Usa news

Mexican and Peruvian food make a tasty pairing at this restaurant

Usa today news

Let us now praise the mini-mall cuisine of the San Fernando Valley, where nearly every major intersection is alive with culinary options — and parking, too.

Consider, for instance, Sherman Square at the corner of Sherman Way and Van Nuys Boulevard, where you’ll find branches of Jersey Mike’s and Papa John’s … Mey Fung Chinese Bakery and Bobarita soft drinks … Holdaak Korean Fried Chicken and Otto Sushi … Dunkin’ Donuts and, perhaps best of all, Pablito’s Tacos, which also dishes up Peruvian roast chicken and lots more. Great ceviche, too.

Pablito’s (3 stars; locations in Burbank, North Hollywood and Van Nuys; www.pablitostacos.com) is a very tempting vacation. With vibrant murals as well. And a menu over the counter that takes more than a while to read, to consider, to balance, to ponder and decide. For the temptations are many.

How to choose between the Pollo Caesar Wrap Special packed with Peruvian rotisserie chicken … and the Grilled Cheese Birria Sandwich and Consommé Combo — soup and a sandwich at its finest. How about the ham, pork and cheese Cuban Sandwich … or the Lomo Beef Dip Sandwich? Not sure? No problem. The affable counter guy might offer you a complimentary cup of horchata or strawberry lemonade to sip on while you weigh and balance. They’re very patient.

I was there, first and foremost, for the tacos — which helpfully come on a Three Taco Plate, with rice and beans, and small containers of some remarkable sauces. (There’s a green sauce, thick and creamy like a salad dressing, that was so good I could have eaten it for dessert.)

And, once again, there are choices to be made — between the Vampiro Taco topped with melted cheese, and the Queso Taco with cheese crisps. There’s a Keto Taco on a cheese tortilla rather than corn. And a Protein Taco on butter lettuce.

But more importantly, there’s a filling of carne asada, pastor, chicharron, pollo a la brasa, lomo saltado, birria, chorizo and a mushroom and nopales combination. There are crispy tacos with ground beef and cheese … and with shredded cheese and guacamole. There are Ensenada-style tacos with beef battered cod and shrimp. And there are mulitas — which I think of as taco sandwiches — only instead of bacon, there’s chorizo for extra oomph.

  • A vibrant mural fills a wall at Pablito’s Tacos, which has locations in Burbank, North Hollywood and Van Nuys. (Photo by Merrill Shindler)

1 of 2
A vibrant mural fills a wall at Pablito’s Tacos, which has locations in Burbank, North Hollywood and Van Nuys. (Photo by Merrill Shindler)

Expand

And speaking of extra oomph, not many taco houses — Mexican or Peruvian — offer french fries (loaded fries in this case). Five of them. The basic loaded is topped with onions, guacamole, sour cream, cheese sauce and green sauce.

To that, you can add carne asada, lomo saltado, aji de gallina and chicharron. There are french fries somewhere under all that. You need to do some excavating to find them — like chunks of crunchy gold under a mountain of sauces.

More Merrill: Ethnic dining dishes up tasty options at these Valley restaurants

And there’s more — much more. All told, there are 17 burritos — half of them egg-based Breakfast Burritos. Scrambled and “fluffy” with cheddar and hash browns, chile relleno, steak, beef birria, bacon, sausage, chorizo, nopales and mushrooms. The “Pablito’s Burritos” move away from eggs to rice and beans, roasted peppers and asadero sauce — and a Surf ’n’ Turf with carne asada and shrimp.

If you want to lose the tortilla, there’s a Bowl-Rito with rice and pinto beans, guacamole and meat in a bowl. You use a utensil. Not as much fun as hefting an oversized burrito in a tortilla. But just as tasty.

And since this is a Mexican-Peruvian restaurant, there’s a section of the menu dedicated to the sort of remarkable rotisserie chicken sold everywhere in Cuzco, 12,000 feet up in the Andes. An altitude that apparently makes you very hungry for bird that falls off the bone, with a choice of sides and a trio of sauces.

To make the experience even more Peruvian, get the papas al a huancaina — or in the case of Pablito’s, the yuca la huancaína.

By all means, get the Lima-based wonder of ceviche, as good as any in town. And the Peruvian-Italian creations of fettuccine a la huancaína, with chicken or with beef. Or the huancaína pasta salad.

“Huancaína” is a creamy yellow pepper and cheese sauce that defines Peruvian cooking as well as potatoes and ceviche. By the time you get to it on the overhead menu, you’ll be ready for breakfast burritos, lunch tacos and dinner ceviche. Usually, a menu is browsed. At Pablito’s, it’s an Olympic event. With a tasty reward at the end.

Merrill Shindler is a Los Angeles-based freelance dining critic. Email mreats@aol.com.

Pablito’s Tacos

Exit mobile version