El Vaquero recipes for Mexican food from Los Cabos, Cabo San Lucas, Baja California

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Learn to cook or learn to cook better at Cooking Dude. Check out Cooking Dude's main website today!

El Vaquero, Cabo San Lucas

El Vaquero is a new restaurant, just opened in February 2006. It's owned and operated by a friendly and energetic lady from Mexico City, Amdeleli Yaber. (Click on the small images to see a larger version.)

She and her gregarious staff showed us their kitchen, taught us how to make Frijoles Charro, and then treated us to a wonderful meal.

The restaurant is immaculately clean, and very pleasantly decorated. There's parking right in front, since the restaurant is set back from the street.

Her friend Rey Barajas introduced us to El Vaquero, where we met Amdeleli, her chef Fernando Palomino Baluaceda, and his helper Veronica. Our friendly waiter, Martin Rameriez took very good care of our party.

Before you make Frijoles Charro, you first need some cooked pinto beans. These are dried beans boiled with onion, garlic, salt, and pepper. If you need a recipe, there's a good one at Cooking Dude.

Here's the recipe for Frijoles Charro:

    2 lbs. (1 kilo) pinto beans, cooked
    4 strips bacon
    1 cup chopped onion
    2 cups chopped tomato
    1/2 cup chopped cilantro
    1 1/2 cup chicaron (fried pork rinds)
    1/4 cup diced Serrano chiles

Fry the bacon until done, and add the remaining ingredients except for the pinto beans. Fry the vegetables in the bacon fat until tender, and add the chicaron. Fry another few minutes, and add the beans along with some of their cooking liquid. Simmer for 15 minutes or so. Serve in bowls.

While we were there, chef Fernando also showed us how he makes Queso Fundido. This was a great appetizer, which we all enjoyed. Although Fernando baked this dish in the coals of his wood fire, we will obviously use our ovens at home. I suggest that baking in a 350 degree F oven for 20 minutes would melt the cheese and blend the flavors.

Here's how to make Queso Fundido:

1 pound chorizo sausage
1/2 pound grated Monterey cheese

Fry the chorizo until done, and broken up into small pieces. Layer the chorizo and cheese in a small crock and bake until the cheese is melted.

Fernando then made a batch of refried beans. (Use the Cooking Dude link above to learn how to do this yourself.) Then we sat down to a nice array of fresh salsas, cold beer, the fundido, and the frijoles charro and had a party!

El Vaquero is located on Calle Carranza between Zaragoza and Morelos. However, the one way streets make it so you need to go north one block west of Zaragoza, which is Ocampo. Then turn right down Zaragoza, and you'll find El Vaquero a couple of blocks farther on your right. If you need to call, their number is 044-624-128-1164.

I'm sure you will find El Vaquero well worth the visit, either for lunch or dinner.