By Valerie Vinyard, Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 06.17.2009
La Placita Cafe oozes charm and tranquility but unfortunately is easy to overlook.
While great Mexican restaurants abound in South Tucson, Downtown and around the University of Arizona, La Placita Cafe is tucked away in the back of Plaza Palomino at North Swan and East Fort Lowell roads.
But once you visit, you'll find dishes that are quite sabroso, or delicious.
The menu also contains some innovative offerings. The salmon chorizo ($9) is a healthier take than the pork sausage that's usually used. We mixed scoops of the chorizo with pico de gallo and house-made guacamole. Bits of cilantro, garlic, onion and Hatch chiles are ground together before mixing with the farm-raised salmon.
Owner Yongsoo Seo, 47, bought La Placita in January 2005 from Phil Ferranti, who then went on to open Ferranti's Fine Foods Market. The market closed in 2007.
Seo, who owned Time Market for nine years, kept La Placita's menu mostly the same but said he uses better ingredients, such as certified Angus beef.
La Placita's queso fundido ($6.50) puts the "fun" in fundido. A shallow bowl brimming with Mexican cheese arrived as a piping hot, melted serving of goodness. A smattering of very fresh green chiles blended in the dish, giving the combination a spicy kick. We tore off pieces from the large flour tortillas provided to make mini cheese sandwiches.
The brimming plate of Guaymas Shrimp ($17) was presented invitingly and was large enough for two meals. The eight shrimp were perfectly cooked with large chunks of fresh green chile but offered little spice or fire, leaving the dish long on looks and short on flavor. The leftovers did team well with the fresh flour tortillas and fundido, making a great lunchtime quesadilla the following day. Next time we'll stick with our usual favorites — a chicken topopo salad ($7.50) or the chile- and cheese-packed relleno.
One of La Placita's more popular dishes is the always crowd-pleasing carne seca ($12). The lime-marinated certified Angus beef is first boiled for tenderness and then dried in small batches in the oven for a couple of hours. Garlic, onion, tomato and green chiles are added and simmered with spices. The meat is served in its juices, making for a moister carne seca than we're used to, but still a flavorful one.
Most entrees come with sides of beans and rice. No lard — only canola oil — is used in preparing La Placita's dishes.
The Numero Tres ($11) combination featured three enchiladas — green chile, sour cream and cheese. The enchiladas arrived nestled in an oval dish blanketed in sauce and cheese.
The green chile enchilada contained fat chunks of beef, which added a chewy heft to the enchilada but surprised us. We assumed that this combination was all vegetarian. Owner Seo said the description will improve in the menu's next printing.
Not surprisingly, the sour cream enchilada was the richest — and best — of the three. We just don't want any calorie count on that one. And the cheese enchilada with its Monterey jack and cheddar combination was comfort food at its best. We liked that the next day's leftovers were just as rich and tasty.
The lomo adobado ($15) was a butterflied pork loin marinated with chiles from Oaxaca. The meat was butterflied really thin and marinated in chile sauce and prepared with onion, vinegar, cumin and clove. Some red chile added some spice to the 14-ounce cut of meat. The pork was a bit dry, but we liked it that way.
For dessert, we tried the flan ($4), which was a simple treat with a nice firm consistency. Neither the sugar nor the vanilla overpowered the dish, and a caramel and brown sugar sauce topped the dessert.
