Simple can be delicious. And cheap.

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. That’s a review of 30 restaurants in 16 weeks for those keeping score at home.
 

Week 1: Taqueria la Guadalupana, and Las Americas Too
Week 2: The Cuban Grill and El Rodeo

by Peter Lewis

EL MILAGRO
While there are numerous restaurants that excel in one particular area, it is rare to find a restaurant that excels on all levels. Often an establishment might have a great burger, or perhaps it’s the winning service that pushes a restaurant over the edge of mediocrity.  Thus it is always a treat to find a restaurant that excels in all levels of food preparation.  And even more so when it is such a varied scale of treats, as it is at Taqueria el Milagro on the Midland Boulevard triangle. 

Everything at Taqueria el Milagro is prepared in utter simplicity. This, of course, is a positive. Often there is a tendency to beautify and/or glorify dishes. While there is something to be said for a very technical execution of say, poached quail with rose petals, it is an exercise as much for the chef’s vanity as for the diners’ pleasure.

In a somewhat diametrically opposite scenario, it is often that a restaurant will rely on a particular sauce to slop over a dish in hopes of masking an inability to execute food production and/or hide a sub-par product. Nothing of that sort occurs at Taqueria el Milagro. When one orders tacos you receive your tortilla (I prefer corn, healthier and tastier), your choice of meat, cilantro, onions, and a wedge of lime. If it gets simpler or tastier than that, I’ll go ahead and snack on some crow.

While I ventured to opine that a certain establishment (Taqueria la Guadalupana) had the best burritos in town, I will venture to make a similarly bold, albeit truthful, statement about el Milagro. They have the best quesadillas in town. A quesadilla is, of course, a very simple dish as well. It is a child pleaser up there with grilled cheese, chicken nuggets, and plain hot dogs (my own finicky choice as a child). Yet, as simple as it is, there are those that have good quesadillas and those that have great ones. Milagro’s is great and it comes down to timing (when to pull the tortilla off the grill) and the melange of ingredients inside the quesadilla.

The crowning joy in Taqueria el Milagro’s shining and simple corona (crown!) are the raspados (snow-cones). They are an after dinner delight. There are a variety of flavors to be sampled so choose wisely. There is an option to add sweet milk to your raspado.  It will indeed sweeten it up, however I must admit that I prefer them without. Certain raspados will come stuffed with fresh fruit on top of the flavored ice, mango in particular.

This restaurant deserves a big smile and very few dollars. In my world, that’s heaven.

THE NORITA
Further down the road at 2901 Midland Blvd. is another example of Latin American cuisine, Restaurante Salvadoreno Norita. It’s most notable distinction is the name, which has to be the longest restaurant name in the River Valley area. If it all came down to that, they’d be an inimitable winner.

Unfortunately for my taste buds, I found Norita to be slightly lacking, especially in comparison to some of the other establishments I experienced. This, however, says more about the stiff competition they are facing than it does about the restaurant itself. 

Norita has a wonderfully quaint location in an old White Spot diner that is decked out with chotchkies highlighting their heritage as Salvadorans. And it certainly would never be said that the service is lacking. The women behind the stove and those taking your orders are a beacon of smiling service, ready to please and impress. It is something in which they largely succeed.

As food goes, my biggest complaint was the overall greasiness of the food. This, of course, is an indication of the fat content in the dish. While I’ve never been one to shy away from a good piece of fat (that’s where the flavor hides), it was a little too much even for me. Of course there is nothing wrong with a nice set of fried pork skins (chicharones), it is far from healthy. One must weigh healthiness with tastiness because they are definitely on the tasty side. But one must wonder whether frying pork skin is really a skillful endeavor, or just something that is simply prepared. While simple, it is not something by which to judge an establishment. It’s always wiser to judge a restaurant by something that is perhaps slightly skillful. Whether it’s enchiladas or something more in depth is of no consequence (just try to keep it even and test the dish at each restaurant).

A wonderful cross-restaurant yard stick are the pupusas (or gorditas if you are at a Mexican restaurant instead of a central American one). Norita’s pupusas stack up reasonably well to other purveyors (Las Americas, Rodeo, Guad, etc). They are a highlight of the menu. Other great dishes to measure against are the steaks and/or chicken dishes that are generally accompanied by rice and beans (amongst other items depending on the restaurant). And once again Norita stacks up admirably against the competition, though stacking up is far from exceptional. It is thus that they inevitably fall short on the smile scale, but are exceedingly easy on the wallet. So, enjoy the food, but as that goes, there are a few that are better. But those that are better than Norita are exceedingly outnumbered by those that are worse. My advice, check it out. It’s a fine establishment with cheap food and an admirable menu.

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.

Peter can be reached at [email protected]