Making a run for the border

For our innaugural post, my buddy and I decided to go to a place a little out of the way from the office. It's a Mexican place called Miguelito's, and it's in an area of town that was beginning to look run down in 1986. When we arrived two cops were coming out of the restaurant having just finished lunch. They looked happy so I figured that was a good sign. However, things got better when we walked inside.

There at the register were two real live Texas Rangers. No, not baseball players, actual real live rangers! They had on the cowboy hats, gun on the hip, regulation cowboy boots and even the badge pinned to the shirt (star inside a circle). We were giddy. We always hear about rangers on the news but never see them. That was an excellent start to lunch.

My buddy had eaten here before several years ago but it was my first time to M's. What immediately stood out was the bar area, which was festive and allowed smoking. Also, it is much larger on the inside than the parking lot allows, so just because the lot is full doesn't mean you can't get a seat.

When we sat down the first thing I noticed was they keep salsa in a caraffe on the table and chips were brought immediately. The salsa was not chunky, but was slightly thick. It had a nice sweetness, a little heat, and they didn't over do it on the cillantro. I like the flavor of cillantro, but some places use too much. That was not the case here. Unfortunately, the chips could have been better. They were fresh but brittle and didn't have much corn flavor. That said, they were an adequate vehicle for the salsa and what would come later.

Next we got the chili con queso. It was the real deal. Excellent flavor with enough peppers to know it's not just cheese sauce, and it didn't have the thickening agents that a lot of Tex-Mex places use. I highly recommend the chili con queso but, as you will soon see, queso will be the vehicle that brings this all together.

The menu has a lot of options, including a few American items if you are eating with someone who is insane and won't eat Mexican food. The lunch platters are reasonable in price as most items are under $6. I decided to go with the cheese taco platter. They are really cheese enchilladas but with a queso sauce instead of a chili sauce. They were excellent. The platter also came with rice and beans. The beans were a little to loose for refried and needed some salt, but they were quite good.

I am giving the rice its own paragraph because I am wierd about mexican rice. In my humble opinion mexican rice requires a small amount of butter and a good helping of salsa mixed into it. Fortunately the salsa mentioned above was very good and by the time I had finished my rice ritual it was fantastic. The rice thing comes from my mom who grew up in New Mexico and said that's how they always ate rice there. That may or may not be true but it's freaking awesome and I will continue to eat mexican rice that way until the end.When we left I was full but not stuffed and my wallet didn't feel like it had been on a diet.

It was a little far from work, but it was doable. I had a great time; the food and atmosphere was great, the staff was friendly and you could tell it was a place that people who work and live in the area frequent. Overall a great experience and I will go again. Perhaps we will review it agan and I'll try a different item on the menu. Stay tuned for the second half of the review from my co-worker and friend coming later this weekend.