tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3662006633701786645.post5507398166487006674..comments2024-01-14T16:59:06.379-06:00Comments on Regular Joe's Guide: El Tepehuan ~ Englewood, Colorado ***CLOSED***RJGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06897774906997130618noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3662006633701786645.post-53334683838256355992018-09-10T12:00:42.626-05:002018-09-10T12:00:42.626-05:00Adding to the story...
My first visit to El Tep h...Adding to the story...<br /><br />My first visit to El Tep had been scant 2 months before RJGs. Went there for a hungover breakfast with a couple brothers and followed their lead (huevos rancheros, Negra Modelo, side of chorizo). Cleaned my plate - could not wait for an encore performance after relocating to Denver a month later!<br /><br />For a while a couple things happened in parallel. First, I experimented around the menu a bit - not excessively, but enough to find what things I liked and did not care for as much. Like RJG, a few things jump out: salsa, rellenos, green chile, shredded beef. A handful of items have left the menu over the years (steak ranchero comes to mind), and some new items have been added, but very few of the dishes have changed (notable exception being Mexican Revolution - did not used to come smothered in green chile).<br /><br />Second thing that happened: I ate there a lot, and I started to get scared. What if something happened to the place? A fire? Plague of locusts? I might starve without El Tepe! In one 24-hour period I ate 3 consecutive meals at the Tepe. <br /><br />So - loath thought I was to admit it - I started searching for other joints that measure up and could serve as fallback should the Tepe become a pile of ash. This is how RJG and I discovered the Brewery Bar, Casa de Manuel, El Taco de Mexico and number of joints not worthy of mention here.<br /><br />And sure enough - the Tepe went under. Will have to check dates on when it first went down, but it was somewhere in late 2015 or early 2016. They were planning to close for a couple months while they finished out a new location, ended up being 2 years or more. Many of the faithful gave up hope (I count myself amongst the non-believers, as many of my long-time faves had folded at this time...Patsy's <>. But lo and behold, on Monday, 16 Oct 2017, the Tepe re-emerged in its new locale (4 doors from prior place of business),<br /><br />First reactions in the new digs: they kept the hand-carved wooden chairs from the furniture upgrade at the old place. Nice! They added a bar, always a good option for me. And they kept a large part of the staff - not that service was ever a strong point of the place. <br /><br />Did breakfast and lunch there - and went with some stand-by favorites for each. Huevos rancheros with a side relleno for breakfast, Combo E for lunch (beef taco, relleno, burrito - substitute shredded beef for beans in the burrito). Service was dead-dog slow as the 'new kitchen' jitters work themselves out. And the kitchen needs a bit of time to 'season' itself. But the food was just as good as ever.<br /><br />By a month or so later, the kitchen slowness had picked up and place was back to snuff.<br /><br />Story for another day about what took so long doing the move, but here are my top 5 choices:<br />1) Chile Relleno Plate<br />2) Bob Burrito<br />3) Mexican Revolution<br />4) Huevos Rancheros<br />5) E combo - as noted above<br /><br />Still on the list to try there: menudo, any of the seafood, current steak options, and perhaps the one I really need to try, chuletas de puerco (pork chops).Rude Dantehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00265957781649521021noreply@blogger.com