El Jarrito Cafe, Blanco Road

On Monday morning, I set out just north of San Antonio's downtown in search of a place I spotted while riding the #2 bus, winding up North Flores, Fredericksburg Road, and Blanco Road. It was just to my right, a little shack proclaiming food from Mexico and some Central American country. I wanna say Honduras, but I don't remember. I was intrigued, so intrigued that I felt obligated roll into that neighborhood again and try the place.

So I hopped into my green Honda and cruised what I recalled to be the same streets the bus headed down, driving well below the speed limit and likely pissing off anyone behind me, looking for this tiny eatery. I scoped out North Flores, then Fredericksburg Road, then Blanco Road to Hildebrand, where my previous bus trip ended, but I couldn't find it. "What the heck?" I thought. This place was beckoning me, and now it's vanished, and we're well into breakfast time, and I don't feel like combing this route again. 

And I wasn't about to go home, either. You don't just sink into taco mode and snap out of it. So, as I was pulling a u-turn back down Blanco Road, the saving grace was just to my left: El Jarrito Cafe, a rustic hash house with a full parking lot. Promising.

So I parked and walked through the double door, delighted to see two bustling dining rooms, forming an L-shape with the cash register in the corner. I'm reassured in busy places like this, where they have to clear the napkins and rogue potatoes off your window-side table before you sit down, and I noticed right off the bat that at El Jarrito you can nom on a budget.

The priciest thing I ordered was a country sausage and egg taco for $1.50, and, to boot, coffee, at least for this customer, was a large Styrofoam cup filled to the top. Scoring major points here, amigos.

And I saw another thing that made me smile. Take a look at this table:

Remember the last post when I mentioned General Tso? Well, it looks like this joint replaced him with chicharrónes. Way to use what you already got and bring in the business regardless. Edible proof that hungry patrons often don't give a damn. In fact, it's kind of an added bonus.

I was served pretty quickly. I went for chorizo and egg and country sausage and egg tacos, with potatoes and refried beans on the side. The best thing I had was the chorizo and egg, flavorful pork sausage with a really good red salsa from the squeeze bottle. The tortillas weren't exquisite but clearly homemade and good, and the country sausage, taters, and beans were good but nothing to write home about. Nonetheless, my years living in Western Maryland taught me that you can add enough hot sauce to make anything good.

Friendly service and a homey, family atmosphere. If you dislike crying babies, you may want to avoid, but if you don't care and want taco plates served on Chinese characters, with enough dough left over to buy your girlfriend a beer later, give it a try. I approve, and I'll come back.

$ Bite For Your Buck $

✓Coffee (Warning: The coffee has to be really crappy for me to disapprove.)

Price breakdown:

Coffee

Chorizo and egg taco

Country sausage and egg taco

Potatoes

Refried beans

___________________

$5.38 (I think)

Location:

2014 Blanco Road, 78212