South Pharr’s Taquería Chirrinos keeps it simple, delicious

P HARR — In all the chaos of the world right now, some tacos and a papa asada could go a long way in easing some nerves and filling your stomach.

After a hectic week of work, I had some ideas for South Texas Flavor. Not wanting to overthink it, I decided to keep it simple by going to South Pharr and trying Taquería Chirrinos, a food truck at 3206 South Cage Blvd.

I found this taquería all the way near Las Milpas after seeing a food influencer eating a papa asada there. The video made the papa look so good that I just had to go try it.

Whenever I need some help looking for a new restaurant to try for the food column, I check around social media, Apple Maps and just ask around for what’s new or something I should try.

I used to be able to look at suggestions from people the Facebook group “RGV Restauraholic” but for some unknown reason, I was blocked from the group so that’s great.

I hit up Chirrinos at about 5 p.m., right after they opened, and was the only one there right before the rush of families for dinner.

The food truck has an outdoor seating area and I was immediately greeted.

Getting my complimentary beans and tortilla chips, I examined the menu, which is very simple and straight to the point.

The menu has all the typically offerings of a taquería. I already knew what I came for, but something caught my eye. One of the options was a taco with a chile relleno.

Intrigued at the thought of a jalapeño wrapped in bacon but also wanting some fajita tacos, I saw that they had a mixed tacos option, “Mixto,” with which you could mix and match different tacos.

And of course, I got a papa asada, but without meat since I did get tacos.

The tacos cost about $12 and the papa about $9 dollars. Pretty reasonable taquería prices.

I also ended up drinking an agua de Jamaica and a limonada. Both were fantastic, had lots of taste and very refreshing.

Both my tacos and papa came out really fast and together.

I first had to dig into my papa since it was what I initially came for.

That first bite of the papa asada, when it was still really hot, melting all the shredded cheese together, was heaven sent.

It also came with a lot of Mexican crema. I always say, in baked potatoes, it’s always better to go overboard with the butter, cheese and cream.

The size is large enough to share for two, but I easily devoured the entire papa myself.

The tacos were all good but two things really made the different to me: the tacos only use one tortilla but that tortilla had lots of flavo, and the fajita meat was decent, but was saved by the flavorful tortilla.

The chile relleno tacos are definitely something I recommend trying, which isn’t offered at many taquerías. My family calls them ratones and they are a stable of our weekend carne asadas.

It is simple: they put a raton in the tortilla and that’s it. Of course you have to option to put onions or even salsa on it to make it more spicy.

The chile relleno itself was cooked to perfection. The wrapped bacon is cooked but not brunt and had a slight crispy, as well as the jalapeño itself. What surprised me is the pieces of bistec inside of the raton which adds to the flavor and makes it more filling.

My first taco was great and not spicy at all since they took out most of the seeds … Until I got to the end of the taco where it had a ton of seeds and it got me by surprise.

Going through my drinks fast to combat the spiciness, I said, “the next one probably won’t have any seeds until the end.” I was wrong and got another surprise spicy bite.

I love when my ratones have a kick to them but to get surprised by them is another thing.

Overall, Taquería Chirrinos keeps things simple in their food and in the simplicity of it is where the value is and what had the food truck spot starting to get real busy when I left.

With the sun setting in beautiful South Pharr, seeing all those families come together to eat dinner at the taquería reminded me of when my family would eat tacos and a papa on Sunday nights in Alton.

Taquería Chirrinos is the perfect place to get away for a meal and have the chance to make a simple but great memory.

Taquería Chirrinos is open from noon to midnight Sunday through Thursday and from noon to 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday.

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