Please note: this interview is not a paid promotion. There is no sponsored content on this site, as I firmly believe that this would compromise the integrity and not allow for unbiased opinions.
It is often said that the best food tastes like home cooking, which is exactly what makes El Comal so good. When people think of Mexican food in San Diego, what immediately comes to mind are dishes like Carne Asada Fries and California Burritos. What you’ll find at El Comal, however, is much more special: tamales wrapped in banana leaf, barbacoa with goat, and octopus tacos to die for.
Today, I sat down with Cris, one of the owners of El Comal, and talked about what makes this family business unique. They have been operating in North Park for 13 years, and have been in San Diego for 23, having up to three locations throughout the county at one point.
El Comal started as a restaurant that served antojitos, or “little cravings” – street snacks – and has since evolved into a staple in the North Park neighborhood. A true mom and pop shop, the first store started on 25th and Imperial with his parents selling what they knew: home-cooked, authentic Mexican food. They have stayed true to their roots this whole time, never cheapening themselves or their products. Cris and his siblings have been involved with the restaurant for years, and continue to uphold the family vision to this day.
Their mom, an immigrant from Mexico who left her job as a professor to come to the U.S., is credited as the brains behind El Comal. Their dad is the chef, who brought the flavors that makes the food so special. Cris says his mom, who is still involved with the restaurant, is responsible for the homey and eclectic look that is so rare in modern restaurants nowadays. Where many places strive to be worthy of Instagram photos and trends, El Comal is unapologetically quirky and unique.
Art of Frida Kahlo adorns one bright blue wall, and keychains made by local abuelas hang by the hostess station. Cris tells me that the keychains are for sale, with a portion of the proceeds going to the battered women’s shelter. Statues of roosters and chickens can be found all over, another touch added by his mother. It truly does feel like stepping into someone’s home for a meal.
Authentic Mexican cuisine is the name of the game for El Comal. The menu is a showcase of the diverse foods found throughout Mexico. The recipes here are based off of each region’s specialties, such as mole from Puebla and tamales from Oaxaca. Recipes like the mole were originally created by his dad and his brother and have stayed in the kitchen for years. In the last decade, Cris tells me they have had the same two chefs.
It is not just consistency that makes El Comal exceptional. The attention to detail in everything is what makes them some of the best Mexican food in San Diego, from their well, which only consists of tequila with 100% agave, to their rice, which is cooked in a Southern Mexican style. Whereas many taco shops in the area have the iconic red rice, Cris opts for rice with garlic instead. This, Cris says, is because you have to use canned tomatoes to produce red rice at the volume that they churn out, and canned tomatoes simply don’t measure up.
Over time, El Comal has had to adjust its menu. Some of this is because of Covid, where they simply didn’t have enough demand to stock more specialty items for dishes like Liver and Onions. “We realized what our best seller was [during Covid], which was the Pozole”, Cris says. “It’s what really kept us in business”. The soups here are amazing – if you’ve never heard of Tlalpeño, then run to El Comal for a bowl. Huge pieces of tender chicken, chipotle broth, and tons of veggies and chickpeas make this the ultimate comfort food. It’s easy to see why these soups were so popular during the pandemic.
Cutting down the menu and making it more accessible to everyone has been a huge effort for Cris and his team. More vegetarian dishes and a push to be more health conscious has been important for El Comal to make strides, Cris says. It may be tough to convince his mom at times, and it isn’t always a fast process, but the restaurant continues to move forward and grow with the neighborhood. This includes making the food at El Comal more accessible for everyone’s diet.
When I asked what he wants to share with future customers, Cris said “just give us a chance”. It is clear that the staff at El Comal cares deeply about the quality of their food as well as the happiness of their clientele. “I am very very passionate about food and customers…this is exactly what I love to do”, says Cris. Over the years, he and his brother have built trust to the point where they are free to experiment with the menu and keep it exciting and fresh for everyone. Dishes like their Marlin Tacos, Surf and Turf, and their new Octopus Tacos all came about from getting creative and developing new ideas based on knowing what their clientele loves.
The longevity of El Comal speaks for itself. 23 years overall and 13 in an ever-changing North Park neighborhood is no small feat, especially considering two of those years were in some of the hardest times for restaurants in recent memory. Cris stressed that the team at El Comal has been dedicated to keeping on creating new and delicious foods while including as many people and diets as possible. The whole kitchen takes incredible pride in the dishes they churn out daily and the quality of the food reflects that. If you’re looking for truly authentic Mexican food in San Diego, look no further.
