Cafe Coyote Old Town San Diego, CA

This is a joint post, first portion is written by Maggie.

These people sure know their way around Tequila! My Margarita had the perfect balance of Tequila and mango, so smooth, cold and delicious! Love the Margarita glass, it’s so huge you really don’t need more than one. But I’m sure nobody will mind if you do.

Cafe Coyote has the unique designation of; certified Tequila House by the prestigious Academia del tequila, Mexico City. Only two of these exist in the United States.

The Cafe Coyote building boasts three floors. Lower level has off street parking with an elevator. First level is the restaurant and the second level is filled with old town shops to browse after your meal. My favorite shop was filled with various stones, jewelry and handcrafted items.

My dish was the turkey taco’s with mole’ sauce. Since I’ve been hooked on good mole sauce from Mexico, it’s been hard for me to find anything that compares here. So needless to say I was pleasantly surprised with Cafe Coyote’s mole. The subtle chocolate flavor with layers of spices took me back to Coba, Akumal, Yal-ku and Tulum all those years ago.

This place feels like a piece of Mexico. I feel fortunate to have been able to see it for myself. Hugo our waiter was very kind, helpful and friendly. It was wonderful to meet the Manager Emily and get to chat with her a bit. Definitely will be back for more freshly made tortillas, Margarita’s and try out more of the menu!

Below portion written by Soo

Puerto Nuevo.  It was years ago.  Warren College commuter club chartered a bus to drive us to Puerto Nuevo to try the famous lobster.  Ride was bumpy.  We left a dust trail on the old country roads.  We stopped at the sleepy old seaside town around noon.  We quickly found a restaurant serving lobster.  Gleaming in the midday sun I’d never seen a more beautiful sight.  Flavor of fried lobster was awesome.  I miss the Warren College commuter club and the awesome adventures we went on.  I miss that delicious lobster.

In the following years I’ve tried various restaurants in San Diego that offered Puerto Nuevo lobster but it’s never been as good.  I noticed it on the menu at Cafe Coyote and figured I’d give it a try. 

While they flash fried my lobster I ventured outside to watch a lady outside making tortillas.  Balls of dough sat next to the press.  After she flattened the dough ball she placed the tortilla on the grill for a few minutes.  This is the secret to the hot fresh tortillas they served here. 

Back at our table I was excited to see 2 fresh flour tortillas.  I breathed deep that scent you get when you place flour tortillas on the grill.  There was a nice smooth flavor from the tortilla.  It’s among the best I’ve tried. 

Rice was perfectly cooked and had a nice light tomato flavor. 

Lobster was beautiful.  So shiny in the close to sunset golden light.  Scent of fried lobster had my taste buds in anticipation.  I’m not a fan of that strong shellfish/lobster flavor you get from steamed lobster.  Flash frying the lobster transformed that flavor into a slightly sweet yet mostly savory flavor a bit like fried shrimp.  Delicious flavor reminded me that first fried lobster I had back in my college days.  🙂  Lobster at Cafe Coyote is a bit smaller and more expensive but it’s as close to Puerto Nuevo lobster as I’ve found in San Diego.  I found out they fly in fresh Maine lobster every other day.

Mango smoothie was cold, refreshing, and smooth.  Mango flavor was pretty tasty.

Carnitas taco had an excellent carnitas to tortillas ratio.  Carnitas had a nice fried pork flavor.  Corn tortilla had a mild corn flavor.

Fried ice cream was awesome!  I wonder how you can fry ice cream and still have it frozen cold and creamy?  The outside corn flake shell was crunchy while the vanilla ice cream was smooth.  I loved the mix of flavors.  Included were 4 bunuelo chips which were crunchy and had delicious cinnamon flavor.  I found out they use Blue Bunny vanilla ice cream.

Cafe Coyote has a nice location in Old Town.  They also have a good size bottom floor parking lot.  I like the old Spanish theme the buildings maintain.  I like not having to travel abroad to get delicious Puerto Nuevo lobster.  I’ll be back.

by Soo

Cafe Coyote
2461 San Diego Ave
San Diego, CA 92110
(619) 291-4695

We were invited by Cafe Coyote and McFarlane promotions to visit Cafe Coyote and our meal comped.