Tortas, or sandwiches, are topped with guacamole, lettuce, tomato and other ingredients and are served with slices of spicy pickled carrot and radish at Calaca Fresh Mex.
Murals featuring Day of the Dead and other Mexican imagery adorn the walls of Calaca Fresh Mex.
The tacos at Calaca Fresh Mex come with pickled carrot and radish slices, grilled onions, blistered seranno peppers and lime wedges.
Calaca Fresh Mex is decorated with colorful murals.
Calaca Fresh Mex occupies a building that once was home to a Braum’s Ice Cream and Dairy shop.
A carne asada burrito is served at Calaca Fresh Mex.
An al pastor torta (foreground), Mexican street-style tacos and a carne asada burrito are some of the most popular items at Calaca Fresh Mex.
Rice and beans are the traditional, even unavoidable, side dishes at most Mexican and Tex-Mex restaurants. But too often, these staples are treated almost as afterthoughts, just something to keep the entreés company on their journey from kitchen to table.
That isn’t the case at Calaca Fresh Mex, a new restaurant that offers “California-style” Mexican food.
The carnitas bowl ($7.95), for example, has a generous amount of very tender, shredded pork, large scoops of pico de gallo and guacamole, and a blanket of melted cheese atop a foundation of rice and beans. Every element of this dish was well-made — the pork was gently seasoned, so that the natural sweetness of the meat came to the fore; the guacamole was simple and fresh, unencumbered with superfluous ingredients; and the pico de gallo was a balanced blend of cool tomatoes, sharp onions, a sprinkling of cilantro and just enough jalapeño to give it bite.
And yet, what I kept going back to again and again were the rice and the beans. The rice was properly cooked, each grain separate and slightly toothsome, while the beans were exceptionally creamy and seasoned (I might hazard a guess that lard was perhaps involved in their preparation, and there’s nothing wrong with that).
“It takes about 10 hours to make our beans,” said owner Frank Villalovos, who opened Calaca Fresh Mex in December. “We season them a special way. It’s just what you have to do to make things special.”
The menu at Calaca Fresh Mex contains few surprises. It offers an array of Mexican street-style tacos ($1.50-$2.50), with fillings that range from standbys such as steak and chicken to things that may be more esoteric to American palates, such as tongue and tripe. Burrito fillings come wrapped in a 14-inch flour tortilla or served without tortilla in a bowl ($7.95 each).
Sandwiches, or tortas, dressed with avocado, lettuce, tomato, onion, jalapeño, mayo and cheese, can be topped with a choice of protein ($7.95), as can the Calaca fries, a kind of south-of-the-border poutine, with a pile of fries covered with guacamole, sour cream, pico de gallo and a white queso sauce ($7.95).
Breakfast is also available all day and takes the form of burritos ($6.95) and plates ($7.45).
One thing we noticed about each dish we tried is that the seasonings are quite understated; you taste the protein, the vegetables, not spices. However, if you are looking for added heat, the three salsas on offer will more than satisfy.
The green salsa is the mildest, and while the red salsa is billed as “medium,” “it’s still pretty spicy,” Villalovos said. To that we can attest. And for those who really enjoy adding a bit of fire to one’s meal, the habañero salsa can be eye-watering hot, but it also has a fruitiness that makes it more than merely hot.
We sampled two burritos, the Calaca breakfast burrito, which included scrambled eggs, chopped bacon, cheese and potatoes, in the form of tater tots, and the Carne Asada burrito. The Calaca was a bit greasy — bacon will do that — but enjoyable.
The carne asada burrito, which included all the accoutrements of the bowl version, was equally tasty. Both burritos could easily serve two people. Plates are garnished with slices of spicy pickled carrot and radish.
We also sampled a trio of tacos, with pastor (roasted pork with pineapple), tripe and tongue. The tongue was cubed, surprisingly tender and loaded with beefy flavor. The nuggets of pineapple among the finely chopped pork were a welcomed burst of sweetness. The only negative was the tripe, with some pieces overcooked to near plastic toughness.
Beverages include soft drinks, including various flavors of Jarritos sodas from Mexico, as well as agua frescas that Villalovos said will change seasonally. Current flavors include horchata, hibiscus and pineapple. Beer and margaritas are also available.
Villalovos got his start in the restaurant business as a child in his native El Salvador, where his family owned a bakery. He immigrated to the United States in 2001, and found work in Mexican restaurants in California.
“I really liked the way they made their food — it has a very distinct taste that I came to love,” he said. He later moved to Virginia Beach, Virginia, before coming to Tulsa, all the while working in various Mexican restaurants.
“When I came to Tulsa, I went to all the restaurants, tried all the food trucks,” Villalovos said. “They all made good food, but I couldn’t find that taste I loved. So I decided I should open my own place and make the food I was looking for but couldn’t find.”
Villalovos said he would make sample dishes and serve them to his family, saying he had picked it up from a food truck. “I wanted their honest opinion,” he said, “and they really liked it.”
Calaca took over a space that had started out as a Braum’s location, then was remade into City Diner, at the corner of 69th Street and Lewis Avenue. The building had been empty for several years and required a lot of work to get it back into shape.
The interior is dominated by two brightly colored murals, filled with imagery from Mexico’s Day of the Dead including skulls (“calaca” is Spanish for “skull”). The oranges in the mural are repeated in the seating and in the outdoor signage.
The restaurant has been open less than two months, but Villalovos said business has been good — even better than he expected in the middle of a pandemic.
“The day we opened, we had our first customer at 7 a.m. for breakfast,” he said. “And he came back about three or four times during that first week to eat here. We are seeing a lot of people come here again and again because we offer something a little bit different, made with good ingredients at fair price.”
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https://tulsaworld.com/entertainment/watch-now-calaca-fresh-mex-brings-west-coast-style-mexican-food-to-tulsa/article_2ef94806-5cdb-11eb-94e6-6f99f3181457.html
Watch Now: Calaca Fresh Mex brings West Coast-style Mexican food to Tulsa - Tulsa World
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