Home > Forklore > Archives > 2011 > May > 05 > Entry
Five for Cinco de Mayo
To mark Cinco de Mayo, I’ve put together a list of 55 restaurants to celebrate 5/5. See that list here.
But here are five places that are new to me from the past few months. I say “new.” Before making this list, I hadn’t been to El Patio or Matt’s in more than 20 years, and Santa Catarina in Lakeway really is new.
For Azul Tequila and Cisco’s, I had just never been. I loved Azul for its interior Mexican dishes and a rich, powerful avocado margarita.
I visited Cisco’s on the insistence of Statesman reporter W. Gardner Selby, who’s been a regular at this breakfast-slash-politico hangout for years. Don’t mind saying that I felt out of place and not entirely welcome there. Also, it reinforced my observation that more than politics and sports, old men like to talk about their health more than most any other subject.
Here are my impressions of those five “new” places on my list:
• Azul Tequila. If there’s better interior Mexican restaurant next to a Target, I’d like to see it. Try the fish with plantains and smoky red chile sauce, tortilla soup with corn on the cob and a silky, powerful avocado margarita. 4211 S. Lamar Blvd., Suite A2. 416-9667, www.azultequila.com.
• Cisco’s. The old-guard home of politicians and activists who come for soft rolls with ground beef called picadillos and migas with lots of cheese and chips. New to the place? Don’t be surprised when they shuttle you to the back. The front is for regulars. 1511 E. Sixth St. 478-2420.
• El Patio. Like a family dining table 50 years in the making, piled with Tex-Mex standbys like crispy beef tacos and enchiladas crowned with guacamole. For dessert, everybody gets a praline or sherbet. 2938 Guadalupe St. 476-5955.
• Matt’s El Rancho. People who went to Matt’s as children are bringing their own kids now, letting them run free in the cavernous rooms and shaded patio. A reliable place for margaritas, a chile relleno with raisins and Bob Armstrong cheese dip with ground beef and guacamole. 2613 S. Lamar Blvd. 462-9333, www.mattselrancho.com.
• Santa Catarina. Ask your waiter what this interior Mexican place does well and he’ll steer you toward chicken enchiladas with deep, dark mole sauce and tender cochinita pibil in a steaming banana leaf. Listen to him. 1310 RM 620 S., Lakeway. 300-0946, www.santacatarinarestaurant.com.
(American-Statesman photos by Mike Sutter. Clockwise from top left: Avocado margarita at Azul Tequila, Cisco’s, chile relleno at Matt’s El Rancho, cochinita pibil at Santa Catarina, El Patio.)
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