Omar S.
Yelp
For locals craving excellent Mexican food, the blessing of San Diego County is that we're surrounded by superb restaurantes, taquerias, birrierias, cenadurias and more, run by people who've come to us from every part of Mexico.
But if you and a significant other have ever played the game, "I don't know, what would *you* like to eat?", you'll understand that choice isn't always a good thing. Where comida Mexicana is concerned, our County's variety of options can be a curse.
And, making matters worse, many of our best Mexican spots - that is, those that offer food that Mexican people eat - offer abbreviated menus, and may only do one or two things well. I occasionally host friends and family who are new to authentic Mexican food, and I've learned that such limitations can present a time-sucking complication.
So, over time, and as a matter of self-care, I've sussed out two places in the County that offer a high degree of tastiness across a range of Mexican dishes: El Borrego and Super Cocina.
City Heights' El Borrego offers a small menu of regional Mexican specialties like mixiote de borrego (estilo Hidalgo) and cochinita pibil Yucateca. Both the restaurant's dining room, rustic and comfortable, and its back patio, a pleasant urban oasis, offer diners the opportunity to enjoy an excellent meal served with homely kindness. You're meant to slowly savor one delicious flavor burst after another, and, should you visit, you can be certain that your guests will neither be bored nor ignored.
Super Cocina (Corridor neighborhood; south of Normal Heights; east of North Park) is different, and, to be honest, dining there may be the most street-wise thing you'll do all week.
Super Cocina offers an inexpensive buffet - actually, more like a Filipino turo-turo setup - where office workers, chatty old folks and guys in safety vests line up to order from servers who seem intent on overfilling cup after bowl after plate, as though they feel personally challenged to provide more food than their customers can handle.
But there's more to Super Cocina than fairly-priced piles of food. The vibe is sort of "Abuela Throwdown": little old ladies each make a guisado, birria, pozole or something else equally tasty; they display their entries on a steam table to see what will sell; and, when the doors open, it's on!
Most important: if you take people to Super Cocina, you can accurately represent the restaurant's menu as authentic, and when you've finished eating, you'll look like a genius to your picky, everyone-wants-something-different out-of-town visitors who walked in thinking that Taco Bell is Mexican food.
Super Cocina solves problems, and that's not nothing.
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NOTES:
- Street parking is available, and if you show up before noon or after 2 pm, you can get a table quickly.
- Service is in English and in Spanish; you'll do best if you know a bit of both.
- I've never enjoyed the selection of antojitos at Super Cocina as much as other people, which probably says more about me than about the antojitos.
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El Borrego: https://tinyurl.com/5e6pzt6e