Borders Cafe - Yuma

No, Kirk has not moved to Yuma. This is just Ed from Yuma doing another post for mmm-yoso!!! Hope you all don't mind.

Just a brief update - I dropped into Border's last week (Jan 21, 2008) and didn't recognize anybody there. Tried to order a couple of my favorites (fish ball soup and sting ray soup) and were told that they no longer made those. Found out that a new family was running the place. I did have a bowl of rightous, beefy albondigas de res,  but this post is no longer a useful guide to the place. R.I.P.

I feel a little strange writing another post about Yuma for Kirk's marvelous blog that generally centers on San Diego dining. I guess my justification is that in my mind Yuma is just a distant suburb of San Diego – it is thinking like this that keeps me sane when it's 115° here.  In this post, I'd like to focus on a small, family run Mexican restaurant in which the chef, the grandmother of the family, has around 30 years of experience of cooking in Cabo. The place is called Borders and located on Yuma's main drag 4th ave.

Many of the items available here are fairly standard dishes found in many Mexican restaurants, although always done very effectively at Borders. For example, the chiles rellenos here are long and beautiful to look at:

Although the chilies themselves are not especially picante, they have a good flavor and the rellenos are not lost in a thick layer of breading, a soup of sauce, or a mound of cheese. Even the cheese stuffing is fairly thin so that the overall effect is a balanced flavor.

Another standard dish done very well here is the taco salad with carne asada:

The flavorful slices of steak were not just the topping of the salad but extended all the way through. Yum. The fish tacos are another treat:

Each taco contains two small crunchy fish fillets. These are as good as you would get in Yuma. While lengua is found in many Mexican restaurants in town, Borders serves it as lengua estofada – or lengua stew.

My friend Betsy raved about this molé after she had it, so I had to order it also and I agree with everything that she said. It is easily the best in town. Most moles are too sweet, and sometimes plain boiled chicken is just topped with sauce. In this case the mole sauce is nicely balanced, slightly spicy, and full flavored. The chicken is fall apart tender.

Borders also offers some interesting dishes that cannot be found in another Mexican restaurant in Yuma.

Caguamanta, or stingray soup, has been heretofore available only at Deliciosos del Mar, a taco truck. Borders’ version is rich and deeply flavorful, if a touch too salty for my taste.

It is full of small chunks of the stingray and various vegetables, such as potatoes, carrots, onions, tomatoes, green peppers, and olives. Another amazing dish here is albondigas de pescado. The deeply flavorful and chili infused broth is full of pale and mildly fishy meatballs along with some veggies. Unlike fishballs in Chinese cuisine, these balls have a texture more like meatballs and a taste that is enhanced by the wonderfully rich and tasty stock:

My only concern about this restaurant is that it contains only about 10 tables, and it seems like every time I come there it is busier than it was the last time. I guess that's good for the restaurant, but I always worry that I may have to stand and wait if the customer base continues to grow and if winter visitors find out about it. Prices are very reasonable. Most medium soups (lunch size) are 4.99. I believe all the entrees are under $8. While there is minimal atmosphere, the service is efficient and caring. Another reason to visit Yuma, the great metropolis of Southwest Arizona.

OK, the only metropolis of Southwest Arizona.

Comments

[Catherine (Koko)]

O.K. Ed, you are driving me crazy.

I lived in Yuma from '84 to 99 and probably have eaten in every Mexican restaurant that was there at the time.
The Mexican food I liked the best is at Tacos Mi Ranchito on 4th and 2nd, and Las Manajares (sp?)on 8th next door to Gregston's Feed and supply. Second only to what I've had in New Mexico.

How long has that restaurant been there? I looks like it's in the old Brownie's cafe.

Thank you so much for posting from Yuma, it's always nice to know what's going on there.

If you ever get to San Luis Mexico try El Herederra on the corner of 12th and the main drag.

I do still frequent Yuma and Dillards. ;-)

[ed (from Yuma)]

Catherine, nice to hear from you. Brownie's is still around. Borders was called the Burrito Factory when I arrived in town, but had been closed for several years before being renovated. I agree that Los Manjares is all around the best in town. Hope to do a post on it soon. I just had more pics of the food at Borders. I have eaten at El Herederra two or three times, but I don't get to San Luis as often as I should.

[nhbilly]

Nice - geesh so tempting and I just had oatmeal for breakfast!

[sher]

Argh! Now my taste buds are going crazy!!!!!!! Crazy, I tell ya!

[Captain Jack]

Hey Ed,

Man, I just love a good chicken mole. Did you ask if they make the mole in house? I hate it when kitchens rely on restaurant supply for their mole sauce.

[ed (from Yuma)]

Sher, Billy, Thanks, I think, for the kind words. Yuma is full of Mexican temptations, but this little place is better than most.

CJ - I'll ask next time, but this seems like make-it-from-scratch type of place. The guac (served as a condiment, not dish in itself) is the only thing I've ever tasted there that seemed industrial rather than artesian.

[Andy 美國土子]

wow.. you guys have blue skies in Yuma.. the air must be so clean!

[ed (from Yuma)]

Funny you should mention that, Andy. An old hotel in town (no longer doing business) used to offer guests a free nights lodging if they didn't see the sun all day long. Probably rarely had to honor that offer. We do get some clouds occasionally, but normally they are sparse and out of the way. There are two exceptions: in the winter, our main growing season here, you'll often see a beautiful gray cloud hanging in the lower parts of the valley, almost like a foggy mist from the sea. It seems incredibly beautiful until you realize that the haze is just the remains of the pesticide fog that was sprayed overnight. And three or four times a year, the wind gets up over 40 miles an hour, and dust and sand start blowing horizontally reducing visibility to a half a block or so. Otherwise we have beautiful skies, and at night the stars and planets light up the heavens.

[sue]

ed--we'll be staying at Yuma Cabana--is it anywhere near Borders? Do they do breakfast?

thanks for all the chowtips
sue