Food xxx
Service xx
Atmosphere xxxx
Value xxxxIf the Shed is the outgoing older child, at ease with strangers, then La Choza (Spanish for “the shed”) is its gawky younger sibling. The Shed lives in a Palace Ave. compound; its sister restaurant is a few yards from the railroad tracks, a block north of the intersection of Cerrillos and St. Francis, off the beaten tourist path. At lunch, its two dining rooms are filled with workers from nearby government offices. At night, there are families with little kids. An outside patio, open now for lunch on warm days and for dinner on soft evenings, was closed when my wife and I recently ate there. We sat in the smaller front room among
a scarred wood floor, matching wooden tables and low, straight-backed chairs, all very cozy and utilitarian. Brightly colored artwork on the walls ranges from vaguely to very Southwestern. Lace curtains decorate the windows.
Although La Choza lacks the polished rusticity of the Shed, the menus are nearly identical: enchiladas, tacos, tamales and chalupas, costing, with a few exceptions, $6.95. Most come with lots of beans and/or posole, salad and a choice of bread, tortilla or sopaipilla. There are children’s plates at $4.95 and a couple of burgers. Pinto beans, posole and green chile are cooked with pork, but vegetarian versions are available on request.
A few minutes after we were seated, our server brought a basket of tortilla chips and a mild but rich tomatoey salsa (the first serving is on the house; after that it’s $1.75). We ordered the carne adovada burrito ($7.95), available with pork or chicken, and the combo ($8.95), the most expensive item on the menu: any three items from a list of about half a dozen. I chose carne adovada, a cheese enchilada and a tamale. We began with guacamole ($3.50), a small portion, fresh, mild and delicately seasoned, and a cup of posole ($2.75), tender and good — made rich by juicy shreds of pork and a broth of red chile.
The carne adovada burrito was substantial and, with posole, rice, lettuce and tomato, much more than my wife could finish. The red chile marinade was moderately spicy; with the red and green chile we chose as topping we would have been hard put to know what the meat was (chicken), but that’s not a criticism — just a fact of chile life.
Each item on my combo plate was at least OK, the tamale considerably better than that. The adovada was the weakest of the three, though not bad. The dish itself is the problem. In a praiseworthy but misguided effort to try as many items as possible, I ended up with a muddying of flavors into a kind of generic New Mexican.
Wine and beer are available. We were very happy with a cold, sweet, red, smooth, winey sangria ($4.75) and a draft Dos Equis beer ($3.75 for nearly, maybe actually, a pint).
French apple pie ($3.95; à la mode $4.25), topped with an abundance of chopped walnuts in lieu of a top crust, was a winner. To my dying day, I’ll regret not ordering it à la mode. The rather heavy cheesecake ($3.75) paled into insignificance in comparison.
I returned for lunch a few days later to remedy what I considered my unwise dinner choice. (The menu is the same at lunch and dinner.) I started with a cup of chile verde con papas ($2.75), a green chile broth, filled with cubes of pork and skin, on new potatoes. It was terrific, light and full of flavor, each taste clear. The huevos rancheros ($6.95) that followed, lying on a flour tortilla under a blanket of cheese and chile, accompanied by posole, beans and salad, was a huge portion of New Mexican comfort food. It still seemed, though, to lack those clearly defined flavors that would have moved it up from pretty good to noteworthy.
Service was good-hearted rather than good. My server brought my pie warmed, even though I wasn’t smart enough to ask for it that way. On the other hand, a mound of spilled-over rice and beans, too much for the combo plate to hold, remained on the table throughout the meal even after I asked the server to please wipe it up. Still, La Choza is so unpretentious and engaging that I didn’t really mind things I might whine about someplace else. If the food only occasionally rises above good, the value rates a solid excellent. When I return, I’ll make sure I order the pie à la mode. Dinner for two, with two starters, two entrées, two drinks and two desserts, cost $40.43 before tip
ttt
905 Alarid St., 982-0909
11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday-Saturday
No reservations
Beer and wine
Handicapped-accessible
AMEX • DC • MC • V
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