A burrito for one is a burrito for all at Isaac’s Café

PHOTO by ROSHEILA ROBLES

In a place like Wilmington, you learn to transform your surroundings. Close your eyes and cranes grow into trees, ships become mountains. Stacks of cargo containers warp into rusted monuments of industry. In a place like Wilmington, you learn how the world works, built up right in front of your eyes on the backs of dockworkers and truckers.

So with concerns far beyond the culinary, food here isn’t always a high priority, often aimed instead towards quick meals that can fill the deepest of appetites for the longest of workdays. And that’s the task that Isaac’s Café has perfected.

For 30 years, Isaac’s has been hidden away on Fries Avenue, set up in a colorless building barely painted a blank beige. It’s matched inside by brown booths and framed photos of all that nearby commerce—those steel trees, those moveable mountains. Near the door, an ILWU logo hangs in solidarity with the training center across the street.

But the simplicity doesn’t end with the décor—the menu is as bare as it gets. Unlike some Mexican restaurants that serve up every conceivable combination of dishes, at Isaac’s the options barely break into double digits, suspended instead by a focus not on traditional tacos, but on on-the-go burritos.

The most consistent of Isaac’s Café’s offerings is the familiar carne asada burrito, a well-apportioned mix of meat, avocado, onions, cilantro and just a slice or two of tomato. Because every ingredient is stuffed in fresh, the burrito never slips or drips—everything keeps inside the freckled tortilla for the best possible portability. Like other great utilitarian burritos, Isaac’s doesn’t waste space, either—meat is packed into every fold, while rice and lettuce and the like are left out of the recipe for the most filling kind of meal.

The rest of Isaac’s Café’s burritos (all two-and-a-half of them) come color-coded. The easiest way to start is with the red burrito, which contains a pile of shredded beef drenched in a mildly spicy stew of red chilies. The red burrito is even simpler than the carne asada—all that’s tucked inside the tortilla is shredded beef and a few soupy spoonfuls of its sauce. Although the burrito is a bit sloppier than the carne asada, Isaac’s rolls its burritos so tightly that it’s almost impossible for them to fall apart.

You can also order a slightly modified version of the red burrito in the Jones burrito. The Jones adds a couple slices of avocado and a sprinkling of cheese to the otherwise singular mix. And it’s a move that does well, giving the red burrito a few welcome bites of variety.

But while the Jones burrito picks up points for choice, the green burrito stays pure. That’s because its shredded pork gets mixed up with the hottest chilies, ultimately concocting a near-nuclear sauce bound to blast through any competing flavors. Water won’t help, either—the green burrito possesses a kind of otherworldly heat that stings your lips long after the last bite goes down. The burrito isn’t suited for empty stomachs, but if you can handle the heat, the green burrito is a pleasure.

Isaac’s does deviate from its burrito-heavy menu with a few types of tacos, a quesadilla and the usual dinner plates (burritos stripped of their tortillas and paired with rice and beans instead), but it’s best to stay the hand-held course. Those who have long frequented Isaac’s already know that, with tongues surely singed by years of burrito eating. And eventually you’ll be able to match that time-tested knowledge, having built up your own callused palate that can take Isaac’s most pleasing heat. But that, like all things in Wilmington, takes work.

ISAAC’S CAFE 632 N FRIES AVE | WILMINGTON 90744 | 310.830.4933 | OPEN MON-SAT 7AM-6PM | FOOD FOR TWO $10-15 | CASH ONLY

Tags: burritos, Food, isaac's, mexican, Restaurants, wilmington