My wife and I happened to be over at Wake Brewing in Rock Island, IL one recent Friday evening, a nano-brewery that we like to go to from time to time. As we were seated at the bar, a guy and a lady came into the place with some Mexican food they picked up earlier. The bartender inquired as to where they got the food and the guy said that it was from a small Mexican grocery store over in Davenport. "La Finca," I asked as I turned to him standing next to me. He said, no, it was from another place on 3rd St. on a corner on the west edge of downtown Davenport. He couldn't remember the name of the place, but he said they had excellent Mexican food. My wife said she knew where the place was and that we should go there sometime.
That sometime came less than 24 hours later as we tried to get into Los Primos, one of our favorite little Mexican places in the Quad Cities, for some lunchtime tacos. But the place was packed and they changed the way you ordered food where instead of ordering at the counter, it was now wait service. The only problem was that they didn't have enough staff on hand to wait on tables or to clear the tables off from previous diners. We sat there for nearly 15 minutes with a half-cleaned table before we decided to cut our losses and leave. Disappointed, we took off toward downtown Davenport and pulled up to the corner of W. 3rd and Warren Streets to go have lunch at Abarrotes Carrillo. (see map)
Adrian Carrillo grew up in Guanajuato, Mexico and immigrated to Muscatine a number of years ago. He and his wife, Rosa, raised a large family - six boys and five girls. Seeing an opportunity to open a grocery store/taqueria on downtown Davenport's west side, the Carrillo's opened Abarrotes Carrillo (basically translated as Carrillo's Groceries) in 2014. Many of their children help out in the grocery/meat market/restaurant.
Entering the building, you walk right into the grocery store. There's a large emphasis on vegetables and fruits at Abarottes Carrillo finding everything from tomatillos to sapodilla in the bins. The meat counter in the back featured pork and beef cuts, and we also saw that they had fresh ceviche in the meat case. The young man behind the counter told us that they make their ceviche each Friday. Canned foods, spices, and other Mexican food items were found on shelves along the narrow aisles of the tienda.
To the left of the grocery store as you're facing toward the back when you come in is the small restaurant. Colorful and interesting piñatas hung from the ceiling in the dining area. We especially got a small kick out of the piñata shaped like a minion from the Despicable Me movie franchise.
The restaurant isn't all that large - it features four or five booths along the wall with a handful of tables in the center of the room and along a half wall on the side. Some of the Carrillo children and a few of their friends were hanging out in the back booth of the dining area as it was Saturday when we were in there.
To order at Abarottes Carrillo, there's a window that looks into the kitchen manned by one of the Carrillo sons. There were three women working in the kitchen preparing food, which my wife says is a great sign that this was going to be some outstanding and authentic home-style Mexican cooking. Carne Asada platters, menudo soup, tortas, pork dishes, enchiladas, and chile rellenos were part of the menu at Abarottes Carrillo. Breakfast is also available during the mornings on weekends. I'm pretty sure you can't get a margarita there, but imported Mexican beers were available in a cooler near the front counter of the grocery store. We ended up just getting water on our initial visit.
After ordering at the window, we took a seat along the half wall. Not long after we sat down, we were given a basket of chips along with a bowl of salsa and a small bowl of a creamy avocado concoction. We asked if they had any type of a salsa verde and the young man brought out two bottles. "The salsa verde is kind of spicy," he explained. "But the other sauce is muy caliente." And he said that with an impish smile on his face. The chips were fresh, thin and crisp. The salsa in the bowl was thick and zesty with a great tomato, onion, garlic and cilantro flavor. It was some of the better salsa we'd experienced in the Quad Cities.
The salsa verde in the bottle was a bit more than we bargained for. It was VERY spicy. Well, not at first, but it had a deep spicy kick on the backside. But it was very good. We found that if we tried a chip with the green salsa, then had a chip with the cool and creamy avocado dip, it helped cut down on the overall spiciness. We were too chicken to try the red sauce in the other bottle. We figured if he said that if the green sauce was categorized as "kind of spicy" - and it turned out to be more than that - then the red sauce had to be burn-your-face-off hot.
My wife's daughter is married to a Mexican national who knows his way around a kitchen very well. He told us a long time ago that you can tell if a Mexican restaurant is good just by ordering the tacos. And that's what we did on our first visit to Abarottes Cabrillo. I went with a couple shredded pork tacos and a steak taco. My wife went with a shredded chicken taco and a steak taco. We figured that since they cut, then cooked their meat in-house, the tacos should be pretty good.
The tacos were served on soft corn shells, Mexican-style with chopped onions and cilantro. A half-slice of lime came on the side along with roasted onions and a roasted jalapeño. The pork was more like shredded carnitas with sort of a citrus taste and a crispy edge to it. It was a little tough, but still tasted good. But the carne asada (steak) taco was absolutely outstanding. I don't know what they did with the cut of beef or how they cooked it, but the meat was tender with a wonderful steak flavor. Coupled with the fresh cilantro and onion, along with a dollop of the creamy avocado dip and a quick squirt of the spicy salsa verde, there were a lot of outstanding flavors going on with the tacos.
My wife very much enjoyed her shredded chicken taco - the meat was moist and tender. Like me, she really liked the carne asada taco, as well. And for funsies, we decided to take a bite of the roasted jalapeños that we both had on our plate. It had a great grilled taste, but - man - the spiciness hit me and it almost took my breath away! It was back to the cool and creamy avocado dip to quell the burning in my mouth.
I've said many times that we're blessed living the Quad Cities with all the excellent and authentic Mexican restaurants at our disposal. And Abarottes Cabrillo is one of those places. The menu isn't all that extensive, you can't get a margarita there, and the place is not all that fancy. But if you can get past all of that, you'll find good to excellent authentic Mexican food there. The combination grocery store/meat market/restaurant is family-owned and operated, and we found everything we tasted to be fresh and authentic. Oh, yeah - we'll be going back for more food, as well as produce, meats and especially the ceviche at Abarottes Cabrillo.
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