La Caseta

Another day, another frigging taco. Day four of my quest to hit all the mexican food restaurants in Fallbrook. Today brought me to La Caseta, the foodchild of one Delos Eyer. La Caseta is probably the oldest running restaurant of its type in town, or definitely right up there with El Jardin. Delos has owned it for over 25 years and much of the staff has been along for the whole ride. La Caseta is a stone's throw from my work, a quick jaunt across the parking lot.

La Caseta is a bit fancier than the other restaurants that I am visiting. It has a full bar. The food is just a smidge more expensive than the greasy spoon joints. The food is a bit more anglicized than some places, but I mean that in a good way, pardon my reach but it is mexican cuisine filtered through an american prism. This makes it much more accessible to a wide group of aficionados and it is a favored lunch destination for many locals.

Delos is committed to good food, and also committed to keeping the doors open. He has had some very innovative tastings at the place, I attended the tequila tasting, where a tequila manufacturer from Jalisco came up and wowed us with all things tequila a while back. The food was absolutely delicious. The beer pairing with Stone Brewery had its good points as well but the food didn't reach the heights of the Tequila event. I missed the wine night but I heard that it was great as well. When Delos feels like it, he can do incredible things...

Today I ordered the taco special on the owner's recommendation, one pollo, one carne asada. They were as good as any in town. The server brought me a small bowl of their awesome jalapeno salsa, probably the most picante batch this sie of Bonsall. The rice and beans were good, lacking the other vegetables in the rice that I have seen from some of the other places this week. I also got a piece of their incredible pumpkin flan, a dish sold seasonally that is simply out of this world. The pumpkin flan ladies and gentlemen, is worth the price of admission.

If Leslie was with me I would have ordered the shrimp diavalo, which is right up there with Rosa's garlic shrimp as best entree in town, bar none, from any restaurant. Bit creamy, almost etouffe. We have them hold the onions and power the garlic and typically split the order. I frankly haven't traveled that far through the menu, typically going back and ordering my favorites time after time.

I had a very nice meal today, one of my coffee group was sitting at the next table with his brother and we chatted. Carne Asada and pollo had just the right bit of char. It is hard for me to be objective after the culinary onslaught I have put myself through the last few days but I may be getting my second wind. Of course it could just be gas.

I have been going to La Caseta since it opened and I have only had two complaints the entire time. I got a dry, tasteless tamale once and a sort of bemused look from the server when I brought it to his attention and I can never figure out why you can't enter from the center door which would seem to make a lot more sense. By the way, Delos apologized profusely for the tamale later on.

If I wanted to have a meal and a cocktail or two it would be my first stop in town. Place is fun, casual and not in the least bit pretentious. Food is good and you never have to worry about coming down with ptomaine poisoning. You have to hand it to anybody in the business who has managed to survive as long as Delos has and consistently put out such a quality product.