted. I mean, I could literally just up and walk the few blocks over (over people sometimes sleeping in the alleyway) and grab a quick order of  Five Rolled Tacos ($3.20), a favorite of mine. These rolled tacos, or taquitos are smothered in guac and covered with lettuce, tomatoes,  sour cream, and cheese, and somehow find a way to stay nice and crunchy when I eat them back at the office. And I can justify it as a pseudo-salad if I need to, after all there is lettuce and tomato on it, right? You can also just get 3 rolled tacos for $1.90.

I prefer the guacamole at "Cuervo's" to those of most taco shops, the guac here is more on the chunky side, rather than the usual runny, snotty mess that I get. Green is a really bad color for runny food! I think I've ordered many of the items on the menu, and today I had a Carne Asada Torta ($3.80). As you can see the veggie's in the sandwich are really mostly symbolic, sort of to make you better about eating this slipper-sized torta. The one thing I could do without on this torta are the refried beans, they end up making the bottom bun soggy to the point of disintegration, and I have to end up eating this  with a fork and knife. I'm at work after all, I wouldn't want to walk into a meeting with refried bean smears looking like god knows what (I'll let you decide on your own visuals here) on my shirt. On second thought this sandwich could've used a bit more carne asada.

The burritos at El Cuervo are pretty sizable ranging in price from $2.40 (Ground Beef) to $3.30 (Machaca), and for 90 cents more you can get it "wet", that is with cheese and enchilada sauce on them.  The item below is the Pollo Asado (grilled chicken) burrito, "wet". Grilled chicken, salsa, guac, and cheese, wrapped in a tortilla the size of a hubcap. If there's one complaint I would have, it's that there's too much tortilla, and when wrapped around itself, it can be pretty "tough", but in this case the enchilada sauce cures that ill. The chicken in the burrito was moist and all the flavors blend well, until you get to the end and it's only tortilla.

What does El Cuervo got going for it? The fare is not as greasy as other taco shops, good prices, fast service, good sized portions, good guacamole, and good hot sauce. A pretty good list by any standard. Some of the favorites Chicken Tostada ($2.40), Carne Asada Quesadilla ($4.25), Chimichanga ($4.20), and Machaca Burrito ($3.30). I would stay away from the "seafood" here, I've found it to be "grease city". All in all, a good neighborhood taco shop!

El Cuervo Mexican Restaurant
110 West Washington St
San Diego, CA 92103

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Comments

[clare eats]

Wish we could get mexican like that!!

[KIrk]

Hi Clare - Just your everyday neighborhood taco shop actually! I've been told that despite San Diego's location to the Mexican border that the variety of Mexican food here is rather limited. So I'll be headed out to Yuma soon, to visit my buddy Ed, who'll hopefully give me a bit of an education, as I really don't know much about Mexican food.

[Reid]

Hi Kirk,

You're lucky to be in SD. You have better and less expensive Mexican food options than we do here. All of this looks so good and tasty.

[Kirk]

Hi Reid - Yes, it's very reasonably priced, and very tasty, and I even know people who eat this 3-4 times a week. But I'd still kill for a zip-pac....LOL!

[clare eats]

vegemite for non aussies is up dude

[clare eats]

no you don't understand THERE ARE NO LITTLE TACO SHOPS hardly any mexican and most of them are crap!

[Jack]

El Cuervo is the best! This is our fav fast-food mex place and it rarely disappoints. Rolled tacos are always nice and crunchy, carne asada is usually well marinaded. They even have roasted jalapenos at the salsa bar. We've even had them cater a mexican-food themed party for us and it was very good. Best part of the party though...fresh tortillas made by the tortilla ladies from Old Town Mex Cafe!

Reid- I agree w/Kirk, would love a zip-pac. Instead of a zip-pac, we have fast food mex. Different but both hit the spot.

[clare eats]

what is a zip-pac?

[Kirk]

Hi Clare - I'm on my way there now! Clare a zip-pac is a "bento" from Zippy's restaurant in Hawaii - it has one piece fried chicken, one piece teri beef, one piece fish, and one piece spam, over a bed of rice with furikake. A surf pac is two pieces fried chicken, two pieces teri beef, one piece spam over a bed of rice....now I'm really hungry!

Hey Jack - For some reason I like their guacamole - I'll usually buy some for pot lucks along with their carrots. Last time I noticed they moved the roasted peppers to the counter.El Cuervo has always been dependable. Fresh tortilla's are wonderful, though Old Town Mex is not on my favroites list, it's fun to take tourists, and their tortilla's are great.

[milgwimper]

Kirk,

That place sounds really nice eats. It is much cheaper down there than it is up here, but I do have some local favourites myself. I have to say I love chunky guacamole the best with spicey peppers mixed in. SO GOOD...

[clare eats]

ahhhhhh thanks ;)

I am glad you liked the post!
now you have to back!

[Kirk]

Hi Mills - There are literally a taco shop on every block here, so competition is pretty fierce, and picking out the good ones can be tricky.

Hi Clare - sigh...yes, I'll "back it up" as you would say. :)

[Jack]

We really don't like OTMC either. Our neighbor has used two of the ladies on occasion and was our contact to have them make freesh tortillas at the house....it was awesome to have piping hot tortillas with the meal. That could have been a meal in itself!

[clare eats]

hehhee
it was your idea in the first place don't forget ;)

[Reid]

Hi Kirk,

Zip packs are so expensive now. I think it's like US$6.95!!!

Hi Clare,

Here's a link to a photo!

http://onokinegrindz.typepad.com/ono_kine_grindz/images/ZipPac-thumb.jpg

[Kirk]

Hey Jack - Yes, fresh hand made tortilla's, man I don't need nothing more....funny story about Old Town Mex - once I had their carnita's and it pretty greasy - this from a guy raised on Kalua Pork! Got so queasy eating it, I couldn't finish it, and as I walked back to the car I felt really weird - 15 minutes later a giant zit popped up in the middle of my forehead - now I'm light years past the stage of "breaking out" and haven't had a pimple in ages - except for Mount Carnita's - couldn't touch the stuff after that!

Clare - I know, I know...

Hi Reid - $6.95 isn't too bad when you consider that L&L here costs about $6.99-$7.29 for a plate lunch!

[Annie]

hmm. i usually stick to burritos at every mexican restaurant i go to but the rolled tacos look good!!

[Kirk]

Hi Annie - I do enjoy the taquitos at El Cuervo alot. I think it's great to have a "strategy" and favorite dishes when trying out a restaurant.

[Jo]

Chili's Relleno... Don't laugh guys, but this is my all time favorite dish. It's right behind spaghetti.... When I do Mexican that is ALWAYS what I order. Not only that, but in the spring time (don't ask me why, I've never understood it myself) I crave these things like nobody's business!

[Kirk]

Jo - And here I thought you don't like chili's?????