Pork Carnitas Tacos

El Cabo Verde provides excellent experience

318 Forum’s always-hungry reporter often has lunch at a local restaurant and tells you about the experience.

If you’ve been to one Mexican food restaurant, you’ve been to them all, right?

Same menus. Same chips and salsa.

Same tastes.

Or is there a Mexican restaurant — Lord knows we have plenty — which offers something different?

According to its website, the philosophy of El Cabo Verde (1023 Provenance Place Blvd., Suite 210, Shreveport) is to provide “outstanding service, incomparable taste, excellent value and quality nutrition.” Well, that sounds nice, but could the restaurant deliver that philosophy? On a recent Thursday, I invited a friend to join me so we could find out together.

Located in a strip mall with other restaurants, El Cabo Verde stood out with its bright green canopies, which offered shade for those choosing to dine outside. My friend and I were not one of those, as it was near 90 degrees on what was supposed to be a “fall” day. So, arriving just before 1 p.m., we walked inside and were immediately greeted by a pleasant hostess.

But before we were seated, my friend noticed something. El Cabo Verde has an open kitchen, and she pointed out that the three women in the kitchen each had their hair up and wore hair nets. When eating out, you like to know — although you seldom do — that the workers are doing their part when it comes to cleanliness. It was clear that it was the case.

El Cabo Verde is not a big restaurant and is longer than it is wide. I counted seating for approximately 50 people, and despite it being a little late in the lunch hour, several of those seats were occupied. Our hostess took us to a table for two in a back corner, and as soon as she walked away, Angelo came to welcome us and fill our water glasses. I asked for lemon, and Angelo quickly brought a bowl with several slices.

As is customary at most Mexican food restaurants, we were served complimentary chips and salsa. However, El Cabo Verde’s setup is different. Instead of one basket of chips for both of us, we were each given two small bowls of very large chips. Those chips were warm and void of any grease. Because the servings were small, we ate them fairly quickly. We asked Angelo for more chips, and he was happy to oblige.

Also, while most times you are given a bowl of the same salsa, we were served two different types. Both were served warm, which I did not like. I prefer my salsa cold. One of the salsas was close to traditional in taste, but had a tomato-like appearance. The other salsa was green, which I assumed to be salsa verde. Despite it being warm, the green salsa was my preference.

El Cabo Verde has a two-sided menu.

One side had a lunch menu section, with 13 choices served daily from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Four of those were various types of enchiladas, three were salads, and one was soup and salad. However, Angelo explained that anything on the menu, including specials and classic tacos, could be ordered at any time.

There were also 10 “Entradas” on the menu. Entradas translates to “starters” or “appetizers.” One of them caught my attention because of its price. We could get a small order of guacamole for $11 or a large order for $19. That seemed awfully expensive for guacamole. Was El Cabo Verde’s guacamole so special that it was worth $11 for a small order? My friend and I decided to taste for ourselves.

When our guacamole arrived, I thought Angelo had made a mistake. The bowl was much larger than I expected. It was filled with thick guacamole, topped with what I assumed were cheese crumbles, and two slices of radish. One bite, and I immediately declared it the best guacamole I had ever eaten. It tasted fresh and healthy. (When was the last time you said guacamole tasted healthy?)

Guacamole “appetizer”

Chicken and Cheese Enchiladas

For my meal, I went with pork carnitas tacos ($16), one of seven classic tacos offered. There wasn’t much of a description on the menu, except that they would be served with pickled onions and cilantro. There were also the letters “KPW” by each of the taco choices. I asked Angelo, who explained that the tacos were suitable for anyone on the Keto, Paleo or Whole 30 diet. Well, I wasn’t on those diets (or any other diet for that matter), but I stuck with my choice. Angelo also asked me if I wanted “mild or spicy” pork. He promised the spicy pork wouldn’t be too spicy, so that’s what I chose.

I am happy to say I was not disappointed. Angelo, who provided us with excellent service, brought me a beautifully-presented plate with two hand-made tortillas filled — and I mean filled — with not-too-spicy pork carnitas. The carnitas were tender, juicy, and had just the right flavor. Oh, and they were hot — not with spice, but with heat. My tacos also came with some of the best beans and rice I have ever eaten. The beans were smooth, and the rice was fluffy. Both were hot also, and stayed hot during my meal.

My friend landed on the enchiladas section of the menu. She had four choices and went with verde ($15). She was promised a chicken enchilada and a cheese enchilada, both topped with salsa verde and cheese.

Her plate’s presentation was equally impressive. There wasn’t any wasted space — the two enchiladas in the middle, flanked by servings of rice and beans. In fact, both of our entrees almost looked too good to eat.

I said “almost.” My friend enjoyed both her enchiladas, leaning more toward the one filled with cheese. She said both had plenty of cheese and chicken, respectively. Like me, my friend said her beans were some of the best she had ever had.

Angelo offered us dessert, but we saved him the breath of telling us our choices, as we were way too full.

The cost of our meal before tax and tip was $46.04. I happily tipped Angelo 20%, but if you go to El Cabo Verde, be aware that their tip suggestions are based on the total, not the pre-tax amount.

Remember, our goal was to find out if El Cabo Verde’s philosophy translated into reality. The answer? Well, let’s put it this way. I am giving the restaurant a rare Four Fork rating. We were indeed provided with outstanding service, excellent value, incomparable taste and quality nutrition. I would go out of my way to dine at El Cabo Verde, as it proves that there is at least one Mexican restaurant offering something different.