La Llorona Express adds to New London’s array of fine ethnic food choices

June 14, 2023 11:06 am • Last Updated: June 14, 2023 11:19 am

By Rick Koster
Day Arts/Features writer

Nachos at La Llorona Express (Eileen Jenkins)

A variety of options from La Llorona Express including fried cheese, a beef empanada and a pork carnitas taco (Eileen Jenkins)

When you hear folks talking about the benefits of moving to big metropolitan areas, they’re often quick to point out the variety of ethnic restaurants.

The way the food scene in New London is expanding, I soon expect visitors from New York City and Boston to tell their friends how they love to travel to the Whaling City because of OUR array of ethnic restaurants.

Indeed, we’ve got it pretty good here. There’s a lot of excellent food that celebrates New London’s diverse culture across a range of cuisines including Guatemalan, Indian, Spanish, Puerto Rican, Thai, Salvadoran, Jamaican, Peruvian and, of course, Italian.

A recent addition to this bounty is La Llorona Express, a satellite offshoot from Niantic’s highly successful La Llorona. But the latter is a “nice outing” restaurant with tropical décor and a popular outdoor patio, a full bar with exotic cocktails, and a generous menu full of creative Continental Mexica cuisine including plenty of combo platters. The idea is that the customer wants to spend some time there.

The Express, on the other hand, while certainly pleasant enough and including two large screen TVs and a group of tables for indoor dining, serves primarily as a takeout/delivery spot. There’s a cooler with Mexican soft drinks and a counter with stream-trays of meats and vegetables where you can direct your choices for the daily hot plate specials.

From the regular menu, food reflects the flavors and philosophies of the Mothership, but it’s pared down to focus on quick service and simple, tasty options for the post-work commuter.

For my wife Eileen and I, La Llarona Express is right on the way home and open seven days a week, so that’s indeed convenient.

Best of all? The food is very good, the servings are plentiful and, on our visits, the staff has been super cordial. We’ve been offered samples when we couldn’t make up our minds along with dessert recommendations.

It’s also worth noting that, whether you call ahead, order online or via Door Dash or in person, your meals are quickly prepared and served hot and fragrant.

The small but tantalizing menu includes soups, salads, tacos (three per order), flautas, quesadillas, nachos, burritos, sides, desserts and a half- or whole rotisserie chicken.

Here are some choices we enjoyed:

Nachos ($12) — A towering stack of seemingly fried-on-site tortilla chips topped with the Good Stuff (cheddar-jack cheese, beans, pico de gallo, crema fresca and cotija cheese), and layered so there weren't a lot of sad, naked chips at the bottom. We expected refried or pinto beans and were pleasantly surprised and delighted by creamy and delicate textured white beans.

The serving size was worthy of two meals and — worth noting — an impulsive decision to order a side of tart green tomatillo sauce worked out in a fun way.

Tacos Callejeros ($13-$14, choice of one meat from pork carnitas, pulled chicken, carne asada or chorizo) — This was the situation where the kind woman behind the counter let me taste the carnitas and carne asada. I chose the pork — wonderful! The torn hunks were juicy with a smoky flavor and maybe a bit of cumin and piled on a double layer of corn tortillas. Dashes of cilantro, onion, limes, radishes and dipping containers of red and green salsa.

Quesadilla ($10) — A huge sturdy/chewy flour tortilla filled with cheese, those creamy beans, pico de gallo and crema fresca, the latter of which ensured this was not a dry quesadilla. So, the salsas weren't necessary to moisten it up — they simply gave Eileen an opportunity to change the flavor profile of each bite! Three salsas; she couldn’t say for sure what they all were, but one seemed like a deep chile de arbol; one a hard-hitting jalapeno; and one an amazing chimichurri (perhaps epazote). Served with some salad greens and — once again — two meals’ worth!

Smothered Burrito ($15, choice of one meat) — No prob! Having tried the pork on the tacos, this was my carne asada opportunity. A giant flour tortilla nested steak chunks that were lean, tender and had a lingering, peppery heat. I asked for both salsas and used them to heartily douse the concoction, which also included rice, beans, crema fresca, fresh Pico de Gallo and wonderful crumbles of cotija cheese.

Of the available sides, we tried carnival-food-worthy fried cheese ($3 for three, $6 for six) and giant, spicy ground beef empanadas ($2.75 each). Other tempting sides include chorizo links ($4 each), chicharron ($3), and cheese-stuffed sweet plantain ($4.50)

For dessert — again, a recommendation — the Tres Leches Cake ($6) was sweet and as moist as (I think) the name implies (based on one semester of college Spanish).

Drop by La Llorona Express. I guarantee it’ll be just the first of many visits.