Late Wednesday--Los Potrillos

Here's the story. The Husband has a truly awful schedule on Wednesdays, one very late class that puts us on campus at the time of day when I turn in to a short, red-haired Godzilla marching up and down the streets of Chapel Hill mumbling, Food-Food-Food--blood...sugar...falling-- must...eat...food. And traffic is really only ever horrendous at this particular time of day so we've made it a date to stay in Chapel Hill and eat somewhere in the general vicinity of campus.

The routine generally follows: I leave work at sommat after 4pm and walk towards a lovely, musty old bookshop on Franklin Street. The Husband meets up with me at sommat around 5pm. We pick a restaurant and eat. By the time we're done, traffic is manageable and we head home. We've found some great restaurants this way--Mediterranean Deli with their creamy creamy lebnah (it's like cream cheese with SOUL). And Mama Dips which is that lovely kind of Soul Food that comforts you deep down in your bones.

I have avoided the food review type entry because 1) I'm a vegetarian which rules out a great many options that other people might find interesting...like the flavor and consistency of MEAT. 2) I'm fairly picky about what goes in my mouth. I don't like certain textures. I HATE certain food combinations. If you're interested ask and I'll tell you, otherwise I'd rather not discuss the very depths of my food-neurosis on the internet. I can see both sides to the issue that it's picky people who would give good food reviews because if they're picky and they like it MUST be good...but then if they're picky--what are they actually eating there? But I digress.

Last night the Husband and I promenaded ourselves out to Los Potrillos on Rosemary St. The Husband had heard some good reviews about it and the man lived in El Paso, TX for 2 years and worked with the Hispanic community there and he ATE a lot of authentic (aka Homemade by locals) Mexican food. He knows what's good and real and genuine and it seems to me that anyone with taste buds could determine what is not. So he'd heard that this place was good and we haven't found a Mexican restaurant that we like here so off we went with our hope high.

Oh how disappointed we were. Before I completely pan this restaurant, please allow me to tell you what Mexican food should be. In Athens, Georgia of all places there is this delightful little place where they make REAL Mexican food. We ate there A LOT and NEVER had a bad meal. EVER. Let me tell you about my favorite, just for old times sake. I ordered the Enchiladas Verdes (cheese, natch!) with a regularity that can only be described as habitual. The plate comes and it's 4 smallish cheese enchiladas tightly rolled so that only the outer layer of cheese is melted but the insides are warm. They are then covered in homemade green-chile-enchilada sauce and then topped with a pile of crisp lettuce, tomato (and you can get onion if you like, but me and raw onion---not so much) and sour cream (aka manna from Heaven). I think it also came with rice and beans but those of course were upstaged by the glories of the homemade enchilada sauce (it was earthy and tart and ever so slightly spicy). I cannot possibly sing La Parrilla's praises enough. And the people there are amazing! Great service, great food, not expensive...it's a win win win all around.

Los Potrillos? Not so much. We walked in and the whole place stinks of stale smoke. The place is empty--which in retrospect we should have seen as a warning sign to flee the premises as bad food was coming. But we are nothing if not willing to try. So we sit. We peruse the menu. It's all...meh. Basically your run of the mill Mexican-food-dumbed-down-for-American- consumption. But it got a couple of recommendations! So we try. The Husband orders the Enchiladas Rancheros and I order the Enchiladas Verdes. The salsa tastes like Pace picante sauce but the chips are good. Our food comes. I nearly cried. It was an oblong plate with nasty dried out rice on one side, beans on the other and two pitiful piles of melted cheese goo in the middle covered in CANNED green enchilada sauce. The Husband's was just as bad. We ate and it was nothing better than mediocre. The melted cheese goo refused to be masticated and slide alarmingly down my throat. Honestly, people. This is deplorable.

And since I would feel terrible ending this post in this manner, let me tell you something else. It is a strange state of affairs when the best Mexican food we've found in Durham happens to be at an El Salvadorean restaurant. We popped in to this unpronounceably named restaurant on the east side of Garret Road and 15-501 just to see what it's like. The parking lot was packed, the inside was packed with Spanish-speakers, the menu was in English (yay!). So we order, the Husband getting the Platos Typico (something with Chicken I think...I'm pretty sure I heard the word pollo in there somewhere) and I got the vegetarian plate number 5 (because I don't speak Spanish, y'all). The food was wonderful! The pupusas, next time I'm making a meal out of just those! With the spicy sour cabbage! And the creamy and delicious beans! And the salsa that tastes like REAL salsa! The Husband's had fried yucca and fried plantains and and and.

Let me know if you find this remotely entertaining as the Husband thinks that me being snarky about restaurants is a fabulous idea for blogging...if you agree it shall continue...if not, well, we'll put it to a vote!