Enchiladas y Mas

Enchiladas y Mas

1911 Anderson, 467-7100

Sun-Mon, 7am-2:30pm; Tue-Sat, 7am-9:30pm

It's a risky business, the restaurant game. And riskier still when you manage to get a successful eatery with a loyal clientele off the ground and you decide to gamble with something as basic as its location. That's just what the folks at Enchiladas y Mas did when they moved their minuscule restaurant from its familiar location in the kelly green building on I-35 to a more spacious location on Anderson Lane. Sometimes a restaurant can leave its patrons waiting in the old parking lot with bewildered faces before they sigh and decide to go elsewhere. The folks at Enchiladas y Mas dodged that bullet, as they are now firmly ensconced in their new digs at a bright, new location. While they gambled on the move, they stayed true to their old menu and its successes.

What established the loyalty of legions of patrons is the honest, dependable food. On a recent lunch, my compadres and I sampled a smattering of options from the comforting menu. The combination plate of queso, taco, and guacamole ($4.95) was a quintessential Tex-Mex plate. The queso was the ultra-smooth variety, mild enough for the youngest, most virgin of palates. The guacamole was presented on chopped iceberg lettuce with a couple of sliced tomato pieces tossed on as a garnish -- completely unnecessary except as a color contrast. And the taco was the kind your mother made for you, if you were lucky. Crunchy, filled with chili-scented beef, and topped with some shredded iceberg lettuce for cool contrast.

The cheese enchiladas ($4.95) are served topped with a meat sauce (which defeats the purpose of a vegetarian selection, if that's your aim). They are appropriately gooey and flavorful, although without the usual ring of yellow grease that typically rims plates of such entrees. The requisite beans and rice were a definite cut above the ordinary, particularly the beans. They are of the refried variety, but they retain some of their texture; they are more than a dollop of flavorful mush. A note to vegetarians: Non-meat toppings are available on request.

While all these choices are good, what sets Enchiladas y Mas apart from other respectable Tex-Mex joints is their migas. Specifically, the chorizo migas ($5.25). These beauties would keep legions of fans consulting road maps wherever the restaurant relocated. A restorative platter of eggs, sliced serranos, tortilla strips, and crumbled chorizo all scrambled together with cheese, this is a dish to cure the effects of a large life or excessive drink. The serranos provide enough fire to recharge your batteries, the eggs and cheese smooth the bumps in the road, and the chorizo gives ample body to the whole affair. Not too greasy a feat considering the sausage. Not too tough, as over-scrambled eggs can be. This breakfast is perfect any time of day.

Service here is bustling, friendly (I was twice referred to as "sweetheart"), and efficient, which suits the atmosphere perfectly. All told, we breathed a sigh of contented relief as we left the restaurant. Relieved that a favorite hasn't lost anything in the relocation, and contented with a familiar, satisfying lunch that kept going all day.