Lengua and a Lightbulb,
Please by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget
El
Rancho Supermarket is one of my favorite spots for take-out food in Marina,
California just outside Monterey.
Hispanic take-out food is still not well known, so my review for The Monterey County Weekly (Circulation:
200,000 – California) remains relevant:
Lengua and a Lightbulb,
Please
Driving
down Reservation Road in Marina (California), it is hard to miss the yellow
billboard with El Rancho written on it.
And, you won’t want to miss the meal deals inside at this neighborhood
supermarket’s butcher counter.
The
menu above the counter lists items in Spanish only, but the names roll off the
tongues of El Rancho’s customers, who resemble a mini United Nations. The store manager said, “The whole neighborhood
eats here.”
My
recent perusal of Lonely Planet’s Whole
Food Mexico gave me the idea to order a torta sandwich with carnitas
(deep-fried pork). My husband Laurent
chose carne asada (lime-marinated steak) from the “ordenes” section.
We
took our order slip from the counter and walked around the store to pick up
water, Jumex mango nectar, and some Mexican sweet rolls.
The
sweet rolls look like oversized croissants and buns with sugar and frosting on
them. You serve them to yourself on a
tray and the cashier bags them.
We
paid for everything at the cash register, picked up our order, and sat down at
one of the kitchen tables surrounded by catfish in a freezer; brown-skinned
yuccas and plantains in the produce section; and chips to our back. Four-foot piñatas dangled over our
heads. The butchers chopping up cuts of
meat provided entertainment.
My
pudgy torpedo-shaped torta had a slightly crunchy crust and received a
slathering of guacamole and shredded lettuce to cradle an inch-thick portion of
deep-fried pork carnitas.
The
salty pork made me wish for a beer, but you can only buy that as groceries.
The
portions at El Rancho made several trips necessary to sample more of the menu
offerings.
On
my next visit, I tried another torta with chicharron (deep-fried pork
skins). If you like rich food that will
fill you up for a day, this is definitely the sandwich for it.
The
different filling did not change the price of the torta. This principle operates for the whole menu
board: The listings under the tacos, for
example, can also go in burritos or sopes.
Sopes
are thick tortillas with turned-up edges that resemble three-inch piecrusts. I tried one with lengua (beef tongue). I thought the sope was doughy, but the tongue
boiled with tomatoes, onions, and bell peppers merits a return trip.
Another
El Rancho specialty I tried is chile verde, which I ate in a taco. This pork selection is cooked with green
onion, bell peppers, and a few jalapeño peppers: the end result is a satisfying meal.
Burritos
at El Rancho are large. I chose adobada,
spicy pork, as my filling. The
combination of spicy adobada and beans was delicious, but had my waistline
crying for mercy.
The
tamales are fat with carnitas or spicy chicken filling.
I
also tried the chicken (gallina) meal.
I
plan to return to sample more items:
-costillas
(ribs) dinner
-burritos
con camarron (shrimp burritos)
-quesadillas
-enchiladas
Along
with the food, I liked learning all the Spanish words on the menu.
Once
you start ordering items in Spanglish, the vocabulary will stick to you
costillas at El Rancho.
