Mexican Food

Sigh. I think I have given up. Not on life. Not of medicine. Heck, not even on marriage. Yes, on Mexican food. Funny thing is, Matt, JC (our friend), and I are actually talking about it right now and trying a new place. Maybe I am not getting the correct type of food. Matt always gets nachos. No matter what. No matter when. He will get nachos. Easy to guess. I try to switch it up however. Sometimes a combo plate, sometimes a quesadilla, sometimes a chimi. And maybe I need to stay away from things not wrapped in tortillas. I feel that sometimes it is easy to just wrap some under-seasoned meat into a tortilla and throw some half attempted sauce on top. In fact, that is usually my cooking at home. But really? At a restaurant? I don't know why I am in such disbelief. Mexican food has been a consistent let down in my life. I find that the best "Mexican" food I get is at non Mexican places. I have hypothesized about this a lot, and here is what I came up with:

True, real Mexican food, which I have had maybe once or twice, is too spicy for regular people to want it all the time. Ergo --> Americanized Mexican food. I am not talking Tex Mex here. I am talking: bland meat - velveta - tortilla - bad sauce - bad garnish. Maybe I need to get the dinner plates (things not wrapped in tortillas)? Maybe I need to suck it up, go to South O, and get me some good Mexican. Anyone want to come? Let's go. This leads up to my restaurant review:

Salgado's: (Yes, it is an urbanspoon website) Matt and I as well as some of his coworkers tried to go here over a year ago. Unfortunately we tried to go the weekend it was writen up in the paper. Oops. Bad mistake. Table for 5? 1hr. No thanks. Take two: this past weekend (heck, we usually go to happy hour at a Tex Mex place for super cheap to get our Mexican nacho fix...and by 'our' I mean Matt's). This time the place is practically empty, but they have Breckenridge Agave Wheat on their menu...cue excited Becky. Alas, secondary to a rough night the night before, I pass. (+) #1....free chips! I strongly dislike Mexican places that charge for chips. Yeah, I said it. We were all thinking it. They bring us 3 dipping choices: salsa fresca, mild salsa, and bean dip. 1 & 2, meh. No thanks. Give me my food processor, and I am 100% sure I can do better. That bean dip? Amazing. Matt ate it all. In one shot. The bite I got was delicious. Matt got nacho's: par. Becky got verde enchiladas: meh. Chicken was tender but under seasoned. Verde salsa was under seasoned. Cheese was...cheese. The rice, however, was actually really good. Usually the rice is something I can do without, resist in fact. Not this time. The rice was really good. The beans were beans. I can never resist refried beans.

I will try to rate things consistently on a 0-5 scale. 0: never again. 1: if someone else (Matt doesn't count) is paying. 2: If it is a big group and they decide on it. 3: Only on Matt's request. 4: Oh yeah, I like this place, I will suggest this next month or so. 5: GET ME THERE NOW!!!! (In retrospect, that seems like an odd scale, but it is what it is)

Service: decent, par. Cleanliness: par. Ambiance: slightly better than par. Menu: slightly below par. OVERALL: 2. If a party were going and decided on this place, I would still go and enjoy the company