Charrito's Restaurant--Hoboken, NJ

I could eat Mexican food probably every day of the week...maybe not, but it's certainly one of my favored food genres. Thus, during a recent visit to NJ, while walking downtown in search of some good grub Dan and I settled on a small place called Charritos.

This is not exactly the greatest picture but they hung fiesta flags from the ceiling creating this fun/inviting space when you walked in. Their hostess stand is a rustic wood and they seat you at a table with a mortal and pestle sitting out and they hand you a beat up looking menu (photo number 1), which was more like an eclectic piece of art rather than a menu. The restaurant was tiny and narrow on the whole (or the one we went to was at least...Charritos is a chain with 4 0r 5 restaurants total), but the setting was intimate and our waiter was friendly.

I have a mild obsession with textiles; one thing I greatly appreciated about this restaurant were the authentic touches throughout--above is a seat cushion--a very subtle touch. They used Mexican embroidered cloth (I couldn't tell if these were originally table cloths or what; they reminded me of Mexican dresses quite honestly).

The tablecloths were the only odd man out in my opinion...the rest of the decor was detailed and clean...then the tablecloths seemed more like something you would see at El Chico...something like you might find at a 5 and dime, or at Le Marche on the streets of Mexico. Authentic in its own regard. On the whole they mixed bright colors with sophisticated Mexican staples.

I know that an old fashioned Coca-Cola isn't all that special, but Charrito's come from Mexico...where to my knowledge they still use good old fashioned cane sugar (which makes anything more tasty!) I would equate it to a Dublin Dr. Pepper; those Texans know that the best Dr. Pepper comes from Dublin because they make it the way it used to be made and for whatever reason it makes all the difference in the world. If I had a cafe...I'd fly my DP in from Dublin.

Dan ordered one of the combos, which I must admit that I cannot remember which but I do recall that every part of his dish was pretty fantastic. This doesn't say much about flavor considering Dan has been known to eat just about everything, but he now has a more refined palate and the man polished the whole thing off.

Above is my dish, the Los Chilaquiles, which is basically something similar to an authentic King Ranch casserole (it has corn tortilla strips cooked in a salsa verde type sauce along with sauteed onions and topped with what seemed like a queso fresco and then slices of avocado. It also comes with a protein...I chose the spicy pork; it had great flavor, but a bit on the tough side.)