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El Azteca Restaurant2600 E. Seventh, 477-4701
Mon-Thu, 11am-9pm
Fri & Sat, 11am-midnightA friend and I had lunch at El Azteca for old times' sake the other day. We'd both been customers of the Eastside landmark since our college days, witnessed a Democratic political meeting or two there over the years, and displayed our share of the distinctive Aztec calendars for which they are justifiably famous. Somehow, we'd just gotten out of the habit of regular visits and it was time to correct the oversight. George Guerra welcomed us personally. He's taken over the day-to-day operation from his parents and he learned his hospitality lessons very well from the masters.
Reading El Azteca's placemat menus is a Tex-Mex restaurant history lesson in itself. There is still a small section of American food (burgers, chicken, shrimp, steak, chicken-fried) and a section of numbered combination dinners from the days when those were necessities. They were one of the first Mexican eateries to add a large section "for our vegetarian customers and friends," circa the early Seventies. The elder Guerra added cabrito (kid goat) to the menu and even took a stab at raising goats commercially for a few years during the Eighties. As local restaurant patrons became more sophisticated, the Guerras added a few Interior Mexican dishes to the basic Tex-Mex fare. However, each dinner still includes a small, comforting scoop of sherbet or cinnamon-scented polvorone cookie, for years the standard traditional sweet finale to any spicy Tex-Mex meal.
With all those choices, I was still drawn back to my standard El Azteca meal, one that I've enjoyed hundreds of times over the years. It's every bit as good as I remembered. It begins with hot chips and Chile con Queso ($3.25 small, $4.95 large), which is of the traditional Tex-Mex variety: a thick sauce of melted American cheese mixed with the house hot sauce. Once we'd polished that off, it was on to entrées. El Azteca is one of the few local restaurants in town to serve cabrito and the only place I've ever found Cabrito Flautas ($5.95), flutes of corn tortilla filled with tender pieces of goat meat, delicately fried and napped with a fiery fresh ranchero sauce. The flautas come with savory Spanish rice and hearty refried pinto beans. My friend opted for her favorite, the three Cheese Enchiladas with Salsa Verde ($6.50), rice, and beans. She assured me that it, too, has stood the test of time. Plates clean, appetites satisfied, we ended the meal with soft, sandy Mexican wedding cookies, polvorones. Fresh from the oven, they were so delightful I had to have a bag to take home. They'll remind me not to wait so long before visiting El Azteca again.
-- Virginia B. Wood