Jon B.
Yelp
In my life, only two restaurant meals have left me with a sense of transcendence -- a near religious experience that I've carried with me long after the food is gone and the bill paid. Foods and flavors that haunt my dreams and intrude upon my waking thoughts with moments of blissful yearning. The first was at the famous Commander's Palace in New Orleans. The second was at Pollos Asados Los Norteños, a humble charcoal-grilled chicken joint in an underdeveloped area of San Antonio. Housed in a modest concrete building and serving up a menu of charcoal-grilled chicken and steak fajitas with simple sides of rice, charro beans, salsa verde, and fresh corn tortillas, Norteños elevates the simple to the sublime. The chicken is juicy and tender and yadda yadda the same could be said for many chicken restaurants. It's the seasoning (a marinade of citrus, spices, and achiote), the char, and the salsa verde that turn grilled chicken in a corn tortilla into a dish I feel compelled to make a regular pilgrimage for. If you're looking for fancy dining, deep wine list and trendy ingredients, you won't find them at Norteños. Instead you'll find plastic forks, styrofoam plates, help-yourself paper napkin dispensers, and the best damn chicken you'll ever put in your mouth.
In so many ways, Norteños couldn't be more different than the famed French Creole restaurant where the likes of Emeril Lagasse got his start, but in the one way that counts? This humble Mexican barbecue joint stands among giants.
And if, like me, you're visiting San Antonio and wondering whether Norteños really is worth the trek out to Rigsby Ave (and the potential wait in the scorching heat) or if you should settle for one of the many other Pollo Asado restaurants in the area, please let me assure you: IT IS.