August 19-25, 2004

food

This Way, Jose

by Joel Tannenbaum

Head west on Spring Garden. Make a left at the gun shop. Continue past the trickle of day laborers, heading up 10th Street at the end of the workday. Step around the kiddie pool (don't get splashed!) and into the doorway of Jose's Grocery, which started out as a bodega with a grill behind the counter and quickly became just the opposite: a first-rate burrito spot that also happens to sell groceries.

Jose's serves up steak, chicken, chorizo and shrimp (and some veggie options) in the standard formats — burritos, tacos, quesadillas and tostadas. Salads are also an option, as is a "plate," which contains all the same sides as the other options only, well, on a plate.

The shrimp absolutely shine in the burrito format. Minimally seasoned, they cook almost instantly on the flat grill and fit in snugly alongside the cilantro-flecked rice, black beans, lettuce, sour cream and Jose's excellent and very fresh homemade guacamole. The grilled steak normally comes off terrifically on the burrito as well, although on this day it was the tiniest bit tough.

A word about salsas: Visitors to Jose's have the standard three options — fresca, verde or chipotle. All three have something to offer. The fresca exudes freshness (duh), made up of finely chopped tomatoes and onions tossed with oil and cilantro (cilantro is in unsurprisingly high rotation). The verde has a pleasant, minty kick to it, but verde may be an overstatement. Finally, the chipotle was a source of disagreement among diners at Jose's. Some thoroughly enjoyed the smoky sweet/hot puree. Others found it a bit acidic. One even claimed to detect a hint of liquid smoke, but was widely denounced as a conspiracy theorist.

The vegetarian tacos benefited tremendously from the addition of roasted red peppers and onions. When asked whether she thought the beans were actually meat-free, the sole vegetarian diner admitted candidly that they "didn't taste good enough" to contain animal products.

The chorizo (of the dried, smoked variety) performed fairly well in taco form, not least because taco-leaning patrons are given the option of corn or flour tortillas. The chicken quesadillas, unfortunately, were a bit of a bust, mainly due to the inherent blandness of the quesadilla format.

Don't come to Jose's expecting the ambitious antics of a Washington Avenue joint. But do expect tasty, roadside-style Mexican food at neighborhood prices. Judging from the crowds gathering at lunchtime recently, the proprietors have figured something out that the developers of the languishing "loft district" a few blocks away have clearly missed.

Jose's Grocery 469 N. 10th St., 215-765-2369 Grill hours: Sun.-Fri., 10:30 a.m.-9 p.m.; Sat., 1-9 p.m. Entrees, $5-$7 Not wheelchair accessible. Smoking not permitted. No credit cards.