Los Pueblos Regional Cuisines of Mexico

Los Pueblos has closed. This fact makes me sad.  

Welcome back to mmm-yoso.  Cathy is writing today. Kirk and ed(from Yuma) are staring at the sky.

A funny thing happened a few days ago.  Kirk started his post about Los Pueblos and so did I.  We both had been going here, liking the food and wanted to share our meals with you.  So, here now is my take on this really nice restaurant. (Los Pueblos is not a taco shop, but does serve tacos and burritos; it is a Mexican Food Restaurant that cooks fresh, local and sustainable with attention to the nuances of regional flavors, in a rustic manner . The food is prepared in a healthy way and tastes great.)

 No lighted signage is up, yet.

There are photo slide shows of various regions of Mexico playing on the television and a nice musical accompaniment in the background.

The tortilla soup (large, $5.50) is made with a seasoned tomato broth and topped with Panela cheese.  It's topped with avocado and Ancho chile. Tortilla strips are in the soup. Great -really great- flavor to this soup. It is filling and a very good vegetarian version.

The Yucatan Salad ($9). Pollo Asado Pibil (grilled chicken marinated in achiote, bitter orange and other spices).  The salad has oranges, pineapple, red pepper, cilantro, onions and avocado. No dumbed down flavors here.  Achiote is annatto, which has a peppery and nutmeg-y flavor to me and the bitter orange  and other spices really compliment the chicken, which is very moist/not dry. This salad is quite large. 

The chile relleno plate($6.99) was a chalkboard special the day we were here.  It was served with the green rice (made with tomatillo, cilantro, California chile and other herbs and vegetables sauteed with the rice). Very nice flavor.  The Black beans are made in a clay pot (a la olla) and vegetarian. Really good beans, lumpy and very flavorful.  The relleno was filled with a very fresh Panela cheese.  I want this again. 

When we were almost finished and reading the menu, we noticed Cafe a la olla- coffee  in a clay pot ($2.50) It's coffee made with cinnamon, clove, orange peel and piloncillo (unrefined/brown sugar; you may have seen small cone shaped brown sugar in the Produce section of your local grocery store; that's piloncillo). This was a perfect dessert.  You can see it's a nicely gritty coffee, based on the sediment left on the sides of this cup...it is very good. 

On another visit, we noticed $5 lunch specials.  All come with fresh made chips.  Again, deep corn flavor. 

I ordered the two taco plate with chile poblano rajas (Poblano chile strips sauteed with onion, garlic and corn and finished with cream and cheese) as my lunch special.  It came with the rice as well as the chips (for $1 more, you can order one of the house made aqua frescas; ask for a sample to decide- all the aguas are made from scratch, without corn syrup or preservatives.)

Here is what the rajas looks like.  It is a good vegetarian sauce (and you can order it as a side for $3)

Here is the other taco.  It didn't have tomato in it but was just as tasty. This is an example of the unevenness of food presentation Kirk mentioned in his post, but I am not complaining; I really like this kind of homemade assymetry.

The Mister ordered the carne asada plate ($11) with a side of mole Poblano ($3) and the mole coated the carne.  This carne asada is marinated in Chipolte and is not at all like carne asada you can get from any taco shop around here.  It is deep and smokey flavored, spicy - plays no games.  The Mister wanted to try the mole which is made with over 30 ingredients and it was *good*...I could taste the chocolate, plantains, nuts and chile as well as the medley of spices. I could eat it by the spoonful without any meat...

The Cafe de la olla is now our 'regular' dessert here.  We poured some into a smaller cup and added the coffee mate, which changed the flavor to make it creamier...almost a fancy ice cream flavor.

There are Hurraches (chewy soft corn masa shaped like a sandal with various toppings), Quesadillas "sincronizada"(two thick flour tortillas painted with red chile adobo and then cheese and fillings) as well as torta sandwiches on the menu.  The primary meat selections are the carne asada marinated in Chipotle, the chicken pibil marinated in the bitter orange and Achiote and pork Adobado -a sun dried red chile BBQ sauce, which Kirk really liked and I have yet to taste-and soon.

Los Pueblos is a really good choice for quality, fresh, healthy cuisine. I hope it suceeds.  

Los Pueblos 7081 Clairmont Mesa Boulevard San Diego 92111 (858) 834-7878  

Comments

[caninecologne]

everything you described sounds so good, especially the mole and the rajas tacos..

[Cathy]

Everything I have had here has been really good, cc. They are doing something different to us and common to Mexico...it's kind of like being on vacation to different regions and eating at someone's kitchen table.

[ed (from Yuma)]

Great post. That food looks good and original. It made me go back and read Kirk's, which I had probably read at 6:15 some morning and barely remembered. Very interesting stuff and nice to see healthy Mexican food from far south of the border.

[Cathy]

Thanks, ed. The food here is worth the stop. It's different for people used to Taco Shops, yet so familiar in a healthy, home made way.

[Yummieyummy]

I still haven't gone there yet :(

[Cathy]

Hi YummieYummy. The reason I even knew this place existed is because I saw you had "Liked" it on Facebook! It has great food and is a well run business.

[yummyyummie]

LOL because the owner used to go to my parents' restaurant. He is a very detail person and very passionate about Mexican food.

[José]

No need to go back to Mexico for this original Mexican food. We are originally from Mexico, and Los Pueblos serves exactly what we crave for when we go back to visit relatives. San Diego is lucky to have the owner and mastermind of it all, Jeremy, among its citizens. Viva México!!....and the philharmonic orchestra of flavors of its food....all a stone throw away at Los Pueblos.

[Cathy]

So glad you discovered Los Pueblos, Jose. Welcome to our blog.