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5 Spot Chivas Grill (Mexican cuisine)  $

 8.5
JaT Rating

869 S 1st St, San Jose, 95110  (Directions)


408.294.4979


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Mexican and American cuisine at historic San Jose landmark


Reviewer: Jason
Total Reviews: 1012
Reviewed: 5/9/2007
Rating: 8.5
My photo gallery 		Thanks to Spicegirl for submitting 5 Spot Chivas Grill. I guess this used to be an old coffee shop built in 1931. Probably turned into a drive in diner to park your hot rods in the 50's or 60's. They had been closed for the last couple of years and finally re-opened a couple of months ago. You can view old pictures of what I think is the original restaurant on the main entrance wall. They did a good job in decorating the place especially the creative floor tiles. Take a look at the floor between the brick pillars on your way to the main dining room.

The menu is a mix of american and mexican food. You have your choice of the standards like pancakes, sandwiches, burgers to exciting items like huevos rancheros and menudo.

We arrived during the lunch rush but were seated immediately upon entering. The waitress dropped off excellent chips and salsa. We plowed through the chips and admired the searing heat from the fresh salsa. I love the salsa at 5 Spot and their chips are like the sit down mexican style stuff. Try not to overeat on the chips as you won't have room to finish the large plates.

Today's lunch posse, we had Sean (his specialty is all-american food), Chris (hmm..he just likes to eat), and me. Sean ordered the bacon cheeseburger (image 10), Chris had mexican omelet (image 11), and I went with the huevos rancheros (image 9).

My dish comes with a tomato noodle soup. It was a flavorful soup and enjoyed it. For my main course, huevos rancheros was scrambled eggs mixed with a rancheros sauce over fried tortilla. On the sides were refried beans, mexican rice, and a plate of corn tortillas.

corn tortillas - I'm forgot to take a picture but they tasted and looked homemade. Served steaming in a little bag about 3-4 tortillas. Loved them.

rice and beans - looking at the rice and beans, I knew they were experienced in the art of mexican food. The rice kernels had the crackled look and fluffed up with a fork. Wasn't too greasy and could have used a little more tomato/chicken stock. The beans were refried and given a overwhelming topping of cheese. The cheese dominated the mix but was able to taste the good beans. 5 Spot knows how to do their sides proper.

huevos rancheros - a little warning, if you can't handle spicy dishes, you should skip this one. I love spicy food and the rancheros sauce had just the right amount of heat, not too hot and no too weak. The sauce is an addicting combination of tomato sauce, onions, jalapenos, large amounts of butter, and whatever special lovin' that involved in making this dish. The jalapenos will do a number on your stomach and if you think the salsa was spicy, today's green nuggets brought up the heat to another level. One of the best rancheros sauces I've had in a long time. The egg was ultra fluffy, almost an angelic sponge like creation. I would guesstimate a 2 egg portion.

As with most mexican food I eat, I have this habit of turning everything into a taco. Take a corn tortilla, place some rice and beans, cut a small section of rancheros/eggs, place in mouth, repeat. Oh I was beyond stuffed, I overate and was paying the price as I stumbled back to the car. Everyone at the table enjoyed their food and was at the point of exploding. I think it was those damm chips and salsa...resist the urge, do not go for the 2nd basket of chips, no matter how good they are, resist the urge of getting another basket.

With the singing cook in the kitchen and great food, what's not to love about this place? The lunch plates with drinks are in the ballpark of $8-11 with portion sizes far exceeding your stomach's capacity. All ingredients were fresh and we all agreed, the food was very good. 5 Spot Chivas Grill easily earns a spot on the jatbar happy list.
 
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Mommy ate...

breakfast burrito, super big breakfast

“Servings are huge. Kids loved pigs in a blanket. Waitresses were very very nice and gave each of us a nice soup because they noticed we were looking chilly. Lots of regulars go here and the waitresses know their orders. Fresh OJ is great. ”

6/6/2008 4:31:14 PM

foodswami ate...

breakfast burrito, tostada with egg and salsa.

“pretty good breakfast menu 2 pages of breakfast and 1 page of lunch/dinner items. pretty cheap prices and big portions. went with 7 people for dinner, all the meals were pretty average. I would say its more of a 7/10. ”

7/26/2007 6:35:34 PM