You may be interested in my previous trip to Rudy's Mexican Gourmet.
This is my favorite Mexican place anywhere in Northern California outside of San Francisco. Rudy is a genius when it comes to Mexican food.
I'm going to say it right now: Rudy is the Bo Jackson of Mexican food. Err, Bo Jackson circa '87-'89, when Bo Jackson ruled the sports world. Or better yet, "Tecmo Bo", the Bo Jackson character in Super Tecmo Bowl that is considered the most overpowered sports character in the history of video gaming.
In keeping with my belief that Rudy is the Bo Jackson of Mexican cuisine, I'm going to revive one of my favorite ad campaigns of all time: BO KNOWS.
I make a point of trying everyone's food and every meal I've ever had at Rudy's fires on all cylinders, from start to finish. Getting this sort of creativity and consistency in a small family run restaurant is almost unheard of, but that's what you'll get here. Why? Because RUDY KNOWS MEXICAN CUISINE.
RUDY KNOWS PLATTERS.
Here's my majestic grande combo. On the left is a traditional Mexican taco with al pastor pork. So tender and so very delicious. Perfectly spiced and juicy. On the other side is my pork tamale. Equally good. The sauce on the tamale is so crazy good I can't even begin to describe it. The closest description I can come up with is if you took Taco Bell red sauce, took out half the salt and replaced it with fresh herbs and spices. Maybe next time I'll just order a big bowl of sauce.
Barbie Girlfriend's cheese enchilada. Equally awesome and with more of Rudy's magically delicious red sauce. Did I mention the spanish rice and refried beans are great as well? Last time I came to Rudy's, the one thing I didn't really like were the beans. I don't know if Rudy changed the recipe or not, but I could have eaten a full bowl of those refried beans. You know, right after the big bowl of red sauce. RUDY KNOWS DESSERTS.Going out of order here, but I have to address Rudy's desserts. They are like crack. I don't even like sweets and I always have some of his desserts.
First up is the famous banana chimichanga. Take a banana, wrap it in a cinnamon sugar tortilla, then deep fry it, then cover it in powdered sugar, dulce de leche, and whipped cream. So good.
If you've survived the banana chimichanga, you can have the fried ice cream. Equally good. There was a big fight at the table over which dessert was better. RUDY KNOWS SALSA.There's a full salsa bar with fixins. Note the tortilla chips that have rounded outside edges... because they're actually made from tortillas.
The salsa assortment we had at the table. The stuff in front is Rudy's habenero salsa that he keeps behind the counter for good reason. He doesn't mess around with this stuff, it is full out buuurrrrrrrn. I'm Thai, so really, take my word for it. RUDY KNOWS BURRITOS.This is Work's carne asada burrito. Note the plate to her right, which is her burrito killing area. In our last review we touched on just how FANTABULOUSLY good Rudy's carne asada is. There's a reason Work Girlfriend made a mess eating this thing, and it wasn't because she's messy. She was driven. It was so delicious she wanted the burrito in her tummy immediately.
Girlfriend Actual got the grande seafood burrito. Ok, when Rudy says grande, he means it. There's probably enough seafood inside this burrito to handle an entire lunch service at Red Lobster. RUDY KNOWS SOUP.Best Cream of Turkey soup I've ever had in my life. What's it doing at a Mexican place? Who knows. Don't care. I didn't even eat most of my meal because I ate most of the large serving of soup by myself. You can actually taste the fresh cream and the turkey. Amazing.
RUDY KNOWS LEFTOVERS.I didn't even touch my tamale due to eating soup and sweets but I mauled my spanish rice and refried beans. So Rudy comes up and says let me box that for you. I didn't even open the box until much later in the afternoon. Does this even look like leftovers? Rudy resauced the tamale and gave me fresh spanish rice and refried beans. It looks like a brand new takeout meal! This is the attention to detail and customer satisfaction that you only find at Rudy's.
Obviously, Rudy's is the rare restaurant that receives our "RUN, don't walk there, RUN. RIGHT NOW." rating.RUDY KNOWS HOW TO MAKE YOU A GREAT MEAL.
This is NOT a paid advertisement for Rudy's Mexican Gourmet. It really is that f***ing good.
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