So I had assumed that a machete was a long blade suitable for cutting sugar cane and the like or a film series featuring Danny Trejo that Rotten Tomatoes describes as messy, violent, shallow and tasteless (but I'm a huge fan of Danny Trejo) but it turns out to be food also!
Located across the street from and almost midway between The American and The Ivanhoe on Main Street, Machete Ancestral Mexican Food is not in a prime real estate location but with the new hospital also going up across the road, it probably will be soon. It is a short walk from Main Street Station.
We felt ourselves surrounded by authenticity from the moment we entered (of course, we wouldn't know) including everything from the water glasses to the art on the walls. The fact that our hostess and owner hails from Jalisco and was dressed in her culturally appropriate attire also contributed. 
Naturally, they have tacos here. How could they not? What set them apart from the tacos that we are used to was the blue corn tortillas made in-house from masa ground with stones and lime! We ordered these two tacos with nopales in one and cremini mushrooms and cilantro in the other. Wonderful!
A trio of salsas accompanied our lunch one was of the fresh variety, one with dried smokey chillies and the third was tomatillo leaning. All were delicious and added some spice and complexity.
A Huarache is not something you see on every Mexican restaurant menu but they are not unheard of either. We ordered this one with Rojas Poblanos (trying to work our way through as many of the vegan fillings as possible) which was pleasantly spicy and smokey. Again the tortilla which in this case is a little more oval and longer than the taco, and served flat, was definitely a highlight. The vegan cheese was quite good also.
And finally, we tried the restaurant's namesake, the Machete. Notice that it is similar in shape to the weapon/tool of the same name! Now you know! With the tortillas here being more than spectacular, there is nothing wrong with more!
We ordered one half with pumpkin blossoms (above is the best photo I have of that).
The other half was with huitlacoche. If you are not familiar with it, Google it! Also known as Mexican truffle, it is a fungus that grows with corn and is a bit of a delicacy. Oh, and it tastes nothing like a truffle. Along with more of the decent melty vegan cheese and some greenery, this was quite a treat.
Everything about this place is warm, welcoming and authentic feeling. Apparently, they started in a commercial kitchen during the pandemic doing take-out and some of their customers insisted that they needed to open a restaurant. And so here they are. Doing miss this place whether you are vegan or other!
Food 5 out of 5
Vegan Options 4 out of 5
Comfort 4 1/2 out of 5
Service 5 out of 5
Value 5 out of 5
No comments:
Post a Comment