El Pastor
Madison, like many other places that are not Berea, Kentucky, continues to disappoint me with its lack of decent Mexican food. Yesterday, as a sort of "pre-Father's Day" Father's Day dinner we had a late lunch at El Pastor on Park Street.
None of the good was any good. Well. The tortillas were good. They were nice and homemade and fresh.
The chips had been fried like two hours before we got there, so they were horrible.
The salsa that came with the chips was good. Lots of tomatillo in it. I could get down with it. Needed a whole lot more of it to go with the basket of chips we had. (To every silver lining, there is a cloud I guess.)
I ordered "Barbacoa (Lamb)". How could I go wrong? Slow cooked, shredded lamb, served with rice, beans, tortillas? It went horribly wrong right from the start. My plate came out 5 minutes later than the other two entrees, and that's after we waited probably 25 minutes. Keep in mind when I say "late" lunch I mean like 1:30, not 3 PM.
I should have known it was all wrong, because the restaurant stank. It was musty. There was a smell of old coffee, maybe stale cigarettes lurking underneath the fungal must. And there were other customers in there, who I assume were just as bewildered at their food as we were. One was a group of college-age people who didn't eat their food. That should've told me something there, but they didn't get their dishes until after we'd ordered.
My Barbacoa tasted like Arby's Roast Beef. Which while something I secretly and darkly enjoy (especially with Arby's horseradish sauce and curly fries - I love them curly fries I think they put drugs in them to make them addictive) is not something I ever expected to get at a Mexican restaurant.
So either the dark secret to Arby's Roast Beef is that it is in fact slow-cooked lamb... or I had a beef roast that was absolutely sad. It wasn't even properly shredded, someone had just put a fork in it and pulled it into a couple of chunks.
I couldn't taste it over the tortillas. I also got a nice half a lime and a bowl of cilantro and raw onions. I skipped the 'salad' such as it was.
The other two entrees fared only slightly better.
In short, do not eat at El Pastor.
None of the good was any good. Well. The tortillas were good. They were nice and homemade and fresh.
The chips had been fried like two hours before we got there, so they were horrible.
The salsa that came with the chips was good. Lots of tomatillo in it. I could get down with it. Needed a whole lot more of it to go with the basket of chips we had. (To every silver lining, there is a cloud I guess.)
I ordered "Barbacoa (Lamb)". How could I go wrong? Slow cooked, shredded lamb, served with rice, beans, tortillas? It went horribly wrong right from the start. My plate came out 5 minutes later than the other two entrees, and that's after we waited probably 25 minutes. Keep in mind when I say "late" lunch I mean like 1:30, not 3 PM.
I should have known it was all wrong, because the restaurant stank. It was musty. There was a smell of old coffee, maybe stale cigarettes lurking underneath the fungal must. And there were other customers in there, who I assume were just as bewildered at their food as we were. One was a group of college-age people who didn't eat their food. That should've told me something there, but they didn't get their dishes until after we'd ordered.
My Barbacoa tasted like Arby's Roast Beef. Which while something I secretly and darkly enjoy (especially with Arby's horseradish sauce and curly fries - I love them curly fries I think they put drugs in them to make them addictive) is not something I ever expected to get at a Mexican restaurant.
So either the dark secret to Arby's Roast Beef is that it is in fact slow-cooked lamb... or I had a beef roast that was absolutely sad. It wasn't even properly shredded, someone had just put a fork in it and pulled it into a couple of chunks.
I couldn't taste it over the tortillas. I also got a nice half a lime and a bowl of cilantro and raw onions. I skipped the 'salad' such as it was.
The other two entrees fared only slightly better.
In short, do not eat at El Pastor.