El Borrego de Oro

2374 FM 20, Red Rock; 512/303-5682
Daily, 6:30am-9:30pm

Head south from the track on FM 812 for about 16 miles and you’ll dead-end into Highway 20, which runs between Lockhart and Bas­trop, in the town of Red Rock. On the northwest corner of that intersection is El Borrego de Oro, the Golden Lamb. The original owners specialized in a lamb soup (hence the name); they relocated to Austin, but the name stuck. The current owners feature rock-solid Mexican fare at great prices, in the middle of nowhere. The spot is popular with the locals and the commuters heading into and out of Austin. The table salsa is nice and spicy and the chips crispy. Fajitas are a big draw here, as well as anything made from fajita meat: Think burritos, quesadillas, tacos, nachos compuestos. They feature a whopping, juice-dripping Mega Burger for just over $7 that comes with two patties, cheese, bacon, all the fixin’s, and papas fritas. All of the enchiladas are excellent, and the sauces have a nice level of zippiness; they don’t dumb it down. The tortilla soup has great richness that comes from slow-simmered stock; it is a meal in itself. Milanesa Laredo is the Mexican version of chicken-fried steak, golden-coated and fork tender, and their carne guisada is fall-apart succulent. If you want to splurge, get the camarones mojo de ajo (shrimp with garlic sauce), a couple of beef fajita tacos, and a side of queso compuesto. Good breakfast tacos and egg dishes are available as well.

This article appears in November 15 • 2013.

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Mick Vann is a retired Austin chef who is a food writer and restaurant critic, cookbook author, restaurant consultant, and recipe developer. He moonlights as a University of Texas horticulturist with a propensity for ethnic eats and international food, particularly of the Asian persuasion, but he also knows his way around a plate of soul food or barbecue.