El Herradero
2224 Mission Street between 18th/19th Streets
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 626-7366
The last time I was in San Francisco, a friend showed me and my husband some of the fun spots in the Mission District. After drinks, the 2 AM rush seemed to gravitate to this Mexican hole-in-the-wall on 24th and Mission for burritos and other late-night grub. Maybe it was the booze or maybe it really was the burrito, but I haven’t been able to replicate that delicious experience at any other taqueria, especially in New York.
While visiting my husband and family for the weekend, the only thing I remembered was that burrito. Fortunately, Sister#1 was up for Mexican as well, so we packed up the kids, my mom and the husbands and headed to El Herradero. Sister#1 recommended the burrito, and in a city with a major parking drought, it has a dedicated parking lot to boot.
El Herradero isn’t much to look at… two TVs playing Spanish-language media, some interesting posters, maps and artwork on the walls, a few Formica tables and a semi-open kitchen area. That said, it had more atmosphere than the dives that we'd tasted prior.
The host/server greeted us and sat us at a long center table. He immediately brought us tortilla chips and a spicy thin salsa; both were amazing. The chips were very fresh – still warm, in fact – paper-thin, light and not greasy at all. We immediately gobbled up the small bowl of chips; fortunately, upon ordering, we were brought more in a somewhat larger bowl.
We started with some guacamole which was an unnatural shade of green (maybe I'm unfamiliar with the hue of super-fresh avocados), but it was still pretty good – a little heat, slightly oniony and with a hint of diced tomatoes. Queso fundido is one of my favorite starters – melted cheese with chorizo sausage (the cheese oil melding with the delicious chorizo grease) served with thin soft flour tortillas – and this one didn’t disappoint.
The combination plate was a huge plate with a chile relleno, enchilada and chicken tamal, all covered with red sauce and served with rice and beans. I didn’t taste the enchilada since my husband ate it before I had a chance, but I stole the chile relleno from him and shared it with my mom, who loved it. I thought it was a little heavy due to a thick breadcrumb coating that had fallen off. But you can’t really go wrong with a pepper stuffed with cheese and baked.
The chicken tamales were the best tamales I’ve ever had. Something about the cornmeal made the difference. It was very soft and tender and tasted just like corn. I always loved the idea of tamales and try them wherever I can, but I'd yet to find a successful one. I finally found one worthy.
The carne asada soft tacos were stuffed with small cubed sautéed steak with onions and peppers, but they looked dry; I opted instead for a soft taco stuffed with chorizo. With a squeeze of lime for brightness and a sprinkle of fresh chopped onion and cilantro, it was a nice little package. With a little of the salsa on top for heat, it was perfect.
I’m not really sure what the difference is between the Zapata burrito and the super burrito, but the Zapata burrito was not the burrito of my memory. I chose pork but found a lot of rice and not enough of anything else. On the other hand, the sopes with carnitas was a cornmeal patty (similar to an arepa/tortilla hybrid) topped with a generous helping of perfectly-cooked carnitas, beans, lettuce and cheese. I really enjoyed this dish.
For my nephew, we also ordered some sopa de pollo (chicken soup), the broth of which was very good, but I was surprised to find zucchini in the soup (cut into chunks too big for soup, but at least were not mushy and were easy to pick out so I could eat them). Also, the meat on the whole skinless chicken thigh cooked in the soup was too stringy to eat. He spent more time eating the crispy carnitas off of the sopes.
For all of this food which more-than-fed me, Sister #1, the husbands and my mom, plus my nephew and niece, the bill only came to $76 with tax and tip. Despite the burrito not measuring up to my burrito burned into memory, everything else, from service to food, really was quite good, and unlike most of the other taquerias in the area, El Herradero gives the option to sit down and enjoy the delicious food and mediocre atmosphere. Besides my husband, what I long for most from San Francisco is amazing authentic Mexican food like El Herradero.
2224 Mission Street between 18th/19th Streets
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 626-7366
The last time I was in San Francisco, a friend showed me and my husband some of the fun spots in the Mission District. After drinks, the 2 AM rush seemed to gravitate to this Mexican hole-in-the-wall on 24th and Mission for burritos and other late-night grub. Maybe it was the booze or maybe it really was the burrito, but I haven’t been able to replicate that delicious experience at any other taqueria, especially in New York.
While visiting my husband and family for the weekend, the only thing I remembered was that burrito. Fortunately, Sister#1 was up for Mexican as well, so we packed up the kids, my mom and the husbands and headed to El Herradero. Sister#1 recommended the burrito, and in a city with a major parking drought, it has a dedicated parking lot to boot.
El Herradero isn’t much to look at… two TVs playing Spanish-language media, some interesting posters, maps and artwork on the walls, a few Formica tables and a semi-open kitchen area. That said, it had more atmosphere than the dives that we'd tasted prior.
The host/server greeted us and sat us at a long center table. He immediately brought us tortilla chips and a spicy thin salsa; both were amazing. The chips were very fresh – still warm, in fact – paper-thin, light and not greasy at all. We immediately gobbled up the small bowl of chips; fortunately, upon ordering, we were brought more in a somewhat larger bowl.
We started with some guacamole which was an unnatural shade of green (maybe I'm unfamiliar with the hue of super-fresh avocados), but it was still pretty good – a little heat, slightly oniony and with a hint of diced tomatoes. Queso fundido is one of my favorite starters – melted cheese with chorizo sausage (the cheese oil melding with the delicious chorizo grease) served with thin soft flour tortillas – and this one didn’t disappoint.
The combination plate was a huge plate with a chile relleno, enchilada and chicken tamal, all covered with red sauce and served with rice and beans. I didn’t taste the enchilada since my husband ate it before I had a chance, but I stole the chile relleno from him and shared it with my mom, who loved it. I thought it was a little heavy due to a thick breadcrumb coating that had fallen off. But you can’t really go wrong with a pepper stuffed with cheese and baked.
The chicken tamales were the best tamales I’ve ever had. Something about the cornmeal made the difference. It was very soft and tender and tasted just like corn. I always loved the idea of tamales and try them wherever I can, but I'd yet to find a successful one. I finally found one worthy.
The carne asada soft tacos were stuffed with small cubed sautéed steak with onions and peppers, but they looked dry; I opted instead for a soft taco stuffed with chorizo. With a squeeze of lime for brightness and a sprinkle of fresh chopped onion and cilantro, it was a nice little package. With a little of the salsa on top for heat, it was perfect.
I’m not really sure what the difference is between the Zapata burrito and the super burrito, but the Zapata burrito was not the burrito of my memory. I chose pork but found a lot of rice and not enough of anything else. On the other hand, the sopes with carnitas was a cornmeal patty (similar to an arepa/tortilla hybrid) topped with a generous helping of perfectly-cooked carnitas, beans, lettuce and cheese. I really enjoyed this dish.
For my nephew, we also ordered some sopa de pollo (chicken soup), the broth of which was very good, but I was surprised to find zucchini in the soup (cut into chunks too big for soup, but at least were not mushy and were easy to pick out so I could eat them). Also, the meat on the whole skinless chicken thigh cooked in the soup was too stringy to eat. He spent more time eating the crispy carnitas off of the sopes.
For all of this food which more-than-fed me, Sister #1, the husbands and my mom, plus my nephew and niece, the bill only came to $76 with tax and tip. Despite the burrito not measuring up to my burrito burned into memory, everything else, from service to food, really was quite good, and unlike most of the other taquerias in the area, El Herradero gives the option to sit down and enjoy the delicious food and mediocre atmosphere. Besides my husband, what I long for most from San Francisco is amazing authentic Mexican food like El Herradero.
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