I have a casual friend by the name of Jerry Lewis - not THAT Jerry Lewis - who was telling me of a new-ish Mexican restaurant toward the east side of Davenport. Los Primos Mexican Grill has been in business since the late fall of 2013 and he was telling me that their Mexican food was some of the best he's ever had in the Quad Cities. And that's saying a lot because there are a handful of outstanding Mexican restaurants in the area. For lunch one day, I took Cindy there so we could try out the place.
Los Primos is located near the corner of E. Locust and Bridge in what was an old Hungry Hobo location. (see map) The Gomez family are the ones behind the restaurant - Estaban Gomez is the co-owner/chef of Los Primos, with his cousin Joe as his partner. I was told that Estaban Gomez ran a food cart in the District of Rock Island and that's how he got their start in the food business. Estaban had a job with John Deere, but he gave that up when the food business really started to take off for him.
They don't sell alcohol at Los Primos, so don't be fooled with the bar they have in the place. The bar actually overlooks the grill area of the restaurant. It's a popular place for people to sit when they're waiting for "to-go" orders.
(Update - as of the Summer of 2015, Los Primos now sells beer. They have Budwesier, Bud Light, Shock Top and Modelo Especial on tap, along with Corona, Dos Equis Lager, and Negra Modelo in bottles.)
You order from the counter with the menu on the wall just behind the cash register. The menu at Los Primos is pretty basic. They have tacos, tortas (sandwiches), burritos (which are huge, by the way) and tostadas. From there, you have your choice of up to 12 types of meat, fish or veggies depending upon the style of food you want.
I wanted to try a little bit of everything for my first visit. I got three tacos - a spicy carne de puerco (pork) taco, a braised (shredded) beef taco, and a carne asada (steak) taco. I got them all Mexican style with cilantro and onions - no cheese. Cindy ordered up two shredded chicken tacos, also Mexican style. We took a seat in a booth along the east wall.
Good food usually takes some time, so don't be in a hurry when you go to Los Primos. Everything is made to order from scratch. It's not like some other Mexican restaurants where you order food and it's at your table in five minutes.
While we were waiting, a family of a mother and her two sons had ordered the burritos. When they were brought to their table, the mother shrieked with laughter at the giant size of the burrito. "I'm gonna be able to eat on this thing for a week," she told her teenaged boys who were already devouring their big burritos.
After about 15 to 20 minutes, our food made it out to the table. A small bowl of Mexican rice came with our lunch. The tacos were covered with copious amounts of cilantro and each taco came with a good sized lime wedge - something that you didn't see very often during this time with the lime shortage going on earlier this year. The tortilla shells were made in house and were warm to the touch.
All three of my tacos were just excellent. The meat was tender and flavorful. The combination of the cilantro, onions and meat were a great taste sensation. And it was heightened even more with some of the salsa they had in bottles on the table. They had a red salsa that was mild and smoky, and a salsa verde that had a good kick on the back side. It definitely got my attention as I ate it.
I added a little bit of the rice to the spicy pork taco after I'd had a couple bites of it. While it added a little different overall flavor, I liked the taco without the rice. However, on its own with a little bit of the green salsa mixed in made the taste of rice extremely good.
Cindy thought her shredded chicken tacos were fabulous, as well. I couldn't make up my mind as to which taco I liked better. All three were very good. And with all the choices of different types of meat they had to offer I'm sure I'll find something good to have on my subsequent visits.
Los Primos - excellent Mexican food at a great price. Don't figure on getting a margarita (but you can get an American or Mexican beer now), don't expect much from the menu and don't be in a hurry. Once you get past all that, you'll see that the food is the star of the place.
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