Cafe El Paso is a gem, hidden in plain sight. I've driven by it dozens of times and somehow, never noticed the humble little building sitting directly across the street from the dog park. A few weeks ago, I noticed it for the first time, on my way to Roman Villa Pizza. Finally, weeks later, my buddy Sean and I decided to give it a whirl, and boy are we glad we did!

There are only a few parking spots up front, but there is a larger parking lot behind the restaurant. It wasn't very busy when I arrived, and I was sat immediately and presented with chips and salsa. Sean arrived soon after.

The chips and especially the salsa were terrific. The chips are obviously fried on the spot, and were perfect. They had a hint of salt, but it was not overdone. The salsa was amazing. They make it themselves. It wasn't a red, soupy salsa, but was much thicker, and made mostly with a tomatillo base, rather than tomato. I would rate it a medium, although our waitress said they had gotten a few complaints that it was too hot. I thought it was perfect.

I decided to order the lunch chicken mole, and it wasn't a mistake.

I'll admit, that the picture isn't that amazing. It just looks like a big blob of brown sauce, but hey, isn't that what mole is? The beans were good, and had melted cheese on top of them. The mole was great! It had very complex flavors that I could hardly begin to describe, but had that distinctive nutty, cocoa smell and flavor that I love. Beneath it was shredded chicken that was moist and delicious. I used the corn tortillas (flour ones are also available) to hold a mix of chicken and mole (and even a vegetable or two), and scarfed it down.

My only "complaint" about my meal was that there was too much! I had to ask for more corn tortillas so I could finish eating all of my food.

Cafe El Paso has reasonable prices, until you consider dessert. The cheapest dessert is the sopapillas, which are almost five bucks - way too much for some fried dough. The other things (like flan), are all over five bucks - beyond my personal dessert price limit. I'll save you my dessert rant for today ;) Even without dessert, however, you will be hard pressed to get out of here for under ten dollars.