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The Paly Voice

The Student News Site of Palo Alto High School

The Paly Voice

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El Jacalito Grill

El Jacalito Grill isn’t easy to find. It’s right near the overpass over 101 to East Palo Alto. The Englewood Shopping center has been having problems for a while. The Shopping center isn’t on any main street, and businesses there keep losing money. Just a few months ago the barbershop I patronized there closed, and now people in the area have to go all the way to Supercuts or to expensive hair styling salons at Town and Country. There were rumblings a few years back in the City Council, some people wanted to turn the retail stores there into housing. The Grill has only been open for a few months. I have always had a soft spot for small restaurants struggling to make it. So, with a team of Voice reporters, I sallied forth to test whether that sympathy is deserved.

El Jacalito Grill has a simple feel to it. There are small tables with rug patterns underneath the plastic. The walls are pastel, and the cooks are visible from your seats. At lunchtime during the week, The Grill is packed and noisy, most of the seats taken by workers on their lunch breaks. At any other time there are usually only three or four people sitting at the tables quietly, or at the bar nursing a beer.

The menu is as simple as the decor. It includes the mainstay of most Mexican restaurants: burritos, quesadillas, tostadas and tacos. We tried two burritos, the super burrito ($4.99), which came with spanish rice, pinto beans, guacamole, salsa, cheese, and your choice of chicken or carne asada (beef). The super burrito was tasty, but didn’t have enough meat. We also tried the vegetarian burrito ($4.79), with spanish rice, pinto beans, guacamole, lettuce, salsa and cheese. The Vegetarian Burrito had just the right mix of ingredients, something that many Mexican Restaurants get wrong. The vegetarian burrito had a large amount of spanish rice, which is important. Spanish rice has a subtle flavour, and the cooks at the grill put just enough in that I could savor it along with the other ingredients. The rice also damped down and improved the guacamole, salsa, cheese and beans. Many Burrito places overdo the other ingredients, and the flavors stampede the taste buds. El Jacalito Grill however had a good mix, except that it was a little too salty.

Both burritos have a creamy sauce distinctive to El Jacalito. The sauce is a little spicy, and has similarities with alfredo sauce. This sauce is a departure from the traditional burrito, but adds to the flavour and distinguishes the burritos from those of other Mexican restaurants. The burritos were large, and well packed. They had a little more in fact than we could eat.

Besides the basic burritos, there were two other more specialized dishes that we tried. One was the shrimp cocktail ($10.99). A large cocktail glass filled with tomato soup, and freshly cut salsa, with avocado chunks. The cocktail was mediocre, the salsa was like soup and the Shrimp tasted strange. I have tried many burritos but I must admit I had never had a shrimp cocktail before, and so can’t say how it compares to others.

There was also the chile relleno ($8.99), huge bell pepper with melted cheese inside and on it. The chile comes with a side of beans and rice. As at many restaurants these days, there was a side of five small semi-rough corn tortillas. We used these to make our own mini-burritos. The little tortillas are messy, but tastier and have better texture than the chewy flour of the classic burrito. The chile relleno was tasty, but not melted all the way through.

Finally, we all tried a Mexican specialty, horchata ($2.10 Large). A drink made from rice, cinnamon and vanilla. It has a musky sweet taste, with of course a hint of cinnamon. It is weaker, without being watery, better than other horchata I have tasted. Definitely something you should try.

As far as prices go compared to other restaurants The Grill is about average for it’s burritos, which are more expensive, (when compared to Rojoz Wraps) but have much more substance. The specialty dishes, such as the Shrimp Cocktail are more expensive however.
The service from El Jacalito Grill is mixed. If you sit down for your meal the waiters will bring you an appetizer of tortilla chips and hot green soupy salsa. The waiters are indifferent, and do not have uniforms, but they are not bumbling. After we finished our meal we waited uncomfortably for a few minutes and eventually went to the counter. If you are in a rush, it’s easier to just go the register to pay

The manager is very friendly. Once I took a burrito out to go and went outside to get a newspaper. I sat down outside near my bike. The Manager then asked me if I would like to come in again out of the cold. The second time we visited the restaurant he joked with us a little about the problematic Mariachi Nickelodeon.
With a TV bar way in the back, a Nickelodeon, orders such as the shrimp cocktail, El Jacalito Grill is a restaurant that goes in several different directions with marginal success. Still, the place has a nice homey atmosphere, one billiards table, and foosball, and is run by friendly people. Their mainstay burrito fills you up, and has a distinctive sauce that I have never found at any other Mexican place. No wonder its packed at lunchtime. It wouldn’t be a bad place on a hot day, eating your burrito and sipping a glass of ice cold horchata.

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