Adam & Eats: El Rodeo

 

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.

I would like to begin this week with a great big correction to something that I said in last week’s article on Sultan’s.

It turns out, that Mohammad Raache does not nor has he ever owned the Silk Road. The Silk Road was, in fact, founded in 2008 by Isa and Elizabeth Momand, who still happily own and operate it. I would like to send my most sincere apologies to the Momands for any harm that I may have caused by making my faithful readers associate the shoddy restaurant a few doors down with your wonderful establishment.

And to you my dear reader, spread the word for me and the folks at Silk Road and help us put an end to this nasty little rumor that’s floating around. That said, on to this week’s review.

Over on the Northside of town, on North “O” to be exact, there’s a little gem of a restaurant. It is a treasure really. The people who eat there on a regular basis do so with an almost religious devotion. So, I am taking it upon myself to be the missionary, if you will, to spread the word and to show others the way to this delicious Mexican food.

Located in what was once Bob’s Sunnymede Drive-In, is El Rodeo. They have been there coming up on 10 years (pretty soon, anyway) and the food and service have been consistently good for the duration. The best part of El Rodeo is that they manage to create a nice balance between authentic Mexican fare and some stellar Tex-Mex.

They manage to lure us Gringos in without bribing us with a cheeseburger. Granted, the kid’s menu offers hot dogs and chicken nuggets, but what restaurant doesn’t these days? Plus, what kid doesn’t like hot dogs or chicken nuggets? When dealing with children who are picky eaters, my brother, for example, I always go back to the words of Bill Cosby, “Parents don’t care about justice. We just want quiet.” Fair enough.

Anyway, what was I saying? Oh, yes, not bribing us with burgers. El Rodeo does something magical when it comes to the menu. They offer a variety of meats on almost every dish. And by a variety, I mean it. But, before we go any further, a little clarification.

Awful.

The term “awful” is used to describe the parts of an animal that most people, especially Americans, consider to be the waste product of butchering. All of the guts, the tail, the snout, etc. (OK, it’s really spelled "offal," but we at The City Wire like the play on words.)

However, this butcher by-product has historically been what poor people have learned to live off of and as we all know it is the poorest people that set the bar for ethnic cuisine. Do you think the upper class thought to themselves one day, “Hey, you know what would be really yummy? Snails.” I doubt it. Point being, if you delve into any regional cuisine deep enough, you’ll find awful.

That is what is great about El Rodeo. Do you prefer your tacos to be stuffed with perfectly savory ground beef and cheddar cheese? You can have them that way there, but you can also get tender lingua (beef tongue) or cabeza (head meat, usually cheek or brains) in them as well. They also offer wonderfully spicy chorizo (pork sausage) and succulent camarones (grilled shrimp) as a filling for any of their wonderfully yummy dishes.

Their sopes (thick fried corn cakes topped with meat, beans, lettuce, sour cream, tomato, guacamole, and crumbly queso blanco) and their tortas (huge sandwiches) are some of the best in town. A word to the wise, go easy on the chips, salsa, and queso (either yellow or white) before your meal. Their portions are usually big and you will end up in the hurt locker if you are not careful.

If you haven’t tried El Rodeo, I highly recommend them. Before you know it, you just might find yourself driving over to North “O” everyday for dinner.

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When he’s not beating his eggs, Adam makes time to respond to e-mails that get past his hard-ass spam filter. You can try to reach him at [email protected]

Adam also has this thing called Sandwich Control.