El Guacamole in Asbury Park serves authentic Mexican food, with some surprises

The half-mile stretch of Main Street between Fifth and Mattison avenues in Asbury Park is home to more than half a dozen Mexican restaurants.

The newest is El Guacamole, and in addition to dishes diners are used to — enchiladas, burritos, fajitas, tamales and mole — some may be surprising.

Sabino Ramos and Ruth Mendez, born in Mexico City and Oaxaca, Mexico, make corn tortillas by hand daily and fill them with steak, chicken, chorizo, al pastor and shrimp for tacos. But they also serve campesino tacos with steak and jalepeño, suadero tacos with beef brisket, and tacos filled with tripe and beef tongue.

The Ramoses make tortas, a well-known sandwich layered with meat, cheese, beans, jalapenos, avocado, lettuce and tomato. But they also serve pambazo, a chorizo and potato-stuffed sandwich dipped in red sauce.

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And you are probably familiar with horchata, a creamy drink made from rice and cinnamon. But El Guacamole makes a strawberry version.

Sabino, who learned to cook growing up, worked in construction when he moved to the United States in the late '90s. But he wanted a restaurant, and in 2017 opened the first El Guacamole in Point Pleasant Beach. It is busy, he said, but a third of the size of the 75-seat Asbury Park location, which opened in September.

Both restaurants are BYOB and serve the same menu.

"Everything is popular, depending on what you want to eat," Sabino said.

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The restaurants offer tyaludas, an Oaxacan dish made from a thin and crispy tortilla topped with meat, beans, cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion and avocado; pozole, a corn soup with chicken or pork, onions, cilantro and lemon; and aguas frescas in flavors like strawberry lemonade and pepino limó (lime and cucumber).

They recently began serving gorditas, "which are deep fried and filled with your choice of meat," said Sabino and Ruth's son, Edwin. And American influence sneaks in with asada fries, a California-born dish of french fries topped with carne asada, cheese and pico de gallo.

El Guacamole has another fun feature, thanks to Edwin. He transformed a corner of both dining rooms into shops filled with snacks from all over the world.

"I like to travel and see the snacks they offer in different countries," said Edwin, who imports candy, chips, cookies and sodas.

Go: 808 Main St., Asbury Park; 732-361-3363, facebook.com/elguacamolepointpleasant. Also at 3126 Bridge Ave. in Point Pleasant Beach; 848-241-5544.

Sarah Griesemer joined the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey in 2003 and has been writing all things food since 2014. Send restaurant tips to sgriesemer@gannettnj.com, follow on Instagram at Jersey Shore Eats and subscribe to our Jersey Shore Eats newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Jersey Shore Mexican food served at El Guacamole in Asbury Park