Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Antojitos Hondurenos - revisited

Antojitos Hondurenos, parked a block north of 59 on Fondren, in front of what used to be a Grandy’s. A very large bus...


With a rather small menu....


The obscured Refresco is Banana, the item at the top of the Menu is Pollo con Tajadas.

Add this one to the list of our international taco trucks; I just spotted it recently. They weren’t able to do tacos the first time I stopped in (Honduran tacos are rolled, like Mexican flautas) so I went for, from the top left, a Pastelito de carne, Enchilada, and Baleada.


Baleadas are a popular street snack in Honduras and I always have one at Las Hamacas. It’s a thick, warm flour tortilla, folded over a filling of refritos rojos, crema and cheese, a very satisfying comfort food snack. This version was very large and the tortilla was very dense and dry; on my first bite I thought “I’ve been served a buckwheat pancake baleada.” The whole thing was quite dry; the refritos are apparently made with minimal fat and there was very little crema and queso; the queso was possibly powdered, at any rate finely ground instead of crumbled.. This was a disappointment and i wouldn’t order one again here.

The pastelito was better; there’s a small fried meat pie buried under there. At least it’s supposed to be meat - I got only a small taste of meat in the filling which was a pale green mush. I’me sure mashed potatoes or maybe casava were part of it but couldn’t figure out what else there was, maybe mashed peas? On top was a generous amount of finely shredded cabbage, pickled red onion (and one slice of a red, pickled cucumber), some pickled jalapeno, and, unfortunately, the powdered cheese in a tomato/chili sauce that had a very modest amount of heat. This was not bad, better than the baleada although the pastelito got soggy from the topping.

The enchilada was the best thing I had. Honduran enchiladas are like Tex-Mex Tostadas in appearance and taste, minus any refritos. The carne molida was mildly seasoned but much like taco meat; there was some dice of boiled potatoes in the mix also.

I also tried the Uva, pronounced OO ah, a Honduran fresco which turned out to be a grape soda. The label says made with either sugar or corn syrup; mine was sugar. It was mildly carbonated. The Mirindo is an orange soda according to the man but I don’t know if the Banana and Horchata are bottled or what. I was expecting something like Mexican aguasfrescas or licuadas.

This came to $7.25 (there’s no price list posted). The man at the window, the manager, perhaps owner, spoke pretty good English so there was very minimal problem communicating. He said they will be open 7 days. I’ve seen them with a good line around lunch time.


Reeling from a visit to a spectacularly awful, overpriced taqueria a few days later I was a bit shy of trying any place unproven but gave this place another try and went for the Chuleta con Tajadas. Antojito? This was a full meal, not an appetizer. Two small, breaded pork chops, a little past medium but not too dry, with the side of shredded cabbage, tomatoes, red onions, mild, pickled jalapeno slices and mayo/chili sauce dressing, all on a bed of sauteed plantanos covering the entire bottom of the container. A generous amount of food for $7.50.

I recommend the Chuleta and Enchilada especially and I’ll be back to try some of the other offerings in the future.

Update 8/23/9 - visited again and again had the Chuleta con tajadas. The portion was perhaps a bit smaller, there was no tomato or jalapeno, and the pork chops were very salty, otherwise this remains a very good choice.

According to the t-shirts being worn by all the staff this location is 7171 Fondren and there is another unit at 9713 Airline. I have not been to that location.

3 comments:

Misha said...

Obviously not Honduran, but you should try La Pupusa Alergo on Bellaire and Rampart. Pupusas were great. Almost no grease. I think I may like these more than La Roca and El Pupusodromo.

Bruce said...

Thanks. Just been to El Pupusodromo once, actually - didn't care for the tamales or curtido so never returned. I've seen Alegre, though; often a crowd in the parking lot.

Ziggy Smogdust said...

keep the SW side stuff coming. I live off of West Bellfort and Gessner, and had considered trying some of the places you just reviewed. Now I know! Thanks!