Doing 30 with Peter: Love for The Guad and Americas

Editor’s note: Peter Lewis, who has authored “The Friday Feast” since November, is reviewing 30 locally-owned and/or operated restaurants across five categories: American, Asian, BBQ, Mexican and Date (establishments to impress your date, spouse or both). Each Wednesday through late August, The City Wire will post Lewis’ review of two restaurants.   

by Peter Lewis
 

THE GUAD
Taqueria la Guadalupana, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways …
   
Mrs. Barrett Browning, of course, could perhaps structure a poem around this delightful Mexican restaurant. I suffer from many afflictions. One is a penchant for food from south of the border and another is my inabilities with rhyme & meter. Despite Mrs. Weakley’s noblest attempts while my instructor at Southside High School, I can produce no better than an average poem. So, instead of daintily counting the ways I love Taqueria la Guadalupana, I’ll stick to the prose style to illustrate just a few of the many reasons you should love the Guad. (The address? Our bad. 1914 Rogers Ave.)

First, their burritos are hands down the best in town. Not to disparage other restaurants, it’s just that no one prepares them quite like Senora Luz. The best analogy I can conjure is one using sandwiches. Strange? Perhaps. Effective? You decide. There are some folks who like plain sandwiches. Then there are those, like the folks who own Quizno’s, who prefer them “toasty.” I’m a toasty type of fellow. At the Guad, the preparation of the burrito includes lying the tortilla flat on the grill while placing the ingredients inside the large tortilla. Beyond keeping the food ridiculously warm, it gives the slightest toasty tinge to the tortilla. 

The actual make-up of this stuffed-to-the-brim tortilla is another thing of beauty. While many restaurants (nameless still) chose to dump any number of sauces onto your burrito, the Guad allows the burrito to exist on its own. No lump of congealed cheese or runny verde sauce interferes with the intricate balance of cilantro, onion, cheese, meat, beans and rice.

Second, the friendliness and service are stellar. I’ve mentioned before that it’s like eating a meal in a friend’s kitchen. I still stand by that assertion. They genuinely want your business. They genuinely care about your palatal enjoyment. This sort of face-to-face service and concern is sadly lost in many larger restaurants. It is often overlooked that the small “madre y padre” restaurants will offer a dining experience that is largely cleaner, friendlier and tastier than any chain we so habitually frequent. Some may quibble with this assertion, but I put it to you to decide who cares more, the owner/cook of restaurant X or the 17-year-old at your local Chotchkie’s chain restaurant?

Now that I’m officially off my soap box, let us examine one last wonderful feature of your dining experience at the Guad. Each day there are new daily specials. This is a perfect meal for those seeking something fresh and delicious. As one friend recently pointed out, “you won’t see a Ben E. Keith truck at places like that.” Smaller restaurants don’t see the traffic to warrant a truck visit, instead they seek out their food ever other day. We, the diners, reap the rewards of that dedication. On various days we’re able to sample bistek asado (flank steak with grilled onions), posole (a wonderful pork and hominy stew), higado encebollados (liver and onions!), or mole de pollo (chicken in mole sauce, a unique and tasty dark sauce).

LAS AMERICAS
Comparing Las Americas Too (1806 S. Zero St.) to other “Mexican” restaurants is like comparing those proverbial apples to oranges. For one, it is an El Salvadoran restaurant. Second, the geographic diversity of Mexico in turn creates a very diverse culinary tradition.

Cuisine should be viewed through a lense of geographic boundaries, not political ones. (But, as the name implies, the restaurant does not feel constrained by political boundaries either, for they feature many dishes from throughout the Americas.) Perhaps an easy (albeit inverted) analogy would be to look toward our allies in Europe. The cuisine of a region like Alsace is shaped not by being “French,” but by their natural geographic proximity to the forests and traditions of Germanic peoples. So, while there are similarities between the cuisine of Central America and Mexico, they are quite disparate. If one were to make a comparison between the two, geographically it is most similar to the cuisine found in the wetter jungle areas of southern Mexico and Yucatan.

As such, a diner will see the utilization of things like plantains or even yucca in Central American restaurants. Las Americas Too is no different as you’ll find plantains available in many featured dishes. One such is the Nicaraugan dish, Gallo Pinto ($10.99). The plantains accompany a large piece of steak, avocado, tortillas, rice and beans.

Though there are countless dishes from which to chose, I’m rather fond of the Tipico Salvadoreno. It is technically a breakfast item, though they’ll prepare no matter the hour.  This dish features two eggs (cooked to your preference), a pupusa, chorizo (fresh ground sausage), queso fresco (creamy, soft white cheese), rice, beans, avocado, and tortillas (I suggest getting the hand made corn tortillas). This particular meal only sets you back $6.25. 

One of the many strengths of Las Americas is the full bar. A unique feature of smaller restaurant operations is an inability to acquire a liquor license. Fortunately for tipplers across the valley, Las Americas has a license. So even if your goal is a quick cocktail after work, Las Americas fits the bill (there is bar seating immediately to your right upon entering).

An explainer note from Peter
Having such cultural diversity within easy reach is one of the many dining pleasures in the River Valley. As we continue to explore the different cooking styles throughout the area, I hope it will spur you into trying something new. Broadening horizons is as old as time itself.