Chile-Tepin

She said:

I’d never heard of the Chile-Tepin restaurant before, but I correctly assumed it was a Mexican place based on the name alone. As a result, I had pre-conceived notions about the interior décor and vibe.

Turns out, I was way off-base. Upon entering the skull-painted door, we were greeted by austerity. White and gray walls, an accent wall covered in corrugated tin tiles, gray and white mottled Formica tabletops, black chairs, dark-gray tile floors, and an industrial ceiling. All of the gray and white were broken up by occasional pieces of colorful abstract modern art and some totem-style masks. I couldn’t figure out what the paintings depicted. Were they dragons? Were they monsters? I guess whatever they were boiled down to individual interpretation. In a separate dining area, a wall was painted a sunny shade of yellow. That was a pretty, welcome splash of color, as was the red and black booth pushed up against a section of the long wall.

As is typical in Mexican restaurants, we were served chips and salsa. Brian warned me off of the salsa because he said it would be too spicy for me. I nibbled on a few of the seasoned tortilla chips, though. They tasted fairly decent.

For lunch, I ordered the shredded beef chimichanga. It was accompanied by salsa, guacamole, sour cream, rice, and refried beans. Sadly, everything was bland except for the pico de gallo that carried quite a bit of heat. I attributed the lack of flavor to the mistake some cooks make: they don’t infuse herbs and seasonings into the preparation and cooking process. Instead, they’ll top foods off with spices after the fact.

Anyway, the saving graces regarding my chimichanga were the cheese and the deep-fried tortilla the beef was encased in. The tortilla tasted more like a nice flaky pastry. So, the texture was great, and the cheese had a buttery, nutty taste to it. It was good.

He said:

I’ve had my eye on the Chile-Tepin restaurant for a while. It has such an intriguing name! We tried to stop by once before, but they are closed on Mondays. The restaurant took its name from the chiltepin—or chile-tepin—pepper, which was also unknown to me. The only wild chili native to the United States, the chiltepin looks like a berry, but carries a lot of heat, up to 40 times hotter than a jalapeño pepper. It probably is the ancestor of most modern cultivated chilies.

The restaurant seems to prefer the QR code-based menus, though they did ask us if we wanted a printed menu. However, they only gave us one, so I still ended up having to use my phone. At least the online menus had pictures of each item.

While we waited for our food, we took in the scene around us. Unlike many overly colorful Mexican restaurants, the Chile-Tepin featured the clean simplicity of white walls and soft gray ceilings. A smattering of artwork and a couple of accent walls ensured it wasn’t stark. I found it somewhat refreshing. Though we shared the open dining room with plenty of other patrons, the tall ceiling kept it from feeling crowded.

Kathy and I ordered our typical diet colas, which came served in too-small glasses that held more ice than soda. The waiter refilled them, of course, but it did mean that our glasses were empty too much of the time.

For my meal, I ordered steak fajitas. I have a friend who was always wary of ordering fajitas because the sizzling skillet made sure that everybody in the group would smell like fajitas when they left. That wasn’t a problem in this case, as my fajitas came out on a square plate instead of a skillet. Made with three colors of bell peppers, the fajitas looked great! A small ramekin of sauce caught my eye. A deep red color and full of seeds, the sauce just looked hot. It was probably made with some of those chiltepin peppers. I curiously spread some on my fajitas, but I didn’t notice anything. Perhaps I was intimidated into being too cautious with it.

I enjoyed my fajitas, but it could have used more flavor. Perhaps more lime. The steak was tough and probably a bit overcooked.

Conclusion:

With a fresh, modern aesthetic, the Chile-Tepin aims to be a hip, city-center eatery. We would have liked to find more flavor in the picturesque offerings.