I don’t do this too often any more, because….well, if you don’t have something nice to say, and all that. But I’d like to give the FB world a quick review of a place where we ate Saturday. I freely admit that living in San Antonio for 15 years definitely sharpened my taste for Mexican food (or, as North Texas white people put it, made me a “Mexican food snob”). No amount of words can truly describe the disappointment of moving back here 11 years ago and learning that it’s impossible to find good Mexican food. The best place we had found heretofore was a place in Oak Cliff introduced to me by my boss at the time. I do love Ellis County, but it’s the whitest county in North Texas for sure, and when that comes to Mexican food it means nothing good. What’s worse, the folks moving here from California and other foreign places are influencing our local grocery store to stock made-up Hippie White People Fare like “peach mango salsa,” whatever that is. North Texas has been just a wasteland when it comes to this category of food.
But my wife and I stumbled upon a rather decent place Saturday. It’s called Tio Tony’s, in Midlothian. It’s a low-budget affair; they’ve spent precious little on ambience and the restaurant is unassuming and, well, very “Midlothian”-looking. But we were pleasantly surprised. For starters, the salsa was great. This seems to be the hardest thing in the world to get right, for some reason….but it was a fine combination of taste and heat that grew better with each bite. The flour tortillas were homemade, which is a “must” that is also rare in these parts (no matter what they tell you, most of these spots do NOT have homemade tortillas). I had the fajitas, mostly because it’s hard to really mess that up (unless you’re Chili’s) and I didn’t want to gamble. The meat was definitely seasoned by someone who shops at one of those street-level tiendas; it was not subtle, but quite forward in its excellence. The service was incredible; the waitstaff were attentive and courteous, and evidently proud of their establishment (which they should be). Where service is concerned, I have to give this restaurant high marks in the CPWF (COVID PANTS-WETTING FACTOR). They were careful without being overly authoritarian, and the sense of panic we usually see in the city was not present. They seemed to understand that a bit of care and courtesy goes a long way to preventing problems here, rather than moralistic virtue-signaling about how compliant they are with ever-changing rules. I admit that I did not dive in and gamble with a more challenging menu item like rellenos or enchiladas (and I mean “challenging” in the sense that lots of other folks around here have a hard time with these), so I am admittedly giving a review of a one-time experience with a relatively easy menu item. But my wife was equally impressed, and she is like me in missing San Antonio’s superiority where food is concerned. The bell peppers and onions (which I normally do not like) were grilled to perfection.
Parking was ample, and the location of the restaurant wasn’t that difficult to find. Prices were reasonable, bordering on really cheap. If you have Weird Communist Hippie Food Allergies That Didn’t Exist Twenty Years Ago, you’ll be disappointed that these folks are old-school and have composed a menu that mercifully disregards such nonsense. I’m sure there’s some peach mango gluten-free eco-friendly mask-wearing Prius-driving salsa at HEB for you, if that’s the case. Where Mexican food is concerned, my heart will remain in San Antonio….but Tio Tony’s was a nice compromise to remind us that it’s possible to get this far north and enjoy good food.
