Wednesday, March 10, 2010

La Chihuahua: 7769 Quivira Rd

Wednesday, March 10, 2010
This is a cool little place, one that I expect to become a tad more popular as the warmer weather rolls in.

La Chihuahua

Up at 77th and Quivira in Shawnee lies a fairly sizable strip mall that houses several Mexican-oriented businesses. If memory serves, there is Fronteras Restaurant, a meat market (carniceria), a place where you wire money to/from Mexico, and this little tucked away ice cream and lunch spot called La Chihuahua. It is also known as "Paleteria Chihuahua" due to its focus on frozen fruit bars known as paletas. A quick Web search indicates that there is another location in KCK which I have never visited.

But I wouldn't be writing about La Chihuahua if it wasn't also a genuine lunch spot. A big thanks to JH and Teague for mentioning it on the Suggestions post and pointing out the presence of darn good Mexican food in addition to frozen desserts.

La Chihuahua is a far cry from divey, semi-sanitary holes in the wall you may be familiar with among the better taco joints. The place is well-lit, colorful and extremely clean.

La Chihuahua

A large menu board behind the register features photos of many of their menu items, but the real lunch action appears in the menus on each table. There you will see offerings like tacos, burritos, menudo, tamales, flautas, soups, and even shrimp cocktail.

La Chihuahua

La Chihuahua

The torta (a Mexican sandwich in simplistic terms) is featured pretty prominently. You can get your choice of meats on a regular torta for $6.50 or opt for one of the specialties for $7.50. I couldn't pass up El Cubano which promised four kinds of meat -- carne asada, carnitas, pastor, and ham (jamon) topped with avocado, tomato and shredded lettuce. It came out looking mighty tasty.

La Chihuahua

But there was one ingredient I hadn't anticipated: Mayonnaise.

NNooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooO!

La Chihuahua

After some hyperventilating and a few calming, psychological excercises, I scraped most of it off with one of those weird, puffed corn thingies on my plate and got on with my lunch.

Surprisingly, El Cubano doesn't taste like a heart attack. I have never been a fan of tortas; I far prefer corn tortillas as a Mexican meat delivery system. But this bread was soft, with a decent crust and did not become overly mushy like other tortas I've had. This is a large sandwich and should satisfies the piggiest appetites among us without making you feel like dying.

Despite the torta-focus, I really like the tacos at La Chihuahua. You can get any number of meat preparations: carne asada (grilled steak), al pastor (marinated pork), barbacoa (slow-cooked beef), pollo (chicken), buche (apparently pig's esophagus?), lengua (tongue), deshebrada (shredded beef) and carnitas (slow-cooked pork in lard). My favorite was the deshebrada which is a stringy, pot-roast-like style of beef--highly flavorful and moist. I found the asada somewhat gristly in parts but it was not tough and had a nice, salty flavor.

La Chihuahua

As you can see, the tacos are small and come served on steamed corn tortillas with a topping of finely chopped cabbage, scallions, white onion and cilantro. A portion of four will set you back $6. These are not life-changing tacos but quite delicious nonetheless. It is highly doubtful you can do any better in the area.

I did sample one of their aguas fresca--basically an uncarbonated fruit or otherwise flavored drink. Flavors include pineapple, lime, tamarind, mango, horchata (rice) and strawberry, which I sampled and enjoyed on one visit.

Customers of La Chihuahua, as you might expect are largely Mexican but not exclusively so. They don't do a high volume business even at the height of the lunch hour. Order your food at the counter and they will bring it out to you at your table. Don't expect the staff to know much English. There are a couple of women who understand it well and a couple who don't. Nonetheless, it's not rocket science to order your lunch; you are all adults here.

I am very glad that AWESOME DLC TIPSTERS turned me on to La Chihuahua. I look forward to trying more items on the menu and have utmost confidence that they will be well-prepared and tasty.

10 comments:

kcmeesha said...

I've been to the one in KCK, but only had ice cream. The place looks good, I am glad better Mexican food is making it to JoCo. Having "tipsters" can only mean you are big-time.

Chimpotle said...

I've only ever stopped by for dessert, but may go for lunch after hearing about that torta. I, too, have no love for mayo, but I've found that tortas almost need it. If you purposely avoided it on past tortas, that may be why they sucked.

kate sweeten said...

*gasp* Do you have a mayo-phobia, too? I thought I was the only one.

Faith said...

Hahahaha! I laugh in the face of you mayo-phobes. Just means theres more for the rest of us, yo! You poor, mislead saps. (Kate, I swear it's a 50/50 thing. Or at least a 75/25, with 75% of the population being ok with mayo. My twin HATES it. As much as DLC here, of not more. (She woulda sent that torta back, no question about it.) I, on the other hand, can eat mayo on just about anything. I effing love the stuff. I think she and I represent a fair amount of the standard population, really.)

This place sounds awesome, and those tacos look delicious. Thanks for the tip, man!

rubigimlet said...

the best torta i ever had (albuquerque) had mayo on it. I am neither a mayo-hater nor fanatic. I can handle small amount to moisten the bread. More than that wigs me out. Avocado and mayo on a torta = delish. Great post.

Anonymous said...

FYI the menu is 100% in spanish, the staff barely speaks english, and you may be over-charged for no reason. that said the food is really great. i didn't have a problem with the staff as i speak a little spanish but a friend of mine went and got stiffed pretty bad and was unable to even ask the staff why he was being charged so much.

The DLC said...

I guess you're right, Centaur, the menu is entirely in spanish. There is one woman who speaks a little English but the rest of the staff...not so much. I've never had the experience your friend describes, however.

Also I should point out that you place your order at the counter but you pay at the register after you are done. So that could be somewhat problematic if you're ever overcharged.

karen said...

You can ask for crema instead of mayonesa. The mayonnaise is traditional, though. Chihuahua in KCK is as good as the Shawnee location.

Chef Glam said...

WOW! I love your blog I would of nver thought of these food places to eat in KCK area..and i live here!! Thank You soo much for posting these resturants.

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Unknown said...

Just ate there today after reading your post - I had the caldo de res or beef soup and tacos al pastor. It was great, especially the soup, and the agua de jamaica hit the spot on the drink side of things. Thanks for the tip!

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