I stopped into Old Town Mexican Cafe on a recent trip to San Diego, and it did not disappoint. This place has been serving Mexican food in the heart of Old Town since 1977, and you can tell the recipes have been dialed in for decades.
I ordered the Mini Molcajete, a sizzling mix of grilled shrimp, grilled chicken breast, steak, cheese, nopales, chorizo, and chiles gueros, topped with avocado, roasted tomatillo sauce, and grilled green onions. It came with homemade tortillas and rice and beans on the side.
The roasted tomatillo sauce was sublime. It had that bright, slightly smoky tang that ties every element of the molcajete together, and I found myself spooning extra over the steak and shrimp long after I should have stopped. The nopales added a nice tender bite, and the chorizo brought just enough richness to balance the whole plate.
What really got me, though, were the homemade flour tortillas. They are soft, slightly warm, and clearly made in house, the kind of tortilla that makes you rethink every store-bought version you have settled for. I went through them faster than I expected, and by the time I got to the last of that tomatillo sauce, I did not have a single tortilla left to mop it up with. I still think about that.
Old Town Mexican Cafe has the kind of lively, unpretentious energy you want in this part of San Diego, and the food backs it up. If you are wandering Old Town and want a solid, satisfying Mexican meal, this is an easy recommendation.
