Lunch at Red Pepper Taqueria

When you laze around the house on Saturday morning, you reach the point where you are both starving and lazy and therefore don't want to cook. We reach this point a lot. Red Pepper Taqueria is one of those places that is open all day which is convenient for people like us who head out for lunch at 2pm. We had a pretty good time there last week, so back we went. Also, it put is close to Whole Foods (because I wanted to buy more of that luscious bufala mozzarella) and we needed some liquor from Toco Giant.

We debated between ordering the queso dip or the guacamole. Ultimately, our bartender/server told us that we could get the queso with a small side of guac so we opted for that. When you ask for fresh chopped jalapenos with the queso, they give you a lot. Their guac was as good as I remembered.

Now, the chips. I think they are pretty freshly fried. But I feel like we keep getting the leavings. When we did finish them all and we asked for more, the chips were more "full size". That was good, at least.

As for the queso, it was pretty good. I would get it again.

For his main, Josh got the al pastor and the shrimp taco. The shrimp taco was good, he said. The al pastor, one of the worst tacos he has ever eaten. It was super sweet. Super sweet pineapple. Super sweet sauce. Ugh. The beans were decent but nothing special about them. I didn't try the rice and didn't ask, but he did eat it all.

I got the carne asada taco which seemed to be mentioned in most of the reviews I had read. The beef was cut in large pieces and it was very tender. The largeness of the meat actually made it a little awkward to eat because each bite was a bit hampered by trying to bite through the meat and it ended up falling out. The onions and micro cilantro were good and well-balanced. There was a lot of the mild guajillo sauce but it wasn't overpowering. I did squeeze the lime on this taco and I enjoyed it. Would I get it again? I think so.

I also got a cup of the chicken tortilla soup. A pretty good deal at $3.50. The bartender said this is the best chicken tortilla soup she had ever had. Now, I will admit that I don't have a lot of chicken tortilla soup. I squeezed the lime in it, but I did think the brightness was not really there. The soup itself claims to be pasilla based but it was kind of bland for what I expected since I wanted a richer base, but it was still pretty decent. The chicken is shredded and is all dark meat which added more of a richness than most chicken tortilla soups. The tortilla strips were freshly fried, the large pieces of avocado definitely a plus. Overall, I liked the soup and if I were on the cheap, I would get it every time.

So far, however, my favorites remain the tuna crudo, guac, and cheese dip.