Mexican food. Who doesn't love great Mexican food? Having spent many years in southern California I have to admit to being partial to their version over that of the Tex-Mex I get locally in Austin. Both are good in their own right but at times I miss the SoCal flavors.
Having spent the last three years eating at every Mexican food restaurant I could find, I find it rather odd that carne asada is so scarce here. Guisada galore but almost no asada to be found.
Luckily for me, I was in San Antonio recently on a business trip and stumbled onto a restaurant that not only has good carne asada, they have great carne asada. The dish in particular was simply called Chela's Plate for $6.25. This was a lunch visit and having spent the day doing some serious physical labor I was ready for a big meal. Enter the Chela's Plate.
The plate consisted of carne asada cooked perfectly and mixed together with pico-de-gallo that included fresh chopped jalapeno's, onions, tomatoes and cilantro as well as strips of cactus. To round out the meal was a small salad of mainly lettuce and tomatoes, rice and refried beans served with tortillas of your choice. Absolutely a fantastic dish. A must if you visit, you will not be disappointed!
While we're discussing Lupita's I must point out that this was my second visit in as many days. The day prior I came for lunch and enjoyed the 2 cheese enchilada with beef puffed taco lunch plate. Another respectable dish. My lunch mate had the 5 beef mini tacos otherwise known as street tacos plate. 5 beef tacos on corn tortillas served with fresh chopped onions and cilantro and served with your choice of red or green sauce. They too must have been quite good because he had them two days in a row.
Menu pricing is very reasonable and portions are more than fair for the price. If you leave not feeling stuffed, you didn't finish your food. Lunch Special pricing made the deal even better with my carne asada plate and bottomless cup of ice tea coming in at $5.94 out the door.
Lastly, the web is not a lot of help finding the location. It is in South San Antonio near the Port of San Antonio on 1502 Quintana Road. How will you know it? It is the only bright orange building around. Enjoy!
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