It’s the kind of place you notice only if you’re waiting at the traffic signal. If you’re hungry, perhaps you’ll pause a moment while you consider whether you should turn into the driveway or just keep going. Don’t be put off by the solitary dining area – a patio of four tables with solid umbrella shades, resembling a patch of four abominable mushrooms. They’re clean, and there’s even a wee stretch of well-groomed foliage upon which to fix your peepers if you’re dining solo. Or, even easier, use the drive-thru service that goes right through the red and green building.
Everyone should have a go-to place for dependable tacos. El Grullense Drive-Thru can be yours. El Grullo is a city in Jalisco, Mexico, and is a slang term for a peasant. "El grullense" is the place where peasants go to eat and has become associated with home-cooking. Tacos at El Grullense are done in the old country manner – two-ply flat, not folded, corn tortillas plating a spread of beans, your choice of chicken, beef, or pork, lettuce, cheese, fresh salsa, sour cream, and guacamole ($1.65). The ingredients, while standard, are exceptionally prepared. The chicken, beef, or pork is not ground, but grilled and finely minced, a method of preparation which is more labor intensive and flavorful. Lettuce is not the typical flavorless iceberg, but the nutritionally superior romaine. A sprinkle of lime livens the party considerably.
In Mexican cooking, good basics generally mean good burritos. And sopas. And tostadas. And whatever else is built using those basics. El Grullense’s popular Super Burrito folds the basics (minced chicken, beef, or pork, lettuce, beans, cheese, salsa, sour cream, guacamole) and Mexican rice into a large flour tortilla ($6.25). This burrito weighs almost two pounds, which is about the weight of my sneakers (that only comes to mind because you’ll probably need your sneakers after you eat this). Sopas pile the basics onto a dense, slightly chewy cornmeal cake ($3, or $2.50 for vegetarian).
One disappointment was the chile relleno found on one of El Grullense’s few combination plates – Enchilada y Chile Relleno ($6.75). While the enchilada was up to snuff in its fresh, tomato-ey red sauce, the chile relleno’s top half was so filled with seeds and fibrous stem as to render inedible most of the chile. However, sidekicks beans and rice are creamy and fluffy, respectively.
The menu at El Grullense Drive-Thru is an abbreviated version of various sister restaurants throughout the Bay Area. As with all El Grullenses, this one serves Camarones a la Diabla, which is shrimp sauteed in a spicy red chile and garlic sauce ($11.25). Also on the menu are Menudo, Flautas de Pollo, and Chicken Hamburgers. Bebidas include Jamaica, a bright red hibiscus drink reminiscent of cranberry juice, but sweeter, Horchata, a sweet rice drink made with cinnamon, and freshly squeezed orange juice.
They say that nothing worth having is easy to come by -- but tacos worth having are easy to drive by.