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I never get tired of wandering the streets of Tijuana, ever on the prowl for puestos, street food vendors, and small mom and pop owned and operated loncherias. For some strange reason, Tijuana's Zona Norte, which is famous for its hookers, prostitutes and working girls, seems to have the highest concentration of small restaurants in the entire city, so during my visits to Tijuana, I always find myself drawn to "The Zone," but always for the right reason, as I'm not inclined to indulge myself in the many streetwalkers that frequent the area. Saturday, September 28, 2007, was walking west on Calle Articulo 123, just west of Niņos Heros, when I noticed on the south side of the street a small loncheria that was painted in a gaudy yellow, with the name of Loncheria Evelin, which looked like my kind of place.
Photo: Loncheria Evelin, located on Articulo 123, west of Tijuana's famed Zona Norte Loncheria Evelin features indoor and outdoor dining, as it has a total of 10 bar stools outside that line the counter, and four sets of tables and chairs inside. It's a small, typical family owned and operated locheria, as Mom does the cooking, Pop collects change, Oldest Sister helps Mom, Middle Sister chops vegetables and makes salsa, and Youngest Sister cleans the counter, the floors and generally does what's needed. There is no printed menu, nor is there a posted menu in the kitchen or dining room, as you just ask them what they have on hand that day and if they have the ingredients, it's yours. Outside the restaurant advertises that they serve tortas, quesadillas, burritos and liquados, and menudo is served on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Oddly, nowhere do they advertise that they serve tacos, but a loncheria in Tijuana that doesn't serve tacos is unheard of. Anyway, I sat on a barstool, outside the restaurant, and ordered two carne asada tacos, that I just knew that they're have, even though tacos weren't advertised. Loncheria Evelin probably assumes that everybody know that they serve tacos!
Photo: Inside the dining room, looking toward the kitchen. The gentleman talking on the phone doesn't seem to appreciate having his photo taken. Mom took a slab of meat from the refrigerator and placed it on the griddle, and the meat started to sizzle. Their stove is quite unique, as the right third of it is all griddle, and the left two thirds sport four burners. Mexican restaurants cook just about everything on a griddle, so this makes sense, and the burners are perfect for cooking pots of beans or menudo on weekends. The kitchen is painted a very gaudy red, and large spoons and ladles hang from the overhead above the range. To the right of the range, there's a storage area and a work table, where vegetables are cut and salsa is prepared, and there's also a sink, and counter where dished are dried and stored. Dishwashers are unheard of at small Mexican locherias, as everything is done by hand, and this is definitely the case at Loncheria Evelin. Unlike restaurants north of the border, sanitation is not regulated in Tijuana, so restaurants aren't required to purchase expensive dishwashers, as their U.S. counterparts are. I'm always fascinated in watching the staff do their jobs and observing my delicious meal prepared before my eyes. At Loncheria Evelin, everything is in the open, so as you sit at the counter waiting for your meal, you get to see the whole operation take place.
Photo: Mom and Youngest Daughter at work in the kitchen. Note that the right third of the range is a grddle and that Mom has a pot of coffee warming on the griddle. I sat at the counter, watching the operation and taking notes. The staff seemed a little mystified why I was taking photos, and Dad even seemed a little annoyed. Youngest sister, who speaks excellent English, asked me why I was taking photos, and I explained to her that I write articles about small loncherias, and publish the articles on my web site, and this just might result in some free publicity, as I have hundreds of people a day visit my web site. She explained this to her folks, and both Mom and Dad's faces flashed huge smiles. I guess they like the free advertising... Just before the meat was ready, Mom placed a couple of corn tortillas on the griddle. When the tortillas were ready, Oldest Sister removed everything from the griddle, chopped up the meat into carne-asada-sized pieces, and placed the meat over the tortillas, as Middle Sister placed diced white onions and cilantro on the tacos. The tacos were placed on an attractive porcelain plate and handed to me, at my seat at the counter. Oddly, Loncheria Evelin does not have containers of salsa, guacamole, limes, radishes, and other condiments sitting on the counter for diners to choose from, as most other restaurants do. The corn tortillas were soft and chewy, and cooked enough to hold together well, but were not at all greasy. The carne asada was tasty, moist and juicy, the onion and cilantro was fresh, and made a nice contrast to the warm meat. The only real complaint was that Loncheria Evelin doesn't have additional condiments; I asked Youngest Daughter about it and she said that they usually feature more, but they were out of everything else, as their delivery guy didn't show up today. That sounds like a legitimate reason to me...
Photo: Two delicious carne asada tacos served on an elegant plate. The tacos are priced at a reasonable MEX $11.00 each, while not a bargain, is a reasonable price, but Mom would not accept my pesos, as she told me, through Youngest Daughter, that she was excited that I was going to do an article about them, and the tacos were her treat. I told her that the article wouldn't be published for several months, and that it would be several additional months until the search engines started to direct traffic to the article. They still wouldn't accept my money, so I politely thanked them, and told them that I'd publish an article about my dining experience at Loncheria Evelin. Next time you visit the famous Zona Norte, stop by Loncheria Evelin for a delicious meal. Tell them that you read all about them on ericrench.com, as I'm sure it will make their day, and maybe yours as well! Loncheria
Evelin Copyright(c) 2007 eRench Productions, Inc. All rights reserved. This site has been on the web since December 22, 2002. Web page design has been created by eRench Productions, Inc., custon photography for any occasion...
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