If the homies on D-block could take over the chow hall it would look a lot like Cocina Cartel, the Tex-mex place behind the palace on Street 19. The walls are as pale as a Texas prison jumpsuit, the mason jars and black-and-white decor as loc’d out as any mid-range gringo eatery could ever hope to be. A 1964 Chevy Impala sits emblazoned across the mezzanine, a frightening Day-of-the-Dead skull with wild eyes adorns the north wall. The menu is just as terse: a three-step, circle-what-you-want affair with few choices. The options are burrito, quesadilla, taco and ‘bowl’, a vegetable-infested something-or-other designed for out-of-staters. Tex-mex snobs beware. Cartel might not clock San Antonio good, but it kills anything north of the Harris County line. All that’s missing is Shiner Boch and an image of the Virgin Mary.
Cocina Cartel, #198 Street 19; 089 227183.
