Chorizo Salvation at San Vicente
A couple of months ago, we were rolling down Columbia Pike in Arlington trying to find an Ethiopian bakery that was mentioned in a Washington Post article about unlikely Redskins fans. As we were stressing out about possibly overshooting our destination, we noticed a stand-alone shack perched in front of the Adams Square shopping center. San Vicente looked like it had been a Little Tavern or an Ollie’s Trolley in a previous life, but the present day signage purported to offer the mix of Salvadoran and Mexican food that is common along the Pike.
Still, we were intrigued enough to add it to our short list of places to investigate. Perhaps we were simply hoping to experience the bizarre ambiance resulting from such an unusual mixture of Americana and immigrant culture, a sort of Nighthawks at the Pupuseria. But we got distracted over the ensuing months, and in the interim, Steve Siegel, who easily ranks as the most intrepid and adventurous among the regular posters on the D.C. Chowhound message board, beat us to it.
In his post unveiling this latest find last week, Siegel proclaimed that San Vicente’s chorizo taco “is the second best taco in the area, after Taqueria El Charrito Caminante’s goat taco.”
Because word of the latter taqueria’s goat tacos set the Chowhound boards abuzz with excitement over two years ago, we figured that anything even remotely in the same league had to be worth checking out as soon as possible.
The interior barely fits four two-top tables, and the main decoration is a towel tacked up on one wall depicting an especially elaborate Salvadoran village scene featuring two matronly women preparing pupusas for a festival. There’s also a small outdoor deck of sorts with a few tables and umbrellas out back.
You’ll need to budget a little extra time for San Vicente, because, surprisingly enough, unlike other taquerias that have many of the meat components to their tacos stewing in vats behind the counter, San Vicente seems to prepare everything to order. Perhaps that’s why their chorizo tacos truly are outstanding. In fact, they’re easily the best we’ve ever had.
In the past, we’ve always wanted to love chorizo tacos. After all, we ultimately gave up our ill-advised bout with vegetarianism because we couldn’t imagine forgoing sausage (and, of course, bacon) for the rest of our lives.
But even the chorizo tacos at quality taquerias seemed to thwart us with their rivulets of orange-colored chorizo oil streaming out the back of the tortilla, or the strings of fat still connecting the crumble of chorizo. Of course, chorizo tacos are always going to be greasy, but San Vicente has somehow managed to moderate the greasiness to just the perfect amount. The tacos de chorizo platter ($7.50) included three appealing chorizo tacos, with each double tortilla layered taco offering a finely ground heap of chorizo topped with freshly chopped tomatoes, jalapeno, cilantro, and radish. The chorizo had a bit of cinnamony sweetness to its spice, which blended well with the excellent housemade jalapeno hot sauce.
Though the tacos de chorizo turned out to be revelatory, the other offerings at San Vicente can be hit or miss. The pupusas were solid, but the cabbage slaw accompaniment was marred by a feeble red hot sauce. We also tried the tacos de carne, but the meat was a bit dry.
The chorizo tacos go down best with a bottle of Sangria Senorial -- which is, in our opinion, the finest grape soda in the world, or a glass of their housemade maranon, an odd-tasting agua fresca made from cashew fruit juice.
San Vicente
2599 Columbia Pike
Arlington, Va.
(703) 920-1130
Photo by flickr user Tartanna and used under a Creative Commons license.