The best Mexican food in the area is dished out in a convenience mart next to a Shell station. It has no service and no tables, just eight shiny stools at a counter–and food of astonishing complexity for such a limited operation, whether it’s the chicken mole or one of the best plates of chilaquiles north of the Mexico border.
Rodrigo Albarran-Torres’s menu changes as often as those of some high-end bistros and has featured cochinita tacos–filled with a spicy hash of roasted baby pig–and sopes, thick, house-made disks of ground corn smeared with smoky refried beans, white cheese, avocado, and a choice of meats. A sit-down restaurant is coming, but for now the only way to sample what Albarran-Torres calls the “R&R experience” is to pull up a stool.
Also good: Posole, a fiery pork-and-hominy soup; chiles rellenos; chorizo, al pastor, and carnitas tacos; any of the tortas, overstuffed meat-bean-and-avocado sandwiches on airy torpedo rolls.
Open daily for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Ann Limpert joined Washingtonian in late 2003. She was previously an editorial assistant at Entertainment Weekly and a cook in New York restaurant kitchens, and she is a graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education. She lives in Petworth.
