We were at loose ends at lunchtime near the Cross Street Market on Friday, and wanting something moderately healthy but still tasty, we popped into No Way Jose. After all, didn’t Ronald Reagan say salsa is a vegetable? Or was that ketchup?
The taco basket, $5
No Way Jose has the regular Tex-Mex offerings—crisp tacos, nachos, burritos and quesadillas, fajitas, chimichangas, on and on—but the stuff they serve is fresh and therefore very tasty.
We found a seat at the bar and dug into the chips and salsa presented by our friendly and excellent bartender Tori Wall. We were the only ones in the place at the moment so we got to chat. She said that people were still coming off the long Memorial Day weekend and not coming out for lunch, but she expected a full happy hour.
No Way Jose has a lovely clean polished oak bar with brass trim and an old-school bottle rack and mirror behind. You see these bars all over Baltimore but rarely as well-kept as this one. There is also a full dining room in back.
I ordered the vegetable tacos, squash, fresh corn cut from the cob, mushrooms, onions and peppers, salted and spiked a bit with chili powder and served on a soft flour tortilla. Delicious, and hit the spot for $7.
sauteed vegetable tacos, $7
Mary Helen, who had been walking down Cross Street insisting on a salad, instead fell for the taco basket ($5),three traditional, American-style tacos of ground beef, lettuce, tomato and shredded cheese served on a crisp corn tortilla. Delicious, she said, juicy, nicely spiced and not at all greasy.
Next time we’re trying the grilled mahi tacos with pineapple salsa ($11) or the tequila sauteed shrimp ($10). Other intriguing items on the menu are the grilled flank steak ($12), served with sauteed squash and jalapeño mashed potatoes, or the breakfast burrito with chorizo, the spicy, salty Mexican sausage, bacon, potatoes and scrambled eggs. Sounds like a hangover cure to me.
You can also get a burger, and the restaurant offers children’s plates.
Lunch, plus a couple of soft drinks we ordered because we had to go back to work, came to $18.55 including tax but not the tip.
We’ll be back for a happy hour soon. Those goldfish bowl-sized margarita glasses hanging over the bar looked pretty good on a hot day, although when the bartender warns you about the size and strength, you know that more than one will be a serious threat to your equilibrium.
Beers on tap include Guinness, Dos Equis, Shock Top Belgian beer, Modelo Especial and a couple of Sam Smiths. No Way Jose is renowned for its margaritas, and seems like a good place to while away an early evening with drinks and snacks. It’s a place where regulars are greeted warmly and strangers are made welcome.
No Way Jose Cafe
38 E. Cross St., Federal Hill
410-752-7837
Appetizers $3-$11;
salads, soups, appetizers and small plates, $5-$11;
entrees $7-$13.
Open every day for lunch and dinner.
—by Jacqueline Watts
editor@baltimoreguide.com
