This review originally appeared as a guest post on Kevin Shalin’s wonderful blog The Mighty Rib as part of our monthly series called He Said, He Said, way, way back in February 2018. Here it is again, but with my expanded thoughts. I like to think of this as my director’s cut. I hope you enjoy it.
Located at the end of a sleepy strip mall on Geyser Springs Road sits a quaint family run Mexican restaurant called El Alamo. The menu is large and rounds up the usual suspects. They’ll start you off with a basket of fresh hot lightly salted chips made from deep fried fresh corn tortillas.
They’re almost like flaky pastry dough, but crunchy. For me, the chips were just too thick, especially when paired with the thin, runny salsas. This sturdy chip is better prepped for a pico de gallo.
The salsas include a mild red tomato and a deliciously spicy slightly green Serrano chile salsa with lots of seeds. I preferred the hotter one.
On my first visit, I had the chile rellenos, which comes with a taco, Mexican rice and a small salad. The chile rellenos was fried into a soft puffiness and covered with a red Colorado/ranchero sauce. It was a very mild dish, without a lot of notable flavor change between the chile, the melty cheese and the fried puff. It was however most strongly notable for the corn oil in which it was fried; a slightly negative takeaway. The oil left that light sootiness that means the oil could be filtered more often.
The Mexican rice which accompanied it was delicious; soft with flecks of carrot and peas and flavored with what I’ll bet was some Saizon. The taco was uninteresting: soft ground beef with lettuce and cheese in the same crunchy shell as the chips.
On my second visit, I ventured away from the lunch menu to the specials menu and had the Sopa Azteca. It was incredible. Drool worthy. It has chicken, pork and rice in a chipotle broth with chopped pico de gallo salsa (tomatoes, onions and cilantro) and avocado on top. It has big chunks of chicken and pork in it, and mine came with the leg, to prove the point. It comes with a wedge of tart and juicy fresh lime and a choice of flour or corn tortillas. Choose the corn. They may not be homemade, but they’re as close to that as you can get. And get the big bowl. They don’t have one on their menu, but tell them you want it. Trust me please. You do.
I liked to take those beautiful soft tortillas and avocado and chicken and make little tacos out of them, drizzle with some red and green salsa.
On my third visit, I had to try the new vegetarian menu. I tried the black bean burger. The patty was black bean and corn with grains, slightly smoky, and served with avocado, lettuce, tomato, and homemade cucumber pickles on a whole wheat bun with a side of chipotle mayo and jalapeños. It came with a reasonable amount of salted fries, but I would have liked them double fried.
The staff is super pleasant and there’s plenty of laughter in the kitchen. Service regularly touches the table. They want you to be happy and enjoy your meal. I got some cilantro in my glass (I’m a slob) and my server noticed it and brought me a fresh glass of water. I didn’t even notice the cilantro, but she did.
I found the food hit or miss depending upon what I ordered, but they’ve implemented a new menu so you may find the variety or the dishes that you like. In the end they’re nice people earnestly trying to make a good living, and taking those additional steps that may get them there: frequently touching the tables and modifying their menu with fresher takes on the standards.
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