Monday Munchies- El Fuego
For everything that East has going for it, great Mexican options are not one of them. There was one over around Five Points called Cocina Mexicana, but they closed recently and became a bit more of an upscale Mexican restaurant. Las Maracas has great salsa and Mahi Mahi tacos that Hillary loves, but they just got busted for not paying their workers fairly and hiring underage people. Then you have Rosepepper, which in my opinion is really good food (especially the green chile enchiladas), but you have to pay for chips and salsa- which is an absolute scam and shouldn’t be allowed. Plus you’re going to wait forty-five minutes on a weekend to get a table when there are way too many food options around you. However, this dilemma changed for Hillary and I a few months ago when we checked out El Fuego.
Now, I love Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. Every Friday afternoon while I am chilling with the boys before Hillary gets home, it’s in the background serenading Sebastian screaming “dada” all over the house. I feel like El Fuego would fit in perfectly on that show. Let me paint the scene: situated basically underneath the train track, El Fuego is housed in an old mattress store that even still has the sign out front. There are four parking spaces out front, and the rest of the parking is down below at the basement level even more underneath the train track. If we wouldn’t have gotten the recommendation to go there, it probably wouldn’t have happened. When you go inside, however, it is a completely different vibe. You’re greeted by a full-wall mural depicting a volcano with a jaguar in the foreground, Mexico’s most symbolic animal. There’s a pretty large bar area with plenty of TVs available, and a lot more seating than the outside of the establishment makes you believe there are. We’ve never gone in there and had sub-par service. Everyone is always above and beyond friendly and quick to help.
The Panthera Onca making sure you don’t leave any scraps lying around.
Hillary would kill me if I didn’t start the food and drink portion of the review with their margaritas, because let’s be honest- a lot of the millennial opinion of Mexican restaurants rests on the quality of the tequila drinks. They have a $4 margarita option, but you can upgrade above the house margaritas and the drinks comes in handmade ceramic cups a=that are chilled. It’s a homerun drink option that isn’t going to blow through your wallet like a $9 Rosepepper marg. My personal favorite that they produce is their Michelada, which comes in a 32 ounce frozen mug FOR ONLY FIVE DOLLARS. If you don’t know what a Michelada is, it’s essentially a Bloody Mary combined with a beer. I’m not a big Bloody guy due to the heavy tomato taste, but the beer does a really good job of giving it enough kick to be delicious. The salsa isn’t my absolute favorite because it’s pretty heavy on the onion and cilantro tastes and is a bit more watery than most salsas, but I’m pretty sure Hillary would oblige if they told her she was allowed to drink it. The queso with chorizo is killer, definitely worth getting.
For basically my entire life, at least as long as I can remember, since the Don Pancho’s middle school days, steak tacos has been my go-to order at any Mexican establishment. Add on some hot sauce and it’s usually pretty consistent no matter where you get them. Our first time going to El Fuego- which was a date night without the boys, and if you’re one of those parents that doesn’t like going a couple hours without your baby, I encourage you to be Elsa and just let it go- I saw something on the taco portion of the menu labeled “saudero”. Being a steak taco connoisseur, I had to check it out. The waiter told me that the saudero was a steak taco, but the steak had a bit higher fat content than the normal taco. Man- it was 100% the best steak taco I have ever had at any restaurant. You could taste the crispiness that it had coming straight off the grill and into the tortilla. It had a smokiness that I think most places miss when it comes to a great taco. And at $2.75 a taco, it’s comparable to most taco prices around and it absolutely destroys the competition. Last time we went (and the first-and last- time taking the boys to a restaurant during the middle of a scheduled nap time), Hillary got the “Alambres”. This delicacy comes with strips of either steak or chicken, grilled onions, chunks of bacon, smothered in cheese dip, and of course the standard sides of rice and beans with hot, grilled tortillas on the side. Take out the onion and it’s basically Drew’s heaven on a plate. I hope that Peter has a dish of this waiting for me at the pearly gates when my time comes. Another really popular food option is the pupusas. Haven’t had the chance to order these yet due to being such a heavy creature of habit, but they come pretty highly recommended on their Yelp reviews.
The Veggie Pupusa, per Yelp reviews, is one of the only Veggie pupusa options in the city.
Next time that you’re in East and are looking for a super casual Latin American meal, you need to go to El Fuego. It’s gonna be a bit loud because everyone is crammed in, but it’s worth the noise and possible short wait. Order the queso and chorizo, get you and your friend some cheap, delicious drinks, and pick any of their menu items for an entry. Everything that I have ever seen come out of the kitchen looks appetizing, so I don’t think it’s possible for you to go wrong with any of the options. Would love to hear your thoughts if you go and check them out!
SCORE: 7.7/10