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Chupacabra - Taqueria on 9th and H Street NE with Food Truck


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I drove by this the other day, but this post on Prince of Petworth reminded me to post something here. There's been a lot of work going on at Chupacabra, and they look as if they're relatively close to opening.

I like this name because of it's mysterious aura. A "Chupacabra" (unlike a Chupa Chup), is the Puerto Rican equivalent of (an admittedly smaller, less-intimidating) Sasquatch - something of a demon - a bizarre, Satanic-infused creature, roaming around the soul of the Puerto Rican jungles, conjuring up ghost stories and eerie campfire tales for children everywhere in our fraternal, almost-state.

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We returned from vacation with two free weekdays and decided to try Chupacabra as we wouldn't be able to get over to H steet on a normal work day. It's tiny...about four counter seats inside and picnic tables outside. So I am sure at busy evening times this place is crazy crowded. The music playing inside is ear-splitting, even for the short time it took to order. I had a barbacoa bowl (beans, rice, corn, barbacoa, onion, radish, cilantro) with their habanero salsa. My partner had a bowl with chicken and lamb. I did not taste the chicken, but both the barbacoa and lamb were mighty tasty. The salsa was very plesantly spicy for me, but my partner said it was too spicy. A little mixed with the tomatillo salsa was great, too. The bowls were $8 (i think) and it was more than enough. Neither of us finished ours. We ordered chips, too, which were thin, hot, salty and very crisp...but we just didn't need them given the amount of food in the bowl. I would definitely return here and now I am eager to try the meats on tacos for a more straight forward experience. No alcohol. Be aware that the picnic tables are in a little u-shaped space bween two buildings...walls on three sides, and it gets pretty warm with no breeze. In high summer I hope they put some fans out there.

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My wife and I tried Chupacabra a couple weeks ago and were pleasantly surprised by the quality. We ordered a number of tacos (chorizo, barbacoa, pastor, and lamb). They are served on corn tortillas that have been nicely griddled and topped simply with onions and cilantro. The lamb was the clear standout. The chorizo wasn't memorable. We also had a queso arepa which was nice and crispy with mildly salty oaxacan cheese oozing out...went great with the salsa verde. All in all, a clear winner in the H St. NE taco battle with the also recently opened Sol.

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While I love tacos, I hadn't made it to Chupacabra until this past weekend, perhaps to avoid what I was certain would be another disappointing experience at a DC taco place. Instead, however, I was quite pleasantly surprised. These are certainly the best tacos available on H Street (this is an extremely low bar), and among the better available inside the District (a higher bar, but not that high). Tortillas were good, all three meats (al pastor, barbacoa and lamb) were moist and flavorful, and the salsa provided enough heat without being overwhelming. My wife's ham and cheese arepa was not nearly as much of a hit.

I like the space and murals as well. As mentioned above, it's tiny. Almost all of the seating is outdoors on picnic tables, and given that Sunday was beautiful this wasn't a problem. There was also zero wait at 12:15 this past Sunday, and we saw only one other customer while we were eating our lunch.

I wouldn't recommend traveling to get here, but I would recommend stopping in if you're looking for a relatively inexpensive meal on the H Street corridor.

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