Carne Asada Taco from El Paisa Grill (after a trip to the salsa bar)

Hello taco lovers, I am the new taco taster around here, and I simply want to persuade you to partake and enjoy all of the Mexican-American food dining experiences that are uniquely available to those of us in this part of the world. I grew up in the Salt Lake area, so I know a thing or two about where to get a good taco around here.

For my first outing I decided to go to one of my all-time favorite spots, El Paisa Grill. I have probably eaten here over 200 times in my lifetime, and it is always good!

It is open for lunch or dinner and also has a killer weekend brunch. Each of those time slots will make for different experiences with various menu offerings at this place. Good lunch specials, and it also has a secret discoteca switch that gets flipped on for Friday and Saturday nights, better than any Port ‘O Call party you’ve ever heard about. Did I say they have an awesome weekend breakfast/brunch?

¡La Original Casa Del Molcajete!

It is easy to find, just take the nearest route to the 201 and exit on 3200 West. The restaurant is directly to the south of the 201 freeway, so turn accordingly to the direction you face when exiting on 3200 West. (Click the address at the beginning of this post to view a Google map) It is on the west side of the street, almost directly across the  from Grinders 13, which (by the way) is a great lunch/sandwich place.

I went on a Sunday afternoon at about 3pm. I knew we would just miss the brunch crowd. The dinner shift was just beginning, but that is not to say the tables were not full. One the reasons for liking this place is the amount of activity, it is usually full, and there is usually some form of live music on stage, or walking around to tables. A band in cowboy hats was warming up, they even had an acordian player.

The mission of this trip was to order a molcajete dish. Which basically means that it is something served (and sometimes cooked) in a HOT stone bowl. I had been here plenty of times to have taken note of the popularity of the dish here, but I always stuck with ordering the various tacos and burritos they have available. I cheered about the new signs that now feature a bowl of molcajete for the logo.

mmm...michelada

The complimentary chips and salsa and my michelada arrived. Somewhat similar to what Budwiser is selling as “Chelada” in a tall can, it is a Mexican Beer (Tecate, Dos Equis, etc.) mixed with a bloody mary type mix. Sometimes with lime juice and salt. Usually it is about half beer/half tomato juice mix, but these are one of those items that will be different every time you order it. Some are really good, this one was good.

Supreme Grill Molcajete

We ordered the “Supreme Grill Molcajete” described as a beef, chicken and shrimps with a special green sauce, green nopales and cilantro and onions. Definitely a dish dominated by a lot of meat, the cost for this was around $20, but it could probably serve 3 belly-fulls just fine. I also ordered a carne asada taco for $1.50 and for no apparent reason.

Everything was extremely good as usual, the molcajete was brought in bubbling. We slowly just picked the hot stuff out of the molcajete bowl to put on tortillas, very much like rolling your own tacos or burritos. Adding various things found at the salsa bar to them was good too. The thing that made this molcajete bowl so tasty was definitely the green sauce, it is like a chili verde. I think there might be some queso mixed in it, because it is a bit creamy. I loved the roasted jalapenos too, but I like those anywhere.

Stay tuned, I’m planning on going to El Rodeo Market for lunch very soon.