Peppering the Landscape

After bringing recipes from his family's Querétaro restaurant to the US at the age of 18, Aboytes started small, serving a handful of his favorite dishes to Santa Fe's roaming lunch crowds from a mobile cart. From there, he expanded to a brick-and-mortar spot on South St. Francis Drive, while operating a complementary taco truck on Rodeo Road. In summer 2013, Aboytes moved his sit-down restaurant to the former location of the Guadalupe Café on Old Santa Fe Trail. In a short time, the high price per square foot at the downtown location began to wear on the restaurateur, forcing him to seek more wallet-friendly climes.

Aboytes has now landed in the previous home of Café Ole on Cerrillos Road—sort of. The Jalapeño's Barrio Café (2411 Cerrillos Road, 983-8431) dining room is a colorful nod to its bygone downtown dining spot, with brightly painted walls, tile floors, hand-painted wood chairs and plenty of odes to the Virgin Mother. Instead of an established kitchen, however, Aboytes is working from his food-truck kitchen, which is attached loosely to the restaurant space by a tarpaulin overhang.

While he awaits beer-and-wine-license approval and mulls leasing or owning the space, Aboytes continues to serve his authentic Mexican fare to a well-established customer base that ranges from hungry day laborers to taco-obsessed state workers. But what keeps them coming back after all the various relocations? Easy: quality and consistency.

Aboytes prides himself on freshness and making nearly everything in-house, from the agua de Jamaica ($2.50 with endless refills) to the housemade corn tortilla chips. The guacamole plate with three freshly made salsas ($10) is enough for two to share as a starter and comes with a side of those warm, crispy, highly addictive made-to-order chips. The chunky-creamy guacamole is a simple but satisfying preparation that lets the salsas truly shine. The thin tomatillo-avocado salsa is slightly spicy by local standards, while the roasted-tomato one is big on char flavor and small on heat. An onion-y pico de gallo, also made fresh-to-order, proved chunky but also fairly tame. If you want the hot stuff, ask for the salsa brava, a combination of hot chiles, tomato, garlic and citrus.

Besides the usual tortas and burrito suspects, numerous heaping taquiza platters are on offer, from barbacoa and carnitas to red chile chicken and—my personal go-to plate—al pastor ($13). Piled high with tender bits of griddled red chile-marinated pork and sweet, puckery pineapple, the plate also includes pico de gallo, guacamole and a side of slightly sticky, very plain (like I like it) Mexican-style rice. The dish is completed with a foil pouch of warm, soft corn tortillas and a comforting bowl of smoky, traditional-style frijoles charros made with bacon, chiles and garlic.

For the Santa Fe Burger ($11), a half-pound Angus beef patty topped with guacamole and giant slabs of roasted New Mexico green chile sits on a pillowy bun alongside crispy curly fries. Even cooked medium, the meat is tender and juicy, with cut-to-order standard garnishes left on the side to remain as fresh as possible. Aboytes' signature shrimp cocktail ($12 for a small) hasn't changed a lick, and that's a good thing. A mild, housemade clam-tomato base contains briny chunks of Gulf shrimp, jalapeño and avocado, and comes with crackers as well as tortilla chips.

As Aboytes and his crew get settled into their new digs and can better measure daily customer volume, desserts ($3.75 each) continue to vary daily in availability.

Aboytes admits that the transition to Cerrillos Road has been touch-and-go. Finding reliable service staff has been difficult, he says, but our server—while a bit timid—did a decent job. At the moment, Jalapeño's Barrio Café is a cash-only joint, and dinners have been more fruitful than lunches and breakfasts. The restaurant faces stiff competition from well-established daytime taquerías and food trucks nearby.

With food this good, and with Aboytes' tenacity and friendly nature firmly in place, this restaurant deserves serious consideration. Even Rome wasn't built in a day—and the Romans didn't have to navigate Cerrillos Road.

At a Glance
Open: 8 am-8 pm Thursday-Tuesday;
8 am-3 pm Wednesdays
Best bet: Al pastor taquiza platter
Can't miss: Guacamole w/three salsas
Heads-up: Cash only

Santa Fe Reporter