Adam & Eats: El Celaya

Editor’s note: Adam Brandt is a graduate from the Cobra Kai School of Culinary Callousness, where he received their highest award, the Red Apron of Merciless Eating. Aside from eating and talking about eating, he makes pots, paintings, prints, books, photographs, and generally, a big mess. He has been the studio assistant at Mudpuppy Pottery for almost nine years and is attending a local university in a desperate attempt to earn a biology degree. Feel free to give him a hard time.

If there is one thing that I love about little hole-in-the-wall restaurants, it’s the smell. And in that department, El Celaya doesn’t disappoint.

Remember the good old days before Benson’s got their new ventilation system? That was back when you could still smoke in restaurants. You would leave smelling like a greasy pork chop served in a dirty ashtray or rather, I used to think, like you ate at Benson’s. It was a smell that you wore, not with shame or any negative stigma, but with pride.

Well, good news friends. El Celaya leaves you smelling like you ate at, well, El Celaya. I say this as a good thing.

Located in the old Porta’s BBQ, Taqueriz La Guadalupana, and, briefly, Adelita’s building, El Celaya proudly serves authentic Mexican fare. This is location number two for this namesake and it comes highly recommended. The flagship of the same name is located in Roland and rumor has it that they serve the best fish tacos around. With this in mind, I headed over and faced the terrible parking at El Celaya and found that what they lacked in parking, they made up for in charm. Speaking of charming, a little detail I discovered was when you check out, their cash register receipts still read “MADD-OX $UPER $ALES”. I love it.

If you have ever eaten at any of the predecessors at this location then you’ll know that El Celaya is tiny and quaint. The floor plan is literally booths, bar, kitchen. I think there might be a bathroom somewhere in the back, but I didn’t venture from my little two seater by the door to find out. Despite the cramped quarters, all of the employees are friendly and eager to serve you.

As it turns out, they do offer some of the best fish tacos around. The #20 is two fish tacos and, as the menu so delicately words it in Spanglish, “rice and beans comes with dinners.” In fact, the menu is littered with fun little word plays that aren’t exactly correct, but they get the point across.

The fish tacos have just the right combination of fishy, tangy, and spicy to make you shiver from pleasure. What you get when you order the fish tacos is fresh grilled tilapia served in corn tortillas with lettuce, tomatoes, pico de gallo, cheese, and the ever-mysterious special sauce. Also, the beans and rice are surprisingly well seasoned. This comes as a shocker, seeing as how you nearly always have to salt them at restaurants. I can’t lie, after the bar was set so high by the fish tacos, everything else seemed a little ordinary. Not that it was bad, just ordinary. The sort of food you can get at any one of the numerous Mexican restaurants in town, your run of the mill tacos, enchiladas, nachos, chimichangas, and chile rellenos.

I do have it on good authority that the food at this location is not quite on par with its Roland counterpart, yet. But I imagine if this little hole-in-the-wall Mexican joint can survive long enough to find its bearings, it will soon become the new King of Mexican food in this town. Go, eat, and long live the King.

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