Friday, November 21, 2014

El Tule Mexican Restaurant in San Jose, California

Chapulines

I'm not sure how long these guys have been around (5440 Thornwood Dr Unit 1, 227-1752), but I noticed them in passing the other day and decided to go in to check out the menu. To my surprise, they served Oaxacan food. Sure, the restaurant had "Mexican food" labeling everywhere, as well as your typical tacos, pozole, and chilaquiles. But they also had an entire section dedicated to Oaxacan food. I thus had to go check out.

Now, I wasn't very hungry, so I basically only got a little bowl of chapulines together with a glass of chilacayota to wash it down. Yet again, the former surprised me with how sour those little creatures were; somehow in my mind, I envisioned them to be more salty, greasy, and spicy rather than drowned out in lime juice, but nonetheless I cleared the whole bowl. The chilacayota drink, on the other hand, was much sweeter than I expected, but in a good way.

Yes, I plan to come back...hopefully with some more stomach space next time. It looks like they are doing little Oaxacan street food dishes on weekends too; that sounds like it's right up my alley. I won't even bother with the more generic "Mexican" side of the menu.

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