El Torito – When Did I Cross the Border?

Date Dined: March 23, 2014
Rating: 4 Stars

Located inside little Mexico, this charming little restaurant is attached to a killer supermarket. You won’t find your usual listing of quesadillas, Mexican food combos, or chimichangas. What you will find is some truly killer food.

On a Sunday night, we were the only non-Hispanic people in there which I took as a good sign. The restaurant is tiny, probably fifteen tables, and the décor is no frills. But that wasn’t what we were there for.

Chips and salsa came out right now. I chips were crispy, not soaked in too much grease, and warm. The salsa tasted as if fresh tomatoes might have been used and had a nice spice of them. A second salsa followed with a smoky, smoldering taste to it. I noticed that every other table was being given only that salsa, and after having a few chipfuls, I was happy they gave us the “white person” salsa.

I went straight for the tacos. At $1.89 a piece they were a steal. The options were: Barbacoa, carnitas, carne asada, el pastor, chicken, and tripe. I opted for the first four. They came out steaming hot on what appeared to be in-house made corn tortillas. Adding an order of rice and crema, my meal was complete. The rice was nothing special, but it wasn’t mushy and added a nice filler to the taco.

Jess had the enchiladas which she seemed to enjoy. Upon tasting them, I didn’t really care for them. I found them a little bland, and the sauce didn’t really do it for me. It was just a more salty taste than anything. One of our companions had the fajitas and they did not skimp on the food. A heaping skillet of chicken, peppers, and onions came out with all the fixings, and he dominated it like a champ.

I did notice that almost every table had an order of their molcajete which looked like it consisted of a large bowl of roasted veggies and meat piled high. I will definitely have to order this the next time I come in.

With two pitchers of margaritas, our total bill came out to about $70.00 or about $18.00 a person. Not bad for full bellies and a pleasant buzz. I saw some complaints about the service in other reviews. It certainly wasn’t like we were wined and dined, but the food came out pretty fast, and the server came over when she noticed our margarita pitcher was empty. So what are you waiting for? Go check it out and grab some tacos!