Herradura Vieja in Chelmsford opened about two years ago in the Summer Street Crossing strip mall. This little strip mall is packed with restaurants, as is the mall across the street. I had never noticed this restaurant until fairly recently, but I'm not often in this area. Normally I go here to visit the excellent Sichuan Palace, which since April has a new owner.
They are close to the end of this strip mall. That probably explains why I haven't noticed them earlier. There is plenty of parking. Be aware when you park that the deli next door is wicked busy. I usually try to park away from the front of the deli.
The inside is quite pleasant, bright and impeccably clean. The furniture is in excellent condition. Through the opening, there is a big bar that was quite busy at lunchtime. There is another seating space like this to my left.
The tortilla chips arrive quickly and are really excellent, thin and crispy. The salsa had a good kick today. When I mentioned it to my waiter, he said that they always make the salsa the same way, and the heat level is conditional on the spiciness of the jalapenos.
Shown here is the Lunch Special Chori Pollo ($12.25). "Grilled chicken smothered with Mexican sausage and cheese dip, served with rice & beans". This is a favorite of mine, and it's really delicious. The refried beans have some texture left, and the rice is light and fluffy. The chicken is tender, and the chorizo and cheese fit really well in here. Three warm and lightly toasted fresh tortillas arrive wrapped in foil.
Lunch Special #4 ($9.95). "Chile relleno, taco, rice & beans". I like the soft taco with ground beef better than the taco with shredded chicken. The ground beef was seasoned nicely, and it was not greasy. The refried beans and the rice were cooked nicely and seasoned. The beans could do with some more salt, but I can fix that.
There are several ways this dish can go wrong, labeling it Chile Rellenos and only serve a single chile. Having too thick batter. Not properly remove the seeds. This place did everything right, not a single seed present and a very thin batter. You think all of this should be the default, but so many places fail miserably on this. The green tomatillo sauce was excellent, tart, and really delicious. I also got lucky and got a spicy chile. This is my favorite lunch dish here.
Lunch Special #1 is the same dish with a Guacamole salad added. The salad did not impress. It was just lettuce and tomato topped with a few slices of avocado.
Lunch Special #9 ($9.95). "Tamale, beef burrito & rice". I had a tamale a long time ago and failed to see what the attraction was. Since their other food is pretty good, I decided to try it again. The husk had already been removed. This time I actually enjoyed the tamale. The masa dough was light with a hint of cloves. The filling of shredded chicken with tomato was pretty unremarkable. I'm not sure if the scent of cloves comes from the dough or from the sauce.
But where is the Beef Burrito? Ground beef wrapped in a tortilla is the lunch version of a burrito I was told when asking where the burrito was. The tortilla was fresh, and the ground beef was pleasant, especially with the sauce and cheese on top. The rice is always good here, and the beef is never greasy.
Much to my surprise, Wikipedia agrees with them, apart from the sealed part. "A burrito is a dish in Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisine consisting of a flour tortilla wrapped into a sealed cylindrical shape around various ingredients".
If I tell you that I got a real menu on my visit today, you can figure out the time frame. They are very methodical in wiping down the menus after each use. All restaurants should do this, covid or no covid. If I get a menu and it's not spotless, the visit really starts out on the wrong foot.
How do you easily try as many different things as possible in one go? You get the Herradura Sampler ($13.95). "Wings, cheese quesadilla, chimichanga, taquitos & jalapeno poppers served with sour cream & guacamole". Hold the sour cream, please. The wings were cooked as well as is possible, crunchy and moist. Most of the time, the drummies are overcooked and dry, but these were perfect. The lightly toasted quesadilla was a fresh tortilla with a tasty cheese inside. The jalapeno poppers were excellent, even if they only had a strip of jalapeno inside. What should be crunchy on the rest was crunchy. The chicken fillings were still moist, but both the chicken and the beef fillings needed seasoning. The guacamole was more like a guacamole cream, but I'm happy with guacamole in any form.
Lunch Fajitas ($12.5). "Grilled red, green and yellow bell peppers, onions, tomatoes and your choice of protein. Spanish rice, friend beans, lettuce, tomatoes, guacamole and sour cream with 3 flour tortillas". As you can see, hold the sour cream didn't work this time. With steak, of course, medium! This might have been a mistake since the beef had been dead for a long time and then cooked to death once more, so it was dry and tough. I usually stay away from this dish since you often get overcooked and dry steak, and that proven to be true again. The veggies were fine even if they hadn't seen a grill, as was the smallish serving of rice and beans. After I separated the guacamole from the sour cream, it was also good. However, I lost most of the salad in the process. The tortillas were fresh and warm.
The service here has always been friendly and pleasant.
Address: 7 Summer St, Chelmsford, MA 01824 Phone: (978) 455-3954
-- Vincent van Gogh
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