Taqueria Carrizal in Allston

I was born and raised in Albuquerque, NM, and I love New Mexican cuisine. Finding anything close to authentic Mexican food here in Boston is a serious challenge. For years, I thought the best I could do was Anna's Taqueria (which has the best green chile in town) and Jose's Mexican food (which has something vaguely resembling sopapillas).

When I started my current contract gig here in Allston, I was pleased to note a strong Hispanic flavor to the neighborhood, and I noticed Taqueria Carrizal almost immediately. But I avoided going there. I'm so tired of getting my hopes up and being seriously disappointed. Today, however, is looking likely to be my last day (hooray), so I wandered in to see what they had.

Immediately, I was pleased to find a wide array of chiles rellenos on the menu. The Taqueria Carrizal serves Mexican, Guatemalan, and Salvadorean cuisine, and I chose to focus on the Mexican. When I saw both a relleno and a flauta on the Conbinacion Mexicana, I just couldn't resist.

To my very pleasant surprise, the relleno was excellent. True, it was an ancho rather than a poblano pepper, and it was stuffed, not with cheese, but with stewed beef tongue, potatoes, and carrots and topped with an odd tomato sauce. However, the batter was neither too crispy nor too soggy and very flavorful, and the pepper had a nice, noticable bite. It was a little like stuffing a relleno as if it were a sopapilla, and I really liked the overall effect.

The flauta was stuffed with chicken. Again, it was crisp without being overly crunchy or outright burnt, and the corn tortilla was delicious, not mushy as they so often are in this climate.

Astonishingly, the rolled enchilada came with a reasonably authentic red chile sauce. Not very hot, but just the right flavor. It was also stuffed with chicken and could have used a little more cheese.

They gave me a truly excessive amount of slightly oversalted rice, but it included bits of celery, corn, and lima beans, which is a nice change from the standard white-rice-with-tomato-sauce most restaurants try to pass off as Spanish rice. But the surprise best part, by far, were the pinto beans. Perfect! Tasting them, I thought I was sitting in my abuela's kitchen. It's so hard to get them right, and these guys got it.

So I'm hereby declaring Allston the mecca of Mexican food in Boston. I highly recommend Taqueria Carrizal at 254 Brighton Ave. for its authentic Mexican flavor.

I still need a ratings system. I've considered burps, zias, lip-smacks... nothing seems quite to fit. Wait! I've got it! SPORKS! I will rate my restaurants in runcible spoons.

Thereby, I give Taqueria Carrizal three sporks, which is the best rating I've given a Mexican restaurant east of Chicago.