Mexican?

Kate wrote:
>
>Okay. Before you all suggest that Rio Grande place, let me ask....does anyone
>know of a good Mexican restaurant that *doesn't* use lard all over the place?
>Man, I miss Mexican restaurant food.

Lauriol Plaza, at 18th and S streets, is good and doesn't use lard. Says so right on the menu. We ate there yesterday and had a very nice meal.

We at at El Puerto's "sister" restaurant, Lupitas, in Van Dorn Station (a strip mall) last night. They're both owned by the same family.  My wife had a chicken burrito, a beef enchilada, and a beef taco. The burrito and the enchildada both had some unusual spicing that we couldn't identify. The chicken worked okay with the spicing, but the beef did not. The beef taco wasn't remarkable, but it was "pretty good."

My daughter had a beef enchildada (identical to my wife's), and she didn't care for it at all.

I had the fried chimichangas, with shredded beef. Here, the spicing was different from the enchiladas and was actually pretty good. The size of the chimichangas, however was very thin, with well less than an ounce of beef in each one (they looked more like flautas). Despite the good taste, the execution was flawed because they were burned. They also offer the chimichangas baked, which--in hindsight--might've been better.

The tortilla chips that came before the dinner were also overcooked. They were overly brown and tasted burnt. This was true of both baskets. One silver lining was the salsa, howver, which was fresh, plentiful, excellent, and very spicy.

Another silver lining was that the quesadilla we had as an appetizer was excellent (i.e., tasty and not burnt). Unfortunately, they brought the quesadilla with the main course, rather than as an appetizer. Nonetheless, it was executed perfectly.

Service was competent, albeit a bit sluggish. It took a bit too long to get the check. However, the wait wasn't unpleasant since the entire restaurant is non-smoking. We'll try El Puerto, next time, to see if the execution and spicing are different.

And, yes, Lupitas has an ABC license. The Tecate was nice and cold.

Someone wrote:

# 1) Mi Rancho, off Ga. Avenue in Silver Spring. Not only is the menu
# extensive and delicious (prob. the best chile relleno in the DC area),
# but friends of ours tell us you can get the flour tortillas fresh to
# go to use at home.

Ugh. Worst ceviche I've ever encountered.

</eal>