Taco me home

For Kiwifornian Alastair Paulin, Mexicali Fresh is a welcome taste of San Francisco-style fast food.

After living in California for almost two decades, I had a foolproof get-rich plan for my return to New Zealand 10 years ago: Mexican food. What this country needed, I decided, was a beachy, laid-back taco joint, the kind of place that had kept me fed, for cheap, for years in San Francisco and was the highlight of jaunts south of the border.

It would have strings of colourful lights, corn tortillas, buckets of beers on ice and fresh homemade salsa. I’d serve fish tacos, carnitas burritos and maybe even tostada salads.

Regular trips home had shown me Kiwis’ tastes were evolving and the country had plenty of good restaurants, but the still rare Mexican places were an exception. They slopped up stodgy bean and rices messes with bland meats and “hot” salsa that wouldn’t qualify even as mild anywhere within a 1000 kilometre radius of Mexico.

I never attempted my dream of a fish taco food truck at Kaiteriteri but I’m glad that Mexicali Fresh has brought a lively version of the fast, fresh, flavourful Mexican food I still crave to Christchurch.

In both food and fit-out, the growing chain (there are two branches in Christchurch, one in Mount Manganui and 12 in Auckland) rides the California wave of Mexican food. The lamps over the counter look like skateboard decks, the California state symbol of the bear looks down from a wall and the vibe is colourful and funky – for a chain in a strip mall.

My favourite touch was the backlit display of colourful bottles of Jarritos, a popular Mexican soda.

As at a Subway, you order from the counter where all the ingredients are displayed in front of you. You can get the same basics assembled in different dishes: tacos, burritos, taco salads, green salads, quesadillas and nachos. Start with the filling (fajita veges or jack fruit, mince beef, pulled pork, beef barbacoa, or chargrilled chicken), add beans (refried, pinto or black beans), rice, cheese, sour cream and your choice of salsa. Or go for a “signature” dish, where the choices have been made for you and which come with guacamole.

I was happy to see the black beans and impressed by the choice of salsas. The hot had a fiery kick of chipotle, the medium was mouth-tingling and the mild was a chopped tomato pico de gallo style, with onion, coriander, very mild chillis and lime juice. The hot and medium were both available on a salsa bar, where you could get an extra pottle of heat, along with pickled red onions.

I ordered my signature Longboard burrito “wet” which meant ladles of enchilada sauce and melted cheese on top. It made for a messy burrito that I couldn’t eat with my hands but added more flavour. The Longboard had sweet pulled pork and went all in on the California vibe by adding a fruit salsa of mango, pineapple, capsicum and red onion. Purists would be horrified, and the pork was overwhelmed by all the other flavours, but I was satisfied. Around the table the teens gave their burritos, tacos and nachos solid 7s and 8s out of 10.

In general the meats were underseasoned by Mexican standards but, for a chain adapted for Kiwi tastes, I thought they struck the right balance. The chargrilled chicken, which can so often be bland, had bold garlic and lime flavours, and given the dishes are assembled in front of you, it is easy to adjust the proportions of fillings like rice and beans to let other flavours stand out.

I was happy to see the selection of seven Mexican beers (all $9) included my favourite Negra Modelo and I’ll be back to sample some of the seven Mexican-themed cocktails (from $10), like a Texas Rita. Of the many Jarritos flavours, even the kids found the watermelon too sweet but the guava was a big winner.

At the Spitfire Square branch at 8pm on a Friday, there was a line out the door, with the diners ranging from an Air NZ flight attendant to families to friends catching up. The manager said it was unusually busy but the young staff seemed to deal with the rush with good spirits. The downside was that they had run out of churros, which would have made for a sweet treat to end.

With meals ranging from $7 for a chicken taco to $18.50 for my large burrito (including an extra $3 to have it “wet”), it was good value for fresh, fast food that was a cut above burger chains in quality and flavour.