Letter to Jimmy Carter's Mexican Cafe

Owners
Jimmy Carter’s Mexican Cafe
3172 Fifth Avenue
San Diego, California 92103

Phone: (866) 920-9163

To Whom It May Concern:

We visited your restaurant today for lunch. We’ve been long-time customers of yours and only visited your location in Mission Hills up until you closed its doors last year. Although we were initially sad to see the Mission Hills location close, we are now grateful because we have grown to love your restaurant in Banker’s Hill (on Fifth). The bright, warm colors on the outside of the building continue to the interior. Your servers are very relaxed, friendly and always knowledgeable of your unique menu.

Our waitress today was extremely helpful and answered all of our questions about the menu, down to the ingredients in your sauces. At her suggestion, my dining companion ordered the Calamari Tacos with Tlaquepaque sauce. The calamari was cut into strips and grilled, then served on corn tortillas with lettuce, tomato, guacamole and Cotija cheese. The Tlaqeupaque sauce, which we’ve always loved, was spicy, rich and creamy and had a great green chile flavor. The calamari was cooked through but still tender.

I ordered Ricas Flautas (off the Specials board), deep-fried and made with flour tortillas, homemade chorizo sausage, chiles and potatoes. I commented that they were the best flautas I’d ever had (we hope to see this dish added to the regular menu). The flautas were crispy, golden brown and were permeated with the amazing flavor of your homemade chorizo. They were served with a wonderful, smoky sauce of charred tomatillos and pulla chiles. We’ve never had this sauce before and we loved it, as we do all of your sauces. We understand that you have a woman who makes all of the sauces fresh for your restaurant. She is a goldmine.

We’ve been to Jimmy Carter’s for breakfast a number of times as well and have always liked what we’ve had. In particular, we appreciate the varieties of Huevos on the menu. We’ve had Huevos with your traditional Ranchero sauce as well as the Nortena and Quajillo sauces. Each has a very distinctive chile flavor and we like them equally.

Another favorite of ours is the pork-stuffed jalapeno poppers. There’s no way to go back to standard jalapeno poppers after eating these. The poppers are large, breaded and fried with very tender shredded pork and cream cheese inside.

We’ve also tried your Albondigas Verde, Consome de Res and Chicken Tortilla soups and liked all of them. The Albondigas Verde was a traditional, brothy Mexican meatball soup with rice and vegetables. The meatballs are plump, tender, juicy and savory and are perfect for the broth. The Chicken Tortilla soup was just what you hope for in a Chicken Tortilla soup. The broth was spicy, comforting and rich. The chicken was juicy and tender. The Consome de Res was also great comfort food, with a savory, meaty flavor.

Spicy carrots have become a standard for Mexican restaurants and the carrots you bring to every table are anything but standard. They are tender, savory and served in an oil base with cloves, bay leaf and sliced chiles and onions. They are also served with a fresh tomato and chile salsa (Salsa Fresca) and a creamy Salsa Verde. We like to combine the two. We always reserve chips to help scoop up any extra sauce left on our plates (waste not, want not).

We are always excited to see what’s on your Specials board because we’ve ordered so many good dishes from it, including the Pork Chile Colorado. We often leave hoping that the Special we’ve ordered will be on the regular menu when we return but everything on your menu is an authentic expression of regional Mexican cuisine. Slow food is going the way of the buffalo these days so we appreciate that you take time to do things the right way. Who would have thought that the name Jimmy Carter could personify great Mexican food?

Yours Very Truly,

San Diego Restaurant Review


http://www.jimmycartersmexicancafe.com/