Get Stuffed: El Metate
So last week we delighted in Salvadorian pupusas at Panchitas #2. Good stuff. This week we wanted to stay a little closer to home, both geographically and culinarily, so we went to one of our favorite not-quite-discovered neighborhood joints, El Metate (link to Joanne Weir's list of favorite restaurants, so you know it has to be pretty effing good).
Of course, if you don't know, a Metate is the traditional stone bowl that is used to crush the limed corn, or hominy, into masa flour. Like a mortar and pestle, but much bigger, it's probably up there with the wok in terms of cooking tools so elegant and simple that they are still in use three millenia after their invention. While knives have evolved into wonders of artistry and technology, the Metate has not changed significantly since it was first used by pre-Colombian civilizations in North and South America.
While we're pretty sure El Metate gets its masa from a wholesaler like everyone else in the Mission, the name still speaks to the sense of culinary tradition that imbues their food. And the best part is that it's cheap. Really cheap. Like "super steak burrito for four dollars with tax" cheap.
Tucked away on 22nd and Bryant, El Metate is off the beaten path for most of your Mission hipsters. The crowd there is generally latinos from the surrounding neighborhood. Of course, being a Mission hipster ourselves (we admit it), we stumbled upon the place on our way to the Monkey Club a few months back. Besides the prices on the menu, we were drawn to the sidewalk tables, friendly smiles and smell of steaming tamales and frying meat.
On our most recent visit, it was a cold, rainy Thursday, so we picked our date up in a cab and then had the cabby deposit us outside the restaurant (we were trying to be gallant and save a recent hair-dye job from getting washed away). The place is bright, warm and cozy, with only four tables inside and two tables outside. A lot of the business is take out, so we've never actually had trouble finding a seat.
We ordered two fish tacos, because we think fish tacos are maybe one of the crowning achievements of humankind. El Metate's are made with white fish (tilapia?), lightly battered and deep fried. If we're not mistaken, they use Panko breadcrumbs with the batter, which would be an unconscious (and deliciously crispy) California fusion touch if we ever saw one.
Our lovely companion, originally from the Southland, had the plate of chicken flautas with rice and beans. Like all El Metate's plates, this one had a liberal touch of crema and guacamole to dress the lettuce and tomato that accompanied. The flautas, three of them, were huge -- maybe two inches in diameter -- not the finger-sized ones you find at crappy chain restaurants (cough*Chili's*cough). You know a date is going well when you get offered the leftovers to take home with you for a midnight snack.
Of course the best part was that the two tacos and a bottle of Mexican Coke (which is made with cane sugar, not that high-fructose corn syrup nonsense) was a whopping six dollars! With tax and tip, the entire meal set the two of us back only twelve bucks total. El Metate is on the fast-track to becoming a "Get Stuffed" first-ballot Hall of Famer.