El Tarasco - St. Matthews

Admittedly, Mexican food is one of my favorites, so it'd have to be really screwed up for me to not like it. Therefore, this post may be a bit biased to begin with.

El Tarasco, located at 110 Fairfax Avenue in St. Matthews, has all your typical Mexican fare, or at least what we Americans expect going into it. There's a Speedy Gonzales dish on the menu, which I'm pretty sure is a staple of every single Mexican restaurant of this type in the area. I stopped in for lunch on a weekday and was greeted in halting English by a cheerful, if seemingly uncertain, server. I sat down in a cozy booth, and he immediately took my drink order (water) and hussled back with it and some chips and salsa. I munched on the warm chips, which I added a bit of salt to, while I checked out the menu. By the way, there are eight dishes on the lunch menu that are only $4.99. Jackpot!

I settled on #3, one enchilada with rice and beans, and I asked my server to bring me a side of sour cream as well. I busied myself with checking and responding to text messages and watching Spanish soap operas on the television bolted above the door. My food literally arrived in five minutes. Speedy Gonzales, indeed.

You know, what did I really expect? It was fine. Not amazing, not terrible. I'd ordered a beef enchilada, and the beef was noticibly seasoned, which I've found not to be the case in many restaurants. The enchilada sauce was ever so slightly spicy. I added some hot sauce and sour cream, which helped out quite a bit. The beans looked like baby food, as usual, and the rice needed salt. These are all things I knew going into it, and I'm okay with it. I will say that on occasions when I've come here for dinner and ordered something a little more adventurous, I haven't been disappointed.

Twenty minutes later, I paid my check, which came to $6.34 with tax. I left my server $2 and was on my way. Was is stellar? No. Will I go back? Of course. Sometimes I'm just not in the mood for surprises.

Cheers,
Fleur de Lunch.