I've been eating at El Pelon (two locations: one in Brighton near Boston College and one in Boston proper near BU) since college, long before I was diagnosed with celiac disease. I was so sad that I would never be able to eat it again. To my surprise, much of what I love at El Pelon is gluten free! The only thing I can't eat are the burritos (cruel, considering the statistic above). However, the rest of the food is phenomenal and I don't feel like I'm missing a damn thing.
First off, the chips and guacamole (which is amazeballs) are gluten free. The limited menu means that they don't fry anything else in the fryer (except for some select other items that are also gluten free, and I'll get to that in a minute). The plantains are gluten free and perfect. They're not crispy, but they're the soft squishy fried ones that I believe are green, because they are not that sweet. They're served with a smoky red salsa, perfect for dipping.
My other favorite appetizer is the taquitos -- corn tortillas rolled up with shredded beef inside, served with a pico de gallo and the same intoxicating guacamole. These are a real treat -- perfectly fried and crisp.
But the piece de resistance is the fish tacos. Cornmeal-crusted whitefish in a corn tortilla, topped with limed onions and pickled cabbage with a squirt of arbor chile mayo and cucumbers. Absolute heaven, and by far the best fish taco I've ever had. The fish is fried, but as previously mentioned, there is no contamination in the fryer. Everything that's fried is corn-based!
