Awesome!
I never knew there was a small restaurant tucked in next to this Mexican market, and I'm thrilled to say it's excellent! Walking in, there were three good signs, right away. All the patrons were Latino, no English was being spoken, and the dry erase board menu offered very little explanations of dishes. In fact, I wanted fish, but didn't know what on the platillos (main dish, beans & rice) side o' the menu included that. The very nice cashier/waitress explained a dish I didn't quite catch all of, but she assured me it was fresh fish, so I went with that.
I sat, and took in the atmosphere. It was around 5, so workers were stopping in for dinner, all Mexican, except for me and one other guy who got something to go. Many seemed to know the staff, and there was lots of laughing and friendliness. I started wondering "what, exactly, did I order?" when all the other folks were getting their meals before me, even the ones who ordered after I did. Mine was taking longer to cook, but it was only $10, so it couldn't be too elaborate, could it? I had expected the usual fried fish fillet, but was realizing something different was in the works.
Sure enough, the cashier/server brings out my meal, and it's a whole fish(!), head, tail and fins, with avocado strips, beans, rice, lettuce, pico de gallo, and tortilla shells. Wow. It was mojarra frita (seasoned, lightly fried and sauce simmered tilapia). It was a little daunting, not being familiar with whole crispy fried fish, but I'm game. I dug in (after removing the head; it's hard to eat with a face, um, facing you), finding, under the crispy outer layer and skin, succulent meat that easily flaked off the copious bones. It's not a quick meal, as you have to carefully separate all the little bones away, but it's fun and delicious. I found, once the outer pieces had been eaten, I could hold the spine by the tail, and gently scrape the meat out and away from the bones, following the curve of the bones/ribs(?), without breaking any bones off. It was quite tasty, either straight, or piled into a tortilla with the beans (they were served with a light dusting of cheese, not the goopy shredded cheese that's plopped on the beans in many American style Mexican joints), rice, pico, and lettuce. I left the table full, completely satisfied, but not feeling heavy, like I'd had too much. It was all authentic, or, since I've never been to Mexico, at least as authentic as the vague childhood memories of Mexican places in San Jose and the Santa Clara Valley, CA.
Oh! The chips before the meal were good, slightly seasoned, and salty (it was a small basket, but any more would've been too much saltiness). The salsa was amazing! A salsa verde, but of a lighter color, and better than any I've had in Bham. Sweet, yet with a hint of heat.
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