First, I saw this on the Hargrett Library Twix, and the first image…The Mean Bean. Talk about timely considering our Ancient Athens post from earlier this week.
Memories. I also saw a comment that mentioned Compadres from days gone by in Athens, and, to be honest, I still struggle today to find a really good Mexican restaurant. I’m on the southside, and typically speaking, the best usually come and go pretty quickly for various reason, but it’s hard to find a good one in the same place twice.
What’s my measuring stick? Typically, I like a place that has a good burrito (not ground beef, steak or chicken with a great red and white cheese blend), and the beans and rice have to be good. I rarely find it…sometimes one, maybe two, but not all three.
For today, I have no suggestions. The best we had down here have seemingly disappeared and replaced by what looks like a Mexican restaurant but, in reality, is a chain and even if you eat at the same name in two different locations, you’re getting two different experiences.
So what say you…what makes for a great Mexican restaurant…and, please, do share the name and where because I’m always looking for the trifecta if I can find it.
Not sure about your specific request, but I do know this place has good steak tacos and burritos, so maybe they could accommodate you, and that is, Nuevo Laredo on Chattahoochee Ave in West Atlanta. If you haven’t been there, it’s not new or fancy like you would expect in the west side, but it’s crowded and the parking sucks. The food is awesome though. Me and a lot of others think it’s the best around Atlanta. I like Taxco in Sandy Springs and Jalisco in Buckhead too.
Nuevo Laredo is old school, but still good. Grew up eating there in highschool in the ’80’s
Tlaloc on Chase street.
Tlaloc forever.
I’ve always thought Tlaloc was overrated. I haven’t given up on them, though. Maybe you can suggest something I should try?
Gorins vanilla shake was as bad ass, as bad ass could be (at that time)…GO DAWGS!!
Los Abuelos and Amigo’s on the east side of Johns Creek are good.
Tres Amigos on Broad Street is good. I admit I know the young man who opened it. He brought the recipes from his family’s restaurant in middle Georgia. Good place for a quick taste of Mexico.
Come to Gainesville. You can’t shake a stick without hitting a good taqueria. Spanish language skills aren’t necessary, but they don’t hurt.
I remember sitting in Mexico City after a few days there back in 2021 thinking “you know, what we’ve got at home isn’t far off from this.” Went back last summer for the NASCAR race and came away with the same impression. It’s not as good as CDMX on the top end, though we do have a nicer one downtown. But for garden-variety tacos etc. this is a great town to eat Mexican (and starting to see more Salvadoran) food.
Was typing a little review of our local stuff below… see if it matches yours?
Genuine Mexican restaurants are hard to find. Most are American-Mexican. As mentioned, the good one close for various reasons. Could be they struggle with the health code. They do well enough to get opened but after that not so much.
Why would they struggle with the health code?
I was once a public health inspector. Trust me I know. Most are only interested in getting the doors open and in many cases, it goes downhill from there. It’s tough enough for the inspectors to know everything in the code and many owners don’t even try to know and it shows when doing an inspection.
To each his own, but not a fan. If l do occasionally, don’t want to have to put it together when it gets to the table! One dish only.
how do you feel about crab legs?
Way Way too much work for so little reward!
I never really was into Mexican food when I lived in Georgia. It was all the same generic “Mexican” food. When I visited California and Mexico, I discovered good Mexican food, and living in Texas, I enjoy good Tex-Mex.
Granted, when I grew up on the southside of Atlanta, I only saw two Mexican kids ever. After our shock at meeting someone so exotic, we put them on the soccer team. 😀
Oh, the tuna melt at Gorin’s.
Here in Gainesville GA there is a thriving Latin community so we have some great restaurants. Here are some favorites:
Consuelo’s downtown has great food and funky drinks, but I’m pretty sure they’d be mortified if you asked for a burrito. They have a Posole Verde that is like nothing I’ve ever had. The Charro beans have hotdogs in them, weird but it works.
“Ay Mama por Dios” has really good Baja style seafood. Super fresh and our local spot for oysters. Ceviche is good, but our go to is the whole fried Snapper that feeds two and fishbowl margaritas made from scratch.
Supermercado El Guero has a tiny restaurant attached. They have great Tacos of just about anything you can imagine but more importantly: They have Menudo on the weekends. Fabulous stuff.
For our (Mrs. Cowdog and I) local watering hole and reliable old school Tex-Mex? The ubiquitous “El Sombrero” closest to our house which happens to be next door to the “Ay Mama” place. JP, this would be the place for your steak burrito, but I usually get the steak fajitas. Hector the bartender makes the best skinny margaritas in town.
There are a number of Madre y Papa taco stands around town that sell the little hand sized tacos. They’re typically good and I’ve yet to have a related gastric issue but beware… There is an innocent looking salsa roja that is actually a little taste of hell in a condiment suit. Don’t say I didn’t warn you…
The hot dog thing happened to me at San Angel’s here in Athens. I thought it was weird also BUT then I watched an episode of Patti Jinich’ cooking show on PBS and she was in Mexico looking for authentic food and they did the same thing.
Thank you for this review.
Consuelos is great and was the downtown spot I mentioned.
I haven’t been to Ay Mama yet, but I went a couple of times before it was rebranded from SoCo. Great food, but a little steep (though what isn’t these days).
El Guero has been my spot for years now, but it’s not as good as it used to be when the Carillos owned it. I miss the free ceviche. The molcajete is still great and a perfect option if you’re not solo.
Additions:
El Carreton has a truck on Atlanta highway but also has a brick and mortar building in the old CFA at shallowford. Great tortas and I’ve seen them running a real deal tacos al pastor stand out front in a cart with the spit and pineapple and everything. Haven’t tried that yet but I want to.
Down on our end of the county, taqueria el Antojito and Haydee’s Cafe are solid.
Really off the grid:
Show up at Allen Creek soccer complex on a Saturday and see what they’re making at the concession stand. Had some great pupusas when my kid was playing rec soccer last spring.
Ay Mama is better than SoCo but still not cheap. I think it’s reasonable for what you get, though.
El Carreton’s truck is where I had the “Salsa de Molten Rock”. I’m with you on the taco cart. Haven’t seen it but will make a point to stop in.
Haydee’s has the best Huevo’s Rancheros, the one next to Best Buy has a bar!
El Antojito is legit in South Hall.
10 or so years ago my wife and I ran the Booster Club for Johnson High’s wrestling. The team was predominantly Hispanic. The team Moms did the concessions and team dinners. Legit Abuella experience. I imagine Allen Creek is the same.
Authentic Mexican cuisine, like authentic Chinese cuisine is hard to find because mostly we get Americanized versions of the food. That said, I love several options here in the Classic City [Mexican only – Chinese options here are pathetic for a thriving college town]. Also, burritos are not what I judge a restaurant by; for me it is the enchiladas and when available, tamales.
Holy shit, I forgot about Yudi’s. Great cheesesteak.
His brother Bob had Sub & Steak in Five Points. Both places had the same recipe.
Atlanta area blanco cheese seems unique to that area. It’s yellow in Tejas and most elsewhere. I judge the salsa, fish tacos, fajitas and enchiladas. Surprisingly there are several Mexican families here in Colorado Springs that do a fairly decent job but my favorite from 100 years ago was a little place on Buford Hwy north of Roswell but before Alpharetta. I just looked at a map and continue to be stunned with all of the massive development that has occurred there. Buenas Dias!
P.S. Ahhh the coeds in a college town!
True authentic Mexican food is served in a driveway by an abuela who cooked it in a pot of questionable origin, followed by a lengthy session in el baño.
The exact opposite of authentic Mexican was Rio Bravo in ATL circa 1990’s, which had decent enough corporate Mexican, but the best damn queso paired with fresh tortillas churned out by that cool machine you watched while waiting for a table. It was like Krispy Kreme, but with margaritas.
El Tacos Veloz and El Rey Del Taco on Buford Highway are both pretty dead-on for being non-Americanized. BuHi also has AMAZING stuff in the Fiesta Plaza food court.
Plenty of authentic Chinese, and damned near everything else on that corridor, as well (Atlanta Chinatown Mall)
I like the occasional Mexican restaurant, but sometimes they blend together unless you go to Texas or New Mexico.
The best Tamales I ever had were sold out of a cooler in the back of a truck at a chicken fight in East Louisiana. I was too young to know better than to be there…or eat food sold out of a cooler!
Sound like a recipe for some good ole food borne illness.