A Delightful Dining Experience...in the best Alaskan version of Mexico!
This past Tuesday, members of my social group and I visited Chepo's for the first time in a few years. We were extraordinarily pleased with all of our experience. When we're not having picnic dinners at Eagle River's Park at the End of End Street...also known as Schroeder Park...during South Central Alaska's short summer, we're trying various restaurants every first, third, and fifth Monday (Tuesday this week only). We've been to several Mexican restaurants in the area over the years...and enjoy lots about them...but they've all pretty well become very noisy so that conversations don't stand a chance.
Not so Chepo's! The first thing I noticed as I entered Chepo's was the quiet...like a friendly family dinner table. The place is lovely as well...check out their website at https://www.cheposak.com/ for photos. To our great pleasure, we were invited to proceed down three stairs...a little challenging for a couple of us with ambulation challenges, but worth it...into their solarium. The play of sunshine and cloud almost surrounding us through the glass wall and roof made the sky seem alive and provided a glorious backdrop to our evening.
Then we met Moses, our waiter extraordinaire. Had the sun not been as bright as it was, I'm sure his smile would've lit the room for us. His service was impeccable. Two of us arrived before the others and found ourselves attentively checked on by Moses and others of his compadres. He answered several questions about various menu offerings...I didn't know what a Palermo pepper was. Moses was friendly, knowledgeable, and attentive...exactly the right combo for a world class mesero.
The menu was exciting...full of options including and beyond the usual American Mexican restaurant fare. One of our party was glad to find Chepo's had a good non-alcoholic beer...I forgot the brand...and especially happy to find mole...a rich dark chocolatey color with only a hint of chocolate flavor and a nice combination of other spices. The other two had nachos and chili rellenos and enjoyed them thoroughly. They both stayed with water to drink...Anchorage's water is often rated as some of the best tasting in the country, after all.
I was the outlier. I arrived with an apetito grande...note my profile headline. Though I did look quickly through the regular menu, the specials menu had me from the start. I had a bowl of creamy Palermo pepper soup garnished with corn. I might have enjoyed just a bit more corn...but, then I'm a bit of a corn-a-holic. It was delectable...smooth and creamy with a very distinct Palermo flavor that I had never tasted before.
My main dish was brisket enchiladas. The brisket was done to perfection...one might think covering brisket with other food items might hide its unique savorysmoky flavor, but this was not the case. What made the dish extraordinarily tasty for me was the grilled onions...perhaps there were peppers on it too? The concoction had been prepared to just the right amount of cooked before and then must have been cooked some on the enchiladas themselves, because it was truly sautéed...neither raw onion pieces nor mush...and the flavor permeated the enchiladas through and through.
Lastly, one of my favorite contributions of Mexican cuisine...are drinks considered part of "cuisine?"...to the world is horchata. Several of the Mexican restaurants in the area serve it, much to my delight. But Chepo's horchata was the best I've ever had. It's characteristic vanilla flavor was strong...it tasted almost like vanilla ice cream...and it was creamy. It was served in one of the largest glasses I've ever had. Also...something I was warned by one of my dinner companions not to share with the restaurant...it was the cheapest of all horchata I've had in all local restaurants by two dollars, if I remember the others' prices correctly...$3.99 a serving.
So, if you find yourself up here in the Greatland, craving a taste and experience from south of the border, you must head on over to Chepo's in Eagle River. I promise you will enjoy yourself and find that craving well satisfied! Ole'! read more