10 days of Mexican

photo courtesy of yelp

I've never considered myself much of a foodie. Because of this, I was a bit surprised in early December, when I started looking forward to where and what I wanted to eat while I was in the US. Sadly, the places I was looking forward to are not any kind of cool, hip, or interesting places to eat to most Americans, but I really wanted to make sure I went to IHOP to get some pancakes (made it there in Flagstaff) and Dairy Queen to get a dipped cone (made it to one in Mesa, after multiple tries, and one in Flagstaff, after two failed attempts).

Mostly though, because I was going to be in Arizona for 10 days, I wanted to eat Mexican food.

My dad and I made it to Mesa shortly before 10 pm on the 23rd of December, and I hadn't eaten in about 9 hours - I had a migraine. I wanted to eat and I wanted to eat now. Sadly, the only thing near my dad's hotel that was open that late, was a Taco Bell. I really didn't like the way things were going in my Mexican food quest. My first Southwestern food was a 7-layer burrito, from Taco Bell. I'm sure there are people who like Taco Bell out there (I know some of you are in my family are TB fans), but it does nothing to satisfy any kind of craving I have for what I was looking for on this trip.

Lauren and I made up for it the next morning, Christmas Eve morning (that always seems odd to read). There is a little, somewhat unnoticeable, place called Salsitas on Country Club Drive, in Mesa, Arizona, that I can't recommend enough. I wish they had a website, but I can't find one. There are actually a chain of them in the Phoenix Area, and possibly beyond. It definitely has an authentic feel to eat. You are greeted with a 'Hola' as you walk in, and the assumption is that customers speak Spanish, at least customers that look like Lauren and I on that morning.

I had one of the best Breakfast Burritos I've had in my life that morning. This may be skewed by my not having Mexican food in quite a while, and the 7-layer burrito the night before being a disappointment. Still, it was pretty damn good. The tortilla was amazing. I decided I wanted to have a burrito at any chance I could, for the rest of my time in Arizona.

breakfast burrito (photo courtesy of vegas seven)

A couple of days later, we went to The Morning Glory Cafe. By looking at the picture on the site, you can guess tell that it's probably not the best place to get Mexican food. You would be right. I got a breakfast burrito there, and it would have been alright, if I hadn't been to Salsitas a couple of days before. But I had been to Salsitas a couple of days before, so it was a bit of a dip, when it came to quality breakfast burritos. I probably should have gone for the French Toast my dad and grandmother went for. That was probably more up the Morning Glory Cafe's alley.

That evening, my family went to Macayo's for dinner. Macayo's is very good for what it is - a sit-down restaurant that caters to a very different crowd than the Salsitas crowd. It's staffed by what looks like ASU students, has a bunch of large plastic animals and that make it seem like some sort of faux safari, and caters to people who are in the middle-class bracket, out for a nice dinner. I had a combo plate that included a veggie tamale and a chili relleno. The tamale was very good - I should have gotten two of those and skipped the relleno, which was not so great. This was the day I had two Mexican meals, but felt like I barely had one. Something about the ambiance in those places took away from the authenticity of the meals for me.

We headed for Flagstaff on the 27th, but not before another visit to Salsitas. This time, it was lunchtime, so I went for a Vegetarian Burrito. Not the best I've had, I have to say, so I was left with a bit of a sour taste, figuratively, and literally (from the onions) that afternoon. I was saddened that my last trip to Salsitas in years would not be the best tasting burrito one could ask for. It was, however, better than any veggie burrito I had had in years, so that was something.

Except for Mable's awesome guacamole, I didn't have anything Mexican-ish for a couple of days, until the 30th, when we went to Los Altenos. I had another breakfast burrito, and it was good; not Salsitas good, but still very good. What struck me about this place was the friendliness of the people there. A kid, who was a customer with his parents, came up to Lauren and said hi. The owner/runner of the restaurant gave a guy a free upgrade to his drink for no apparent reason, and came by to make sure we were doing okay, even though it's not the kind of place where people usually come up to you and ask if you're okay. It was good.

On New Year's Eve day (again, seems odd to read), we went to MartAnne's with the Lews. My big takeaway from this meal was the wait. Over an hour passed between when we were seated and when we got our food. This is after the 1/2 hour wait to be seated. Needless to say, it's a popular place, and one could see why. The food was very good, except that there was some sort of Italian-y sauce that was put on my food that seemed off. I went with Huevos Rancheros. Normally, that's not my meal of choice, and I gave serious thought to getting another Breakfast Burrito, but I thought that might be overkill. It was a good meal, a HUGE meal, so much so that I had leftovers for lunch the next day.

MartAnne's Huevos Rancheros (photo courtesy of trover)

On the 2nd of January, the day we were leaving Arizona, we headed from Flagstaff to Phoenix, with one stop before we dropped Lauren off at the airport - a stop at a different Salsitas. Of all the places I ate on this trip, this had the most authentic feel to it. The restaurant was blasting music videos by Jenni Rivera (who had tragically died a few weeks before). The music was so loud, we could barely hear each other, or the woman who took our order. This, combined with a degree of a language barrier between us ad the order taker, left me worried I would not get what I wanted, but I did. Another awesome breakfast burrito from Salsitas. The tortilla was bordering on being charred in some spots, but that somehow made it all the better. I dare say, this breakfast burrito was better than the other Salsitas one I had. Even with the loud music, and the language barrier, or maybe because of it, it was a great way to end my 10 days of Mexican food.

I'm hoping to go to Arizona (and possibly California) next December, and so I have to live through 11 1/2 months of not having good Mexican food. Or I can look at it as having 11 1/2 months to anticipate about 10 days. I can't wait!