Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Junior's Taqueria

Junior's Taqueria is a mom-and-pop Mexican restaurant located at the intersection of Fairgrounds Road, Jefferson St., and Winter St. NE. A fellow classmate enjoyed her meal here and said I should try this place. So naturally, I just had to check it out.



Menu (part 1)
Menu (part 2)
Menu (part 3)
They will post lunch specials here, along with a helpful translation for various meats/poultry
When I walked in, I found the place to be very clean and inviting. A Hispanic family runs this establishment, and Hispanic customers were happily enjoying their meals -- a very good sign that the food here is the real deal. I ordered their lunch special that day, the Pork Guisado: fairly large cubes of grilled pork cooked in a spicy salsa verde, served with rice, beans, and about 4-5 family-made corn tortillas. It's normally $6.50 (under the "JR's Small Orders" section of the menu), but as the special that day, I paid just $5.50.

Pork Guisado with rice and beans
Corn tortillas, made in house
I enjoyed the pleasurable heat of the green salsa verde. Strips of green chile stewed in the verde, reinforcing the spice and adding texture to the entree. The pork was cooked well on the flattop grill, but may have been better off stewing for a while in the salsa verde itself to break down and get even more tender. The rice and beans were good, but not mind-blowing. As for the consistency of the salsa verde, I would have liked it chunkier instead of having it mainly liquid with the green chile strips.

The house-made corn tortillas had just come out of the steamer. While they were a bit hot to handle at first, they were pliable, yet thick enough to make little pork tacos to nosh on. I always love anything made in-house, and if a Mexican restaurant will go the extra mile to make their own corn tortillas, I really tip my cap to them.

A side note: I got my meal to go, and Junior's uses styrofoam containers. It doesn't really bother me, but it's something that the more environmentally conscious individual would raise a red flag over.

By my standards, the Pork Guisado was a large appetizer portion. But then again, I have an abnormally huge appetite, so most people will get their fill from this place. Lunch specials are generally the way to go for a cheap, tasty meal. Overall, it was pretty much an average experience. 5.5/10

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