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Saturday morning, January 19, 2008, was exploring the fascinating city of Tijuana, walking west on Calle Articulo 123, just past Av. Martinez, which is home to at least a couple of dozen loncherias, street vendors and taquerias, all of whom seemed to be exceptionally crowded, on this Saturday morning. I was hungry for breakfast, as I approached the Hotel Houston, I noted a small, hole-in-the-wall loncheria, Antojitos Mexicanos, located next to the hotel, and looking thorough the open door, it didn't appear to have a customer in the restaurant. As with all restaurant reviews I publish, I have no affiliation with the restaurant reviewed, and there is no monetary gain on my part, as I am simply a person who likes to eat, and I love to write-up, and publish my dining experiences.
Photo: Antnjitos Mexicanos is located in the middle of the photo, and shares the same building with the Hotel Houston, in Tijuana's Zona Norte. Antnojitos Mexicanos shares the same building with the hotel, in fact, the restaurant is actually a part of the main structure, and its located just west of the main entrance of the hotel. The facade of the whole building is painted a bright green, and signs advertise both the hotel, and the restaurant. I'm sure this is a sub-lease type of arrangement, between the restaurant and the hotel, but I wasn't able to verify my hunch. The restaurant and the hotel share the same address and phone number, so when you give the restaurant a call, and the front desk answers, just ask for "el restaurante" and you'll be directed to the right place. After I enjoyed a delicious meal at Antojitos Mexicanos, I was able to learn some rather interesting information from a local resident who spotted me taking cover-shot photos of the restaurant. Antojitos Mexicanos restaurant is tiny, and the dining room spans maybe fifteen by twenty feet, on a good day, with space for six round, plastic tables, covered by cheap, plastic table cloths, and each table is accompanied by anywhere from one to four white, plastic chairs. The restaurant features off-white tile floors, ceiling and walls that are painted in a garish aqua color, and are adorned with brightly-colored cheap faux paintings, hand-printed menus, posters cut out from magazines, and strings of colored lights, leftover from Christmas. Cases of soft drinks, paper towels, canned beans and more are stored on the floor and piled against the walls, and on some of the tables, you actually have to move plates, rolls of aluminum foil, and other items to be able to sit at the table. In the restaurant's dining room, if that what you want to call it, there seems to be a serious lack of storage space, as stuff is piled everywhere. Not to mention that its cheaply-furnished, disorganized, dirty, as it even featured dead flies on some of the tables and on the floor, with plenty of spider webs, and the restaurant was not at all clean. This place wouldn't pass muster north of the border, but at the time, it was exactly what I was looking for!
Photo: The dining room is very small, very shabby, and is furnished with cheap plastic tables and chairs. You can look through the open door into the disorganized kitchen.
Photo: This is as close to a menu as it gets at Antojitos Mexicanos, as there are no printed menus. If you want something, just ask, and Chef Marco will prepare it for you, assuming he has the necessary ingredients on hand. I walked in, and sat myself at one of the only tables that was free of debris, and appeared to be reasonably clean. A 20-year old guy walked out of the kitchen, greeted me, and asked me if I wanted something to drink. Naturally, I ordered a Coke, and he disappeared behind the open doorway to the kitchen, I heard the "pop" of the Coke top, and I was served a reasonably cold Mexican Coca-Cola, direct
from the can. In this restaurant, I think I would have had to pass, if they had offered to serve the Coke to me from a glass, with ice, due to the dubious sanitary conditions apparently present. I didn't see a menu anywhere, so I asked my server if they had a menu, and he just grinned and said they didn't have a menu; all I had to do was order what I wanted. Am I starting to see a connection? So I decided to move head-on and tell him exactly what I wanted for breakfast: Chorizo and
eggs, refried beans, and corn tortillas. His reply: "No problema." My reply: "Con Coke, quanto?" His reply, after a slight smile: "$35.00." My reply: "Esta bien. Vamos!" Even in a sit-down restaurant, if that's what you want to call Antojitos Mexicanos, you have to agree on the price before you order the meal, if the restaurant doesn't provide a menu, or prices posted on the walls. You're in Mexico, so when you visit
Antojitos Mexicans, you must speak Spanish, otherwise you may find communication quite difficult. Photo: Marco, who is today's chef, steps out of the kitchen to chit-chat, and flash me a peace sign. My breakfast is cooking... Antojitos Mexicanos is a very small restaurant, or perhaps more properly described as a diner, or in Mexico, it's a loncheria, as they are only open for breakfast and lunch. Thee hand-printed signs that are posted on the walls of the restaurant, and the windows that fact the street, suggest that they serve tacos, tortas and other Mexican "comfort food," but like many other small operations in Tijuana, their menu seems to revolve around what ingredients they have on hand, the time of day, and the mood of the cook. The restaurant is staffed by two young men, the waiter who greeted me and took my order, and Marco, the cook, who is definitely the friendlier of the two; Marco actually invited me into the kitchen upon my request. After I had placed my order, I had ample time to look around the restaurant, and observe the interesting decor that the dining room offered. Previous paragraphs address the state of the dining room, but since I've visited many small restaurants and loncherias in Mexico, the disorder, and the lack of cleanliness in the dining room didn't surprise me, or cause me any concern, as I seek out small restaurants like Antojitos Mexicanos during my visits to Mexico. Probably the most interesting sight that greeted me was the west wall of the dining room, as it was painted in the bright aqua blue decor, but this wall featured a couple of paintings of gaudy trees, with the word "Bienvenidos!" painted above it, which amounts to a warm greeting in Spanish. So far, so good... but the most interesting thing was the vertical rotisserie, known as a "trompo," attached to the wall, that is normally used to grill pork in the al pastor style, that still contained a decaying, crusty slab of pork from the night before, or maybe from the night, before the night, before?
Photo: The "welcome wall," with the warm greeting "Bienvenidos!" painted above the vertical rotisserie. The kitchen is cramped, but I found it very interesting to see the rotisserie in the dining room.
Photo: The vertical rotisserie - trompo in Spanish - is located on a wall in the dining room. Why is it located in the dining room? Note the very well "seasoned" meat on the grill... it had been there since yesterday, and the staff had not bothered to remove it. First Question: Why would the staff choose to grill meat in the dining room, rather than the kitchen? I've never seen an operation like this before, during all of my travels to Mexico. Question two: For whatever reason, since they chose to grill the meat in the dining room, and they didn't sell it all, why didn't they stash it in a freezer and use the meat for leftovers the next day? Answer to Question Number Two: Freezer... what freezer? When Marco appeared with the silverware for my table for one, I couldn't even think of asking him the answer to the First Question. I did quiz him about Question Number Two, and he confirmed that they don't have a freezer, and since the refrigerator space is very limited, they just throw out whatever al pastor they don't sell from the previous day. I questioned him as to why the meat was still remaining in the dining room, and still placed on the vertical grill, as it had been leftover from the day before; he grinned and replied that they just hadn't got around to getting rid of it. The congealed-greasy, hard-coated meat, with the flat, squashed onion on top looked discussing, especially since the grill al pastor was mounted to the west wall of the dining room, and the fact that the meat, complete with a coating of solidified, congealed grease, was still there, more than 12 hours after-the-fact. This is truly an interesting dining experience!
Photo: I'm not sure how these guys manage to turn out such delicious food from this small, cramped, kitchen. This photo illustrates the stove and the griddle, where are meals are prepared. There is no freezer or refrigerator, as the staff uses an ice chest to keep the meat chilled. The kitchen of Antojitos Mexicano is truly a unique experience to visit, as Its cramped, crowded, not-at-all clean, and more-or-less resembles a disorganized, dump. It amazes me how they even find room to cut vegetables, or prepare a meal, as all available counter space is packed with condiments, packaging, pots, pans, dirty dishes, stuff, stuff and more stuff. To cook, the chef sort of has to elbow his way to the small, four-burner, propane-fired range, and the co-located griddle, and then he has to contend with all of the "stuff," which is piled everywhere. Illumination is provided by a single, temporary fluorescent light fixture, that is plugged into a wall outlet, and strewn at a 45-degree angle on the wall overlooking the range and the griddle; it would make O.S.H.A. cringe. Dishes are washed by hand, when they're washed, and they're piled up around a small sink in the cramped kitchen, but by the looks of some of them, they're probably veterans from the day before, as the contents appeared to be quite crusty. Like the dining room the kitchen of Antojitos Mexicanos features corpses of deaf flies scattered liberally about the kitchen, like I said before, Antojitos Mexicanos is my kind of place to dine in Tijuana.
Photo: Meet Marisa, who waited on me with a friendly smile. She actually came in the door just as my breakfast was ready, and placed it on my table. She told me that she was just reporting for work. When my breakfast was placed in front of me, on the cheap plastic table where I was seated, by my smiling waiter, I was almost afraid to eat it, due to the "interesting" conditions of the restaurant, and the disorganized kitchen, but when the plate was presented to me, and being the breakfast trooper that I am, and since I had already agreed on the meal and the price, I dug into my combination plate with complete enthusiasm. My server, Marisa was very friendly, the food smelled delicious, the presentation of the breakfast was attractive, and was in the mood for a great breakfast. Despite the sleazy and dubiously clean surroundings of the dining room and the restaurant in general, I devoured my meal with gusto, within about 10 minutes after it was delivered to my plastic table, and enjoyed every second of it. Nice people, great food, and bargain-basement prices! Look beyond the shabby appearance of the restaurant, as the staff are friendly, they will gladly allow you to view their "interesting" kitchen, the food is delicious, and the prices are bargain-basement. When I visit Tijuana, Antojitos Mexicanos is the sort of loncheria that I prefer, as I love the taste of local cuisine, local people, and rustic, local, dining.
Photo: My delcious breakfast of chorizo and eggs, salsa verde, refired beans, and corn tortillas. This fine breakfast wasn't on the menu - what menu? - so you have to ask. Bring your Spanish with you... The two eggs, scrambled with the chorizo, were simply delicious, and cooked perfectly. The entree was slightly on the spicy side, which is the way I love it, and the salsa verde enhanced the chorizo and eggs, and made for excellent dipping. The refried beans were smooth, creamy, and most likely included lard, which happens with all amazing refried beans in Tijuana, and northern Mexico. The corn tortillas were slightly toasted, and arrived in a covered tortilla basket. Such a great breakfast! Antojitos Mexicnos may have a small, dingy dining room, and a cramped, messy kitchen, but who cares, as Chef Marco has talent and Marisa is as sweet as it gets. The food is delicious, the price is rock-bottom, and the staff is super friendly. What more could anyone ask for in a Mexican diner? As a very interesting aside, while I was taking cover shots of this restaurant, and the Hotel Houston, from across the street, a local resident approached me and asked me why I was taking photos. I've encountered this situation many times before, both in the U.S., and in Mexico, as most civilians don't seem to understand why anybody would want to take photos of real, happening, real-time events. Well, I broke into my best Spanish, and I explained to her about this web site, and the fact that I was gathering information for a book on Tijuana street food vendors and small restaurants... to make a long story short, I won this gal over, as she was amazed that I could speak Spanish, and that I was documenting the Tijuana small-restaurant food scene. Anyway, somehow the topic of conversation shifted to the prostitution activities practiced in the Zona Norte, only a few blocks to the east, and I told her that wasn't my "scene," as I'm a happily married man. She pointed out to me that the Hotel Houston is the hotbed in Tijuana of all gay activity, and most, if not all of the residents of the hotel are gay, or transvestite. I suppose that I am quite naïve in subjects such as this, as I had thought that the people coming and going from the Hotel Houston looked like the folks next door, and were no different than anyone else. Well, every day in Tijuana is an adventure, and you learn something new every day, about the city, and the locals! Add another embelishment to Antojitos Mexicanos, as they're situated in a rather distinctive, diverse, and interesting neighborhood... Antojitos Mexicanos Copyright(c) 2020 eRench Productions. All rights reserved. We've been on the web since December 22, 2002.
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