Jimmies and El Chavo
The warmish weather has gotten me wandering around a bit and in the past week I hit the new ice cream shop, Jimmies, on Corinth and El Chavo at 4254 Washington, a few doors down from our old digs. Jimmies wasn’t quite going full speed yet (they only had normal size, not foot long, dogs), but their everything dog was delicious, if gone a little quickly for $4, and their homemade relish is delicious. Typically I would recoil at the very idea of mango relish for my dog, but for some reason I took the plunge and, though it could use a little heat to go with the sweet, it was quite good. The foot longs and soft serve are on the way, so I’ll be back.
El Chavo has a nice selection of chorizos, cheeses and tortillas up front, as well as some surprisingly nice looking tomatillos, poblanos and prickly pears. The luchador busts in front are a nice greeting, and he’s done some nice work spiffing up what could have been a somewhat antiseptic space. There’s a reasonable selection of dried spices and canned and bottled sauces (I bought a nice jug of red chile hot sauce that was vinegarly piquant with nice heat and depth and broad appeal), and if, as talking to the owner (who seems like a great guy) suggests, it’s a work in progress, it’s a fantastic start. What he definitely nailed was the great dichotomy between the natural (chiles, cheeses, dried spices) and the utterly fabricated – things the likes of which that you haven’t been able to find on U.S. shelves in most of the country since the late 1970′s – simulated chocolate with crunchy polymer sprinkles, super sweet fragments with caramelesque coating, day-glo drinks of every description – I bought some green apple soda that definitely emerged fully formed from a Guadalajara test tube. Delicious and preternaturally tangy!
I urge you to check it out – grab some burrito perfect tortillas, try the canned chipotles, the refried black beans, or a nice jar of mole.
5/28/2009