The first thing you’ll notice this summer as you maneuver into the tricky parking lot at the new and eagerly-awaited HomeState restaurant in Pasadena, are the yellow umbrellas clutched by patrons waiting in line outside to get in.
They’re provided by management, and offer a touch of whimsy for the Texas-style eatery. The Pasadena location is the sixth in Southern California for the quickly growing chain.
The menu, which was developed by founder Briana Valdez, a Texas native, begins and ends with tacos—breakfast, lunch and dinner. There are nine egg-intensive tacos for breakfast alone, from refried beans and monterey jack to bacon, potatoes and cheddar.
There are also five anytime tacos—
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Brisket, with guacamole and cabbage slaw;
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Potato, with cheddar, sour cream, guacamole, cabbage slaw, pico de gallo, and pickled jalapeños;
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Rosie’s organic chicken, with spicy achiote marinade, guacamole, and cabbage slaw
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Emo’s, with refried black beans, guacamole, pickled red onions, and cabbage slaw; and
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Picadillo, with grass-fed ground beef, potatoes, carrots, cabbage slaw, and pickled jalapeños.
There are also the quirky items like Frito Pie, which, if you went to grade school in New Mexico, you likely had every day for lunch. Traditionally—although I’m sure there are numerous variations, don’t write me—it’s a bag of Fritos, sliced open at the top or sides, and then filled to the brim with chili, as in chili dog chili, or Tommy’s chili.
At HomeState, Chili Pie is picadillo or black beans, cheddar, lettuce, sour cream, tomatoes, pickled jalapeños, and pickled red onions on top of the Fritos. It’s sweet, salty, crunchy and fresh all at once. It might not be Frito Pie as I first discovered it, but it’s likely the Frito Pie young Tejanos remember.
I also opted for the potato taco, in a flour tortilla. It’s likely more accurate to call this a burrito, but I’m not here to argue. It’s potatoes, cheddar, sour cream, guacamole, cabbage slaw, pico de gallo, and pickled jalapeños. I begged off the jalapenos and the pico de gallo, and what was left was thick and filling, and more than enough lunch by itself.
And a cold and sweet root beer. Yum, per se.
Finally, because I could, I picked up a dozen flour tortillas to take home. They were still hot when I arrived at my modest Los Angeles home, but there was no way I could eat them then. Following the management’s culinary advice, I froze them, and ten minutes before I sat down to write this breezy feature, I popped them into a toaster oven. Not a microwave. Not for tortillas. Come on, man.
After four minutes, they sprang back to life, even boasting new bubbles on the surface. Slather the butter on and down them fast. The bloom goes quickly, but that’s how tortillas are.
The jury is still out, in my book, as to how “Texican” HomeState really is, but it’s a fun and comfortable environment, the menu won’t break the bank, and they played “El Paso” by Marty Robbins while I was there. That’s good enough for me.
Yippee ai-yo-ki-ay, y’all.
HomeState is at 1992 Lincoln Ave, Pasadena. 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. www.myhomestate.com.
