You have charbroil on your cheek!

Today’s tour of Las Cruces’ restaurants was at Pepe’s Chicken. Pepe’s Chicken is El Paso based and opened its doors in Las Cruces over five years ago, according to the cashier.

Restaurant Info: Located at 2300 N. Main St. #202, Las Cruces, NM 88001. (575) 528-0000.

Dinero: They take cash or cards. Sorry, no checks.

Atmosphere: Casual. You order at the left side counter and when they call your number you pick up your food at the right side counter. The tables are your typical square Formica tables with cushioned chairs. Yes, the chairs could use a bit of patching but all in all it was comfortable. I have to say that the music played at Pepe’s was quite refreshing. It ranges from Juanes to The Killers. As we were exiting the restaurant Carrie said, “They’re playing Keane!” Yes indeed, they were!

Cleanliness: I’m a strong believer in checking a restaurant’s bathroom. Basically, a bathroom will tell you how clean the kitchen is. The same mop and cleaning supplies are used in the entire restaurant. I did a bathroom check and found that it was clean and well stocked with soap, tp and paper towels. Nice to know, since I’m assuming the employees use the same bathroom.

Customer Service: It was my first time at Pepe’s and considering we went during lunch, the cashier was very friendly and answered my questions. Our number was called within 5 minutes of placing our order. Very impressive!

The Comida (food): We quickly decided that we were going to try their charbroiled chicken and not the many taco options they also have, after all it is called Pepe’s Chicken.

 They have an $8.99 dark meat chicken special that comes with a side of Charro beans and Spanish rice. Also included in the special are 8 tortillas, corn or flour. Drinks are separate and cost $2 each with free refills. We ended up paying almost $14 for the special and two drinks, $7 a piece. Not too shabby considering the current prices at other restaurants. They also have a salsa bar with guacamole salsa, green chile salsa (dang my mouth is on fire), red chile salsa (does anyone have Tums?), pico de gallo, basic Mexican salsa (very whimpy), limes, chopped cucumbers and those weird red onions in vinegar (blah!). You can see the plate in the picture, the quality is not very good because we took it with a cell phone, and you can see nibbles on the chicken because we were very hungry and only remembered the picture just in time!

 I went with the corn tortillas, Carrie tried the flour. I’m really picky about corn tortillas. There is nothing more disappointing than ordering tortillas from a Mexican restaurant and biting into a store bought tortilla. I can always taste and smell the preservatives in store bought corn tortillas…yuck! I have to admit that I wasn’t sure about the origin of their corn tortillas. I could definitely smell the lime in them but they didn’t taste as fresh as the tortillas you can buy in the many Mexican tortillerias in Las Cruces. I ate one of Carrie’s flour tortillas…YUM! I was seriously wishing I carried a stick of butter in my purse so I could eat a flour tortilla with butter, yes they were that good! So definitely order the flour and not the corn. I’m not much of a chicken dark meat person but as Carrie stated after a couple of bites, “This chicken is DELISH!!!”

 The food is given to you on a tray along with plastic ware and paper plates. You may want to triple up the paper plates as the beans will soak through the first two plates and leave a soggy mess on the table. The Spanish rice was moist and had a wonderful cumin aroma. Carrie thought the beans were a wee bit undercooked, I agree. It may have just been an off day for the cook. I will say this much, the beans had a good spice to them, not too hot but just perfect. Also, we quickly found out that 3 people could have shared this meal. I ended up taking two pieces of chicken home with me for dinner and we threw away the leftover rice and beans. Last but not least, it’s charbroiled…hello healthy!

Caution:
 1. After a few bites of their chicken you may end up with charbroil on your cheeks. This is where you truly appreciate your BFF for telling you, “You have charbroil on your cheek.”
 2. Vegans and Vegetarians stay away…you will change your lifestyle once you get a whiff of the charbroiled chicken.
 3. Don’t eat the guacamole salsa too fast or it’ll end up on your cardi (cardigan). It must be magic guacamole salsa because it dried clear. J