Cafe Del Sol: Comfort Food – Mexican Style!

Somewhere on my journey to find that next experience, a friend mentioned a restaurant that I would probably love called Tres Carnales.  Indeed. (Thanks Jake!)  I have had a love affair with the food of the three gentlemen that own the eatery.  They keep it simple with great, fresh ingredients.  The restaurant is casual with great sugar skulls, calaveras and luchadors everywhere.  The food served is what you would find at a Mexican street vendor while browsing in a market.

The boys know how to promote themselves and have won many awards for their food.  The restaurant is usually very busy and it can sometimes be hard to find a table.  I do love their fish tacos!

Yelp has been helping me find some great new places to try out.  One of my fellow Yelpers suggested that if I liked Tres Carnales, I should try a little place called Cafe del Sol.  I always do my homework before I try a new place now.  I read the reviews and see what the menu looks like.  I have learned that everyone’s palate is different and to always take the reviews and average them out.  They looked good!

The hours are different.  Please phone ahead or visit the website if you are going for the first time.

The cafe is located in a tiny strip mall with a Husky gas station.  Don’t blink, you will miss it!  There is free parking out front.

When you go inside there are several small tables.  I am guessing the restaurant will hold about 50 people.

When we were seated, the decor reminded me a lot of what my Grandmother’s home felt like. (If my Grandmother were Mexican) Plastic tablecloths draping the tables and Mexican knicknacks and decorations on the walls.  Comfortable.

The menu at Cafe del Sol is completely different from Tres Carnales.  You cannot even compare them.  They both have tacos, that’s about it!  This is a restaurant where Mama is in the back doing all of the cooking and her two daughters are in the front taking care of the guests.

They have Mexican Cerveza and the Jarritos line of sodas.  Beer goes so nicely with Mexican food, helps calm the heat!

I wanted to try something that I had never tasted before so I chose the Beef Birria ($15 Tender pieces of Angus beef slow cooked in a broth of tomatoes and a selection of traditional Mexican spices and chilies)

As you can see it is served with some mildly spiced Mexican rice and beans.  The beef was tender as described and not overly spicy but does have some heat. The rice was also spiced perfectly for me. The beans were something that I had not experienced before, great smooth texture.

My husband had the Chicken Enchiladas with Mole Sauce ($15 – rich  slowly simmered sauce using various chilies, nuts,seed, dried fruit and finished with chocolate)

Thankfully he let me have a taste of the Mole, it happens to be a favourite of mine that is hard to come by in Edmonton.  This Mole had a distinct cinnamon and chocolate flavour.  It is sooo good!  I think this will be my choice for my next visit!

We finished off our first visit with an order of churros.

They were served with traditional cinnamon sugar and chocolate sauce to dip them in.  Sadly they were re-heated so the texture was not the best but they were still super tasty!

This was a wonderful meal in an environment that was cozy and made you feel at home.  I made sure to let one of the daughters know that I really enjoyed the food.  She brought Mama out for me so that I could thank her myself.  She smiled, and said “Thank you for coming to my home”.  It really does feel like you have been invited into someone’s home for a meal.  Comfort food, Mexican style!

I now have another favourite gem to add to my collection: Cafe del Sol Many thanks again to the family for the wonderful food and welcoming environment!