On the way back from the Providence Amtrak Station I had the opportunity to do some solo restaurant…read morerecon for lunch. I pulled out my list of potentials for the drive back and stopped in New Bedford to try Elizabeth's Restaurant at 1461 Acushnet Ave. (right off the I95). For those who prefer a pithy review--and you know who you are--I offer this "Cliff Notes" version: Casual, clean, and comfortable with delicious and authentic tastes of Latin American cuisine, primarily from Guatemala, and friendly service (though I wish I spoke more Spanish). For those who enjoy reading, let's move on to an actual review.
Easy, on-street parking, right in front of Elizabeth's (bring quarters for the meters). As soon as I wanted in the aromas hit me and I knew that was going to be the real deal. Jennifer came around from the front counter (which contains a long buffet filled with all sorts of Guatemalan stews and pre-made dishes) to seat me at a booth. I'd reviewed the menu prior to going there and knew basically what I wanted to try--which would have been just a few dishes short of everything on the menu. But that's not reality, at least not any more. So I ordered a medium Jamaica to drink (my favorite), a chicharron and queso pupusa, which came with a small bowl of curtido, and a bowl of Mondongo (which was the primary reason I had selected Elizabeth's as a new place to try in the first place).
We lived in southern California for nearly 40 years, so my palate is fairly well trained when it comes a range of regional Mexican dishes. I was at Elizabeth's for the Mondongo because one of my litmus test dishes in a Mexican restaurant has always been the Menudo--a slow cooked tripe soup flavored with various chilis and typically including hominy. If a place can make a flavorful, fresh tasting bowl of Menudo--which takes care, patience and time in the cleaning and pre-cooking of the tripe--chances are most of their other dishes are going to be tasty as well. Over time, I've easily sampled a few hundred bowls of Menudo and most of them were not very good--too musty, too chewy, the broth lacked flavor, etc., though I did have two favorites places in Orange County when I would go to remind myself of what a properly made bowl of Menudo was supposed to taste like. So I was at Elizabeth's for the tripe--since I have yet to find a Mexican restaurant in New Bedford or Providence which has Menudo on the menu.
The Jamaica, which is made from steeping dried Hibiscus flowers and tastes somewhat like unsweetened cranberry juice, was delicious and arrived quickly. Ice cold and beautifully tart. I waited about eight minutes and Jennifer arrived with my food, she then went back to get the silverware and some salsa which she warned me was "hot." LOL, it actually wasn't very hot, at least not for me, but it was especially delicious. I would later ask Jennifer what chili was used to make the salsa, she smiled, shrugged her shoulders, and said "only chef knows." Fair enough. Chefs need to keep some of their dishes a secret. It was not as hot as a Habanero salsa, but it was hotter than a salsa made from only Chili de Arbol. Don't know what it was, but it was incredibly tasty.
I've never had Guatemalan tripe soup, though I have had Mondongo in the Dominican Republic (and really enjoyed their version of it). Elizabeth's version, which came with rice and a few limes for squirting as well as the hot sauce, was absolutely fantastic. Easily one of the best three tripe soups I have ever had from within the Latin American/Caribbean culinary tradition. The tripe was clean, none of that funky odor which many people associate with tripe dishes. The tripe itself and there was a lot of it was perfectly cooked--soft enough to almost just melt in your mouth, but with just the slightest chew left to prevent it from being mushy. But the star of the dish was clearly the broth. It was similar to a Menudo broth, but far less fatty and far richer in flavor. The broth also featured very small pieces of assorted vegetables in addition to chilis of various sorts which serve as the flavor backbone of this amazing soup. Sorry to be so excited over a simple bowl of tripe soup but it really was amazing and it satisfied a craving I've had since my last bowl of Menudo at Mary's in Santa Ana the night before we moved permanently back to the East Coast three years ago.
The pupusa, which is corn masa that has been stuffed with different combinations of ingredients--in my case, crispy pork rids and cheese--is then flattened and grilled. We enjoyed lots of these at the many El Salvadorean restaurants also located across Southern California. The pupusa itself was much lighter and moister in the middle than the ones from El Salvador which I've previously enjoyed. The curtido which is customarily served with a pupusa is a wilted and pickled cabbage and carrot slaw, typically speckled with bits of fried Mexican oregano and often little slivers of fresh jalape
