Tacos El Caporal, 1717 28th St SW - 11/19/13

Cruising southwest for a new restaurant, we came upon this one claiming to be “chief (alright, foreman) of the tacos.” How could we resist? Two entrances make it a little confusing ~ one opens into a dining room and the other into a smaller dining area with a take-out counter and waiting area. The smaller room holds about 8 booths along with the open kitchen, and the dining room holds about twice as much seating area.

It was busy this lunch hour, complete with dining-in Wyoming police, and we had to wait a bit for service. Our first server brought us menus, and shortly thereafter, tortilla chips and very spicy red (hotter than the green) and green salsa. Unfortunately, we didn’t get small plates on which to enjoy them but had to apply salsa individually to each chip.  Also unfortunately, there’s a lot of styrofoam used here along with plastic silverware.

Another server came to take our order, neither of them spoke much English, and both seemed a little ill at ease with us and we’re not sure why. We decided on beef gorditas for our first dish: onions, cilantro, beans, lettuce tomatoes, cheese, with a touch of sour cream, and a side of rice and beans.

The rice and beans came out along the grilled vegetables ~ radishes, green onions, jalapeno, and limes ~ and then came the main dishes; the second of which was tacos dorados: 4 crisp beef tacos with beans, rice, lettuce tomato, avocado, and sour cream. With both the gorditas and tacos coming with lightly fried tortillas, we couldn’t judge the tortilla freshness but we were both very satisfied with our selections, particularly with the prominently featured cilantro and avocado ingredients.

The food was flavorful and all house-made ~ you can watch the cook at work.  We don’t like to use the over-used-in-restaurant-reviews-word “authentic” but this is fresh, well-prepared food with no Americanized versions of Mexican food on the menu. The atmosphere is simple, stark, and clean, and the food is delightfully delicious, including the rice and beans being above average. Go for the food, but not the ambiance.