SOUTH OF THE BORDER
Adelita’s serves superb, distinctly northern Old Mexico dishes
There is every sort of variation on the very basic elements of el cocinar mexicano, from Coyote Cafe to the street-side taco cart. Texas and Tex-Mex bear little relation to New Mexico, and northern New Mexico is nothing like Phoenix or Echo Park in LA.
Adelita’s Mexican Restaurant in the rather ornate, two-story Mediterraneanstyle building at Cerrillos and Calle del Cielo serves distinctly northern Old Mexico dishes, and not the smothered-in-chile-and-melted-cheese style of northern New Mexico. From breakfast at 8 a.m. until closing at 9 p.m., Adelita’s serves superb-quality Mexican-inspired classics at extraordinary value.
Like many pleasant things that come our way, it was by chance that we happened in one dreary Monday evening. No sports bar and Monday Night Football this night, thanks.
Quiet, warmth and inexpensive Mexican food were what we were looking for. Cruising down Cerrillos, we went through our checklist of old faves and thought no, something new, and cruising on … boom! Driven by it a million times, and there always seem to be a reassuring number of cars in the lot.
Perfect. Immediately inside is a tiny, charming, four-stool bar, with Liga MX soccer highlights on the little TV tucked high into a corner. The restaurant has posters and photos of Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata on the walls, along with a terrific street scene mural. Perfecto! Just what we were looking for.
As soon as we were seated in a red leather booth, a basket of excellent chips and saucer of superb salsa ranchera of spicy tomatoes, jalapeños and onions appeared. Picante, but not too. (I like it hot, so consider.)
A quick glance at the vast menu is not possible, but immediately obvious from the many mariscos appetizers, menudo (!$6.25) and the Pancho Villa “wanted” poster above me, was that we were in Old Mexico.
Just what I wanted and a great value, the enchiladas de mole ($10.95) were authentically and correctly earthy, dark, a trace bitter and not sweet, with fluffy white rice, classic refried beans, lettuce and tomato garnish, and three warm corn tortillas! So satisfying, at such value that the next morning found me in a different, sunny booth ready for breakfast and the real Adelita’s revelation: huevos rancheros — regularly $8.95, only $5.95, from 8 to 11 a.m., Monday through Friday.
Two eggs over easy on corn tortillas, the slightest, at first undetectable, bit of queso blanco melted atop, in a creamy bed of tangy, hot New Mexico green chile, country-style potatoes and, again, classic refried beans.
There is a healthy list of chile sauces to dress the huevos, from a dusky, anejo rojo, to Adelita’s special green. This is an extraordinary deal and find.
Adelita’s has been around for 17 years — six at the current location and before that farther south on Cerrillos. See you there!