El Principe

this place is not good at all unless youre having tacos...

The missus and I stopped in here last week after leaving a dinner gala hungry (for $250/seat, food wasn't that good).

I would have thought given the number of mexican restaurants per capita in this town that it'd be easier to find one that was open, but noo, everything we passed was closed or just...gone.

I remembered this place being open at odd hours so we drove past on our way back home. Hallelujah, they were open! We walked in wearing black tie attire but elicited scarcely a second glance from the patrons (surprisingly numerous considering it was nearly midnight).

El Principe has a basic and predictable menu (burritos, tacos, tortas, etc.) with a good selection of meats in a steam tray. I chose my old stand-by, carne asada tacos, while my wife, who was in an especially grease-hankering mood, ordered a chorizo torta.

Both were prepared to order (good, since chorizo that has been sitting out is GROSS) and served within a few minutes.  The tacos were pretty good -- not amazing, but solid -- but the old lady scarfed up the torta like a lioness eating a chihuahua. The one bit I managed to sneak without losing a fingertip was FANTASTIC. It never fails to surprise me how many minor variances between restaurants you can find in a dish as simple as a torta.

I should also mention that the gentleman who took our order was especially nice and courteous; maybe he was just relieved to see patrons other than drunkards from the Kan-Kan Room across the street.

Anyway, this place has a new spot on our short list, taking the spot from Enchilada house despite it requiring us to get in the car vs. walk down the street.