El Jalapeno, 4902 S. East Street, is (yay!) free-standing restaurant in the building that formerly housed Dimitri's and before that Denny's. It still retains the nice interior woodwork the Dimitri's folks installed, but they have added bench booths with colorful carved woodwork that depicts Mexican village scenery. They have uncovered all the windows, too, which gives the place a light and airy feel, at least during the day.
The first and best thing we experienced when eating lunch there was the chips and salsa, which wree excellent. The salsa had just the right amount of heat, and the amount of cilantro and onion in the puree made it quite tasty. We had some hot salsa also, but though tasty, it was just the standard stuff. I actually found some dishes on the menu that weren't standard Mexican fare, though. For lunch, I had El Burrito Roqueta, pork tenderloin and melted cheese rolled into a soft tortilla and topped with El Jalapeno (red) sauce and pico de gallo. It was very good: the meat was browned nicely and the pico de gallo was very fresh. I think it would have been better as a Chimichanga, but I'm not sure that was on the menu. Service was fast and polite, and the lunch prices were really reasonable. !Andale!
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