Vista: Vamos a Texcoco

This past weekend had me up in the Vista area again. The last time I was up here, my intention was to check out a Barbacoa shop I'd heard about named Vamos a Texcoco. Apparently this place is pretty popular since the place was packed when I dropped by at about 1015 on that morning! So I ended up at Pho-ever. This time I got to the strip mall a bit earlier at just before ten.

The place was still fairly busy, but there was a table at the front that was open. I actually enjoyed my table, which right in front of the counter. I was amazed at the sheer amount of take-out orders.

The dining room isn't very large and all the "good stuff" comes out of that window in the back.

 The menu is a single page....double-sided; Spanish on one side, English on the other.

This being a barbacoa shop; lamb appropriately dominated the menu. Even though it seemed like all the guys were trowing back Modelo Negro, it was much too early for me. I went with a cup of Café de olla. Not much in terms of cinnamon in this one and perhaps I just don't drink very much coffee these days, but this was pretty strong.

I placed my order and all the condiments arrived a short while after.

All the salsas were pretty straight forward, with that one in the background being quite spicy. I loved the way the onions, especially the habaneros y cebollas which really helped to cut the fat of the lamb.

A fairly large bowl of consomme made its way to my table. This was pretty spicy and much more smokey than I'm used to. That floating particle is actually a chipotle pepper! All of that over-powered the other flavors in the soup, which had decent fat, but seemed a bit too thin for my liking.

Not sure of the portion sizes, I also ordered a Quesadilla de Huitlacoche ($2.50), the black fungus folks call "corn smut".

I'm a big fan of the woodsy-earthy flavor of this fungus, which seems to also have a light kiss of sweetness at the end. This one didn't thrill me so much as it came across as being pretty bland.

My initial instinct was to go with the Barbacoa de Borrego (of course...), but I wanted something with a bit more ooomph and went with the Mixiote ($10.99). Man, this was a load.....

This arrived super steaming hot, the parchment and foil having sealed in all the flavors. It was topped with a load of nopales as well. I really didn't think there was going to be too much lamb in this, but there was more than I could finish....it seemed that there was an entire shank in this!

The texture of the lamb was perfect, pulling away cleanly from the bones, but not mushy. The spice mix used was smokey, but not very spicy, and much of the rich fat from the lamb had rendered off. The flavor teetered on being too salty, but all of this was solved by the lime and onions.

There was one piece of beautiful, gamey lamb, with connective tissue glistening that was just plain wonderful.

The tortillas....there were six provided were adequate.

I ended up taking about half of this with me. I also ordered Barbacoa for the Missus. The barbacoa was a total opposite in terms of seasoning from the mixiote. While still quite gamey, it seemed a bit under seasoned. The Missus ended up mixing the remainder of the mixiote with the barbacoa and the dish was suddenly perfectly balanced for Her.

Check out the mass of humanity waiting for a table as I waited for my check.

The two young women working the tables were very nice, even though they were super busy. The place is not quite in the league of Aqui es Texcoco, but that mixiote is pretty good. I enjoyed it more than the version at El Borrego, though EB takes the consomme vote. Overall, a nice meal, good enough to quench my lamb craving.

Vamos a Texcoco
950 E Vista Way
Vista, CA 92084
Hours:
Open Daily 9am - 9pm

 

Comments

[nhbilly]

I need me some lamb. Hopefully this weekend.

[Kirk]

I hope you get some this weekend Billy!