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MEXICAN ARMANDO’S Armando’s has been around since Cuba held elections, a notable comparison since Cubans now run the place. Basic quasi-Mexican fare (fajitas, enchiladas, tacos, burritos) fills a need for downtown’s late crowd, since it’s open into the wee hours and serves megamargaritas. Great lunches at prices so low it nearly raises your eyebrows. DON CARLOS Historical fact: The decline of the Mayan civilization is nothing compared to the disappearance of Don Carlos outlets. Once nine locations strong, there’s only one left, but it’s still serving up the standard signatures, including steak fajitas and eleven kinds of burritos (be advised—there’s no burro burrito). Come refresh your memory before it’s too late. EL BARZON The best guacamole around—it’s chunky, inspired, magical—so fresh it could only be made to order. This goodness follows through every course, completely authentic Mexican standards that just don’t seem that standard. Then they’ll take it up a notch—house-made moles burst with flavor and a carne asada that was plated as well as the carpaccio at any of our best Italian restaurants. With good reason: owner/chef Norberto worked years in a four diamond white linen Italian restaurant before opening this labor of love. There is a huge selection of Italian dishes and desserts as well. EL COMAL El Comal blends Columbian cuisine with Guatemalan and Salvadoran, with mouth-watering results. Great house-made tortillas, marvelously moist tamales, and the can’t-miss national dish of El Salvador, pupusa, along with a number of exotic-sounding beef dishes perfect for gringo experimentation. EVIE’S TAMALES Find your niche and fill it. Owner Evie Grimaldo did so with her authentic husk-wrapped tamales and tender chicken tacos, which have been attracting the starving paisanos for over 15 years. Evie’s richly flavored menudo is the single best hangover cure we’ve ever encountered, provided you don’t do a mental image on menudo’s main ingredient—cow’s stomach. Second best hangover cure? Have another Tecate (but bring your own—Evie’s doesn’t sell alcohol). JUAN’S HACIENDA Madison Heights’ favorite cantina continues to impress—no, improve—along with its change of ownership. It’s the “Original Home of the Flaming Fajita.” Mexican kebabs, pork stew, chili rellenos and tamales with three spicy salsas are homemade and right on the dinero, and when you’re done, you can douse the flames with the house’s fruit-laden sangria or a specialty margarita. LAS BRISAS Don’t know any Spanish? Practice this word: borracho. Loose translation? Sozzled! At Las Brisas on Saturday evenings, the margaritas are as deadly serious as the mariachi band. The menu is typically TexMex, with tacos, enchiladas and burritos, but they’re all done remarkably well. The next morning, if you have a skull-splitting resaca, you should try the age-old cure, menudo, which has nothing to do with Ricky Martin, who is a hangover in and of himself. LOCO BAR AND GRILL A Greektown fave for those who tire of lamb. They still have cheese that flames, though; a jalapeño version of that Monroe Street staple, saganaki. The homemade tamales with cilantro salsa and the crawfish quesadillas will make your taste buds loco, if the margaritas haven’t already. LOS GALANES RESTAURANT The most attractive and genuine cantina in Mexicantown, Los Galanes gives the impression that the gringo standbys—tacos and guacamole—are simply concessions to rent-paying. But even these dishes are created with an authenticity not usually tasted around Detroit; from the perfect salsa to the real signatures like cabrito (slowly-roasted baby goat) and seafood dishes. Like Mexico, Galanes serves a lot of fish; so much so, it requires a separate menu. Enchiladas are served with fresh, crumbly farmer’s cheese and a rich, non-greasy sauce, or you can eat to your heart’s content from the buffet, which has better food than you’ll find in most Mexican chain restaurants. It has a big warehouse feel and a pleasant, old-Mexico atmosphere, often peppered with live music both inside and on the very popular sidewalk café—where you can relax with a muy bueno margarita. MONTERREY CANTINA Okay, so maybe Monterrey is to genuine Mexican cuisine what the Mongolian Barbecue is to fermented mare’s milk in Ulan Bator. Like we care? Offering a wide variety of cholesterol-be-damned items, Monterrey’s food is addictively tasty and always fresh, and when the weather’s nice, the young, Corona-charged crowd surges out onto Main Street for their own private revolution. OLD MEXICO RESTAURANT Before there was Taco Bell and Chi Chi’s, there was Old Mexico. That’s old. They’ve moved out of Old Redford to tonier Livonia, but the cheese enchiladas continue to keep America’s dairy farmers in business. Instead of nachos, try the mariachi calientes, basically the same only with a blanket of jalapenos swimming in a gulf of sour cream. PANCHO VILLA’S The only thing better than good Mexican food is great margaritas and FREE Mexican food. If you finish the super burrito, your wallet wins and your waistline loses. The super burrito weighs approximately five pounds. Only about five out of every hundred people who try can eat it all, but the leftovers are good. So you may want to do the amazing chili rellenos or enchiladas. If you eat the entire super burrito, you can’t drive home with us. RINCON TARAXCO Sea señor. Instead of the obligatory chips and salsa, you’ll be graced gratis with saltines and a delightful shrimp or fish spread. Like much of Mexico, Rincon turns to the oceans for its menu. Weak Español? Thankfully, quesadilla needs no translation and there is a photo menu on the wall of the fabulous fish dishes they serve, all as wonderful as any ground-up land mammal. Pulpo (octopus) is especially tasty, you’ll never throw one on center ice again. TAQUERIA LUPITA Somehow you will translate your order to the young girls in tight white t-shirts. Perhaps the light-up pictures will help. Ten different taco fillings, many you are unfamiliar with, at just over a buck each (go for the pork loma). The ceviche is a steal as well. They will cover your table in bowls of sauces and garnishes. There are taquerias like this all over town; this one is across the street from the place you usually go—try it. XOCHIMILCO Zochi’s? Dishing out top Hispanic food-faves at prices we peasants can afford, it was, for many of us, our primer course into “authentic” Mexican cooking. The food’s as good today as ever, and throw in the quick and friendly wait staff and a solid selection of margaritas and you’ve got a favorite place to go until 2:00 a.m., a time when you may well be unable to operate machinery heavier than a toothbrush. EL ZOCALO Dealing with requisite platters of molten cheese and squished avocado with frazzled corn chips is not the rationale here; it’s the icing on the cake. Rather, this sprawling, noisy, tequila-soused cantina is a pure slice of conviviality amid one of Detroit’s coolest ethnic neighborhoods. ZUMBA Tim Castenada carries on the tradition of his father, Ramon, patron saint of the original Old Mexico in Redford. Tim has modernized, like younger generations tend to do, and introduced our region to customized burrito-building (way before the big corporations jumped on the bandwagon). Every entrée is built to your specs—you choose the filling and toppings and they put it all together. It’s super-fresh and pretty fast and has already won Zumba best Mexican food awards from reader polls around the city. © 2008 Guide to Detroit, LLC |