Saturday, June 6, 2015

Taquería Nuevo Vallarta, Roosevelt Avenue


It's heating up in San Antonio, although not too hot for the time of year, to be fair. June, July, and August (and, let's be realistic, May and September) leave many Texans with the understanding that from late morning to early evening, a walk down the street or around the block is gonna leave you sweating and throwing down a glass of water (or, whatever we drink). Egad. No wonder we drive everywhere. Add that lifestyle choice to our barbecue, tortillas, and those things you see above, and our obesity rate starts to make more sense.

But let's not get all preachy here. I have no right to do such things because it's SATURDAY, and I was revved up to indulge in a little Tex-Mex.

My drive to work has me rolling for a decent amount of time down a city street called Roosevelt Avenue. It's a continuation of St. Mary's Street, a mostly wide, comfortable road that cuts through the south side of the city. Being the voracious eater that I am, I always notice the Mexican places, which are reasonably abundant, along this thoroughfare, and I'd been to a couple of them already. Considering its location just across the street from the Planet Fitness where I try to work off the tacos in this blog (often in vain), I decided to visit Taquería Nuevo Vallarta, right at Roosevelt and SE Military, by the Exxon and the...Golden Corral.



One thing that caught my eye when I approached the place today was the Dos Equis neon sign in the window, which, of course, means that the place serves beer. That isn't terribly common for restaurants in this category, but I suppose such a perk can draw a perhaps different, and larger, crowd at certain times of the day. Hopefully not at breakfast time, though. Hopefully.

I know. Doesn't help too much.


Upon walking in, I saw the two relatively large dining areas and decided to post up in the second one, sketchily at the back corner by the window (When you're the only white person in a place, you indulge in this notion to be as inconspicuous as possible, often making it worse.). 



It's a lively joint, with family get-togethers you'd think happen every week. The long tables allow for big groups like the soccer team you see above. The artwork on the walls gives it a nice feel, but it's not the cleanest establishment. It wasn't uncommon to find napkins and straw wrappers on the floor. Nothing's perfect in Tacoland.







The service was a bit unhurried, as well, either due to a sparse wait staff, or they forgot I was back there. Whatever. Redemption was granted when I got this up front.


I didn't order the queso, but I gladly ate it, along with the tasty variety of chips. Many of them were so thick you thought you were eating pita chips. Hummus isn't on the menu, though, shockingly.

I did get my food pretty quickly, though. A carne asada torta, which is at the top. Let's take another look:


There's nothing like a good torta. I find the toasted bread, lettuce, tomato, meat, avocado, and crema combination very satisfying, and this one was pretty good. It was flattened, with tasty bread, nice chunks of meat, and decent salsas. The green provided an unexpected afterburn. I ate it efficiently and was happy. 

I liked the food, but I don't see myself visiting this place again. The patchy service and trash were a bit of a turnoff, but the ambiance is a jolly one. If you have any aversion to noisy groups of kids, maybe just grab a breakfast sandwich at 7-Eleven. However, if you don't mind and wanna try pita chips with melted cheese, give it a go.

Oh, and they also got three breakfast tacos for $2.99.


✓Coffee

$ Bite For Your Buck $ 

Price Breakdown:

Coffee
Chips
Queso
Carne asada torta

___________________
$6.44

Location:







3451 Roosevelt Avenue, 78214
(210) 923-3058

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