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Los Cabriteros

By , San Antonio Express-News
This parrillada, or mixed grill, includes arrachera (fajita meat), chicken, beef rib, sausage, chicken and a pair of quesadillas. It serves two people.
This parrillada, or mixed grill, includes arrachera (fajita meat), chicken, beef rib, sausage, chicken and a pair of quesadillas. It serves two people.Photos by William Luther / San Antonio Express-News

SAN ANTONIO — There's something beautifully comforting about a family restaurant in Mexico, the kind of place where a group can visit and relax over a simple yet skillfully prepared meal that extends over several courses and a few hours, and ends with a cafecito and a copita of Presidente brandy.

Few places offer that feeling of hospitality and mexicanidad like Los Cabriteros, the first United States location of a restaurant group based in Monterrey.

In true Monterrey style, the kid goat carcass is stretched out on long metal skewers and grilled over an open fire. The method differs from the oven roasting that's more prevalent in San Antonio. But for aficionados, there's nothing like cabrito al pastor, slowly grilled with a crisp skin.

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Of course, cabrito is a lean meat, so you're going to want to add some salsa for extra moisture, and the salsas here do not disappoint, from the smooth yet fierce light green salsa to the slightly chunky roasted red salsa and the finely pureed and lightly cooked red tomato salsa.

Start with an appetizer of either the queso flameado by itself, with chorizo or sautéed mushrooms. The cheese is melted above hot coals, which add extra flavor and a note of romance. Or grab the mollejas, or sweetbreads. Get them crisp or soft, and place them into a housemade tortilla along with some sautéed red peppers and onions.

Better yet, get the chicharrones de rib-eye. They're chunks of beef, many with a nice layer of fat, that are fried to a crisp and served in a molcajete with guacamole.

More Information

Los Cabriteros

★★

17660 Henderson Pass, near U.S. 281 and Loop 1604, 210-468-2904, loscabriteros.us

Quick bite: Simply seasoned grilled cabrito and meats set the tone for an experience that evokes a neighborhood family restaurant in the Mexican interior.

Hit: Chicharrones de rib-eye, New York strip plate

Miss: Bottled ranch dressing brings down salads.

Special diets: Maybe if you're going paleo.

Hours: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Wednesday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday

Price range: Entradas (appetizers), $7.90-$18.99; cabrito, $15.99-$27.99 (whole vacuum-sealed cabrito, $179); tacos, $14.99-$19.99; meats, $13.99-$21.99; salads, $8.99-$13.99; cabrito combos, $43.49 (for 2 people)-$184.99 (for 6 people); parrilladas, $32.95 (for 2)-$87.95 (for 6).

★★★★ Superior. Can compete nationally.

★★★ Excellent. One of the best restaurants in the city.

★★ Very good. A standout restaurant of its kind. Worth a special visit.

★ Good. A restaurant that we recommend.

(no stars) We cannot recommend this restaurant at this time.

Express-News dining critics pay for all meals.



Website for Los Cabriteros

Then get ready for a cup of happiness with the deeply seasoned frijoles a la charra. Your cup may include bones, which in ours came from pork trotters, but the dish deftly balanced the flavors of meat and beans, with a sprig of fresh cilantro providing extra depth of flavor.

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Follow the appetizer course with the main event. If you go with friends, get a plate of cabrito with salad, tortillas and guacamole; a combo plate with cabrito and one other meat; or a parrillada, a mixture of grilled meats. The parrilladas include nicely seasoned fajita meat (arrachera); chicken; tender and tasty flanken-cut short rib (ribs cut crosswise); and a mushy and forgettable grilled sausage.

Set a hunk of cabrito inside a warm tortilla, top it with salsa and let the waves of happiness wash over you.

The straightforward cooking and simple seasonings demonstrate a confidence in the quality of the ingredients and cooking skill.

This approach not only succeeds with the cabrito but with the steaks, as well. A steak section of the menu offers cuts such as sirloin, rib-eye, arrachera, short rib, cowboy and chicken.

I couldn't resist the New York strip, and it arrived cooked perfectly to the requested medium and served with a twice-baked potato, sautéed onions and a chile toreado (roasted jalapeño). This version of the baked potato included diced bacon, and it was heated on the live-fire grill, giving it almost a campfire sense.

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The biggest disappointment was a bottled ranch dressing that accompanied the salad of iceberg lettuce, shredded cabbage and thick slices of tomato. Yes, the meat is the main attraction, but there's no excuse for that dressing. A housemade vinaigrette would have worked much better.

Even so, this is a place to seek out, make the drive and linger for an evening.

etijerina@express-news.net

Twitter: @ etij

Edmund Tijerina writes about food and reviews restaurants for the San Antonio Express-News. His culinary explorations began with rolling flour tortillas as a child and included a yearlong stint as chef and owner of a restaurant in Milwaukee. He is a frequent contributor to Eater.com and has written about food, restaurants and reviewing for Epicurious and Romenesko. He joined the Express-News in 1999 after closing his restaurant. Before joining the Taste team, he wrote the ""Around the Town"" column for the Express-News form 2002-2008. His other assignments for the paper included education and news obituaries. He began his newspaper career in Bay City, Texas, before going to the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, graduate school in New York, a yearlong internship at the Chicago Tribune and different positions at the Milwaukee Journal and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He's a Houston native with philosophy degree from Harvard and a master's from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. He lives with and cooks for his wife and son in San Antonio.