Dining: El Borrego de Oro

New location, same great 'Tex-Mex Mile' food

By Dale Rice
American-Statesman Restaurant Critic
Web posted: June 8, 2005

Photos by Mark Matson for AA-S At the new El Borrego de Oro, you'll find familiar favorites such as the birria, bottom left, and Carne a la Mexican, right foreground, and chicken in chipotle. El Borrego de Oro. 3900 S. Congress Ave., 383-0031. Rating: Forks up. Price: Cheap.

Now, several years later, it has re-emerged in a new site, still in South Austin, but on a parallel thoroughfare, South Congress Avenue, just north of Ben White Boulevard.

Two recent visits to the restaurant, which has been open not quite three months, proved delightful.

The queso flameado ($5.95) featured chorizo and mushrooms covered in melted cheese. Although somewhat greasy (the expected result of cooking with the traditional Mexican sausage), the trio of flavors was nice, particularly when rolled in the thick, homemade corn tortillas.

The chimichanga ($7.95) proved to be a large tortilla that had been filled with chicken and refried beans, fried and covered with queso. It was served with rice and dollops of sour cream and guacamole.

The carne a la Mexicana ($8.75) combined tender strips of beef, grilled onions, bell peppers and tomatoes, served with rice, beans and guacamole. The meat, so packed with flavor, was better than most of the similar offerings I've sampled in the Austin area.

The chicken in chipotle sauce ($7.50) also was appealing, with a large pounded breast covered in a tasty, tangy, mildly spicy chipotle sauce. It was served with rice and beans.

The birria ($6.95), one of the house specialties, delivered a lamb soup filled with tender shredded meat in a spicy red broth, with chopped onions, cilantro and lime on the side to add at the diner's discretion. Accompanied by corn tortillas, the unusual soup was delicious.

With fare like the carne, chipotle sauce and birria, the food is as good on South Congress as it was in the previous spot. Fans of the old place will be happy.