Friday, April 24, 2009

Yum Yum Num

It's always a battle for us. Finding good, authentic Mexican food in this state is a stinking battle. When we were in Laurel, we frequented Tampico, which is superb but now a thirty minute drive. I googled Mexican restaurants in and around Catonsville when we first moved here. Heck, I think I looked into it before we actually moved. There's not much, and what I did find seemed to either be your traditional combo #3 joint or an overpriced, upscale place (which is a bit of an oxy moron). So when we crave a good Mexican dinner, we make the trip to Tampico.

Then, while hanging out with Noe & Amanda (the former owners of our home) the other night, they told us about this place right in the heart of Catonsville, El Nayar. Sure, I'd seen the place, but wasn't sure what to think about it. I didn't realize it was brand new. And get this...it's BYOB! My step mom and I would eat at this Chinese hole in the wall in Augusta that was BYOB. It was so refreshing to be able to have a glass of wine during dinner that didn't cost as much as a bottle. Of course you have to be careful because you tend to drink the whole bottle. Anyways, we decided to check it out.

El Nayar was yummy, cheap, and family friendly. The kid's chicken quesadilla that came with a drink was only $4. Mat (our roommate & my BF's fiance) and I both ordered off the a-la-carte menu. I had a torta, a Mexican sandwich, that was uber delicious and not all that unhealthy. It doesn't come with any side dishes, but was plenty of food, and for $4, you can't complain. Mat had a quesadilla for $4 and these things that looked like chicken wings but they were actually pork (also off the a-la-carte menu, $4 for 2).

Blake actually helped Mat eat his pig wing things. At one point he dipped the pork into this red sauce, which was of course spicy. I hate to admit this, but despite my child's tears, I thought it was entirely hilarious when his first reaction to the burning tongue was to put the whole piece of hot sauce soaked pork in his mouth only to perpetuate the situation. I know...bad mommy.

Neil ordered the 3 taco platter with barbacoa meat. His reaction? "It's good." Now this might not mean much to you, but for Neil to actually admit something is good, then it means it's super good. His normal reaction is "it's not too bad." So score one for the tacos at El Nayar.

I can't tell you how exciting it is to find a place, near home (literally within walking distance), that we would consider frequenting. Congratulations El Nayar. You won our patronage.

2 comments:

Dave said...

Kind of ironic don't you think? THere are a lot of the mexican types around...Short story, My daughter and I went to the MVA (Which I found out stands for Mexican Vehicle Admin) I can comfortably guess that there was a 60% "hispanic" population there either renewing or applying for a license. Funny, when the legislature announces the new license requirements a few weeeks ago, I would venture a guess business picked up quite a bit...if they all had or worked for a good mexican place, we would have more than just Al Nayar...LOL

Good Blog!

Anonymous said...

Your old man loved Mexican. Told me he and Sherry would fly to Texas for some good Tex-Mex as often as they could. The next best Mexican you can find anywhere in the USA is right here in good old southern California. I tried Mexican in Alabama once. It wasn't even close. So come on over here and try some real Mexican.