El Potrero

On Wednesday night Helen, our friend Jennifer, and I ate at El Potrero, one of the many "Authentic Mexican Restaurants" in Flint. We've been there a few times before with mixed results, okay, mostly good results with only one not-so-good experience.

We like El Potrero because it has a fairly extensive menu, carrying things that most of the local "taco houses" do not carry, such as two kinds of mole (Ranchero and Poblano), seven seafood dinners, and five vegetarian "specialties." They also do a nice job with some of the less common menu items like chorizo and carne asada. The last two show up on some local restaurant menus, but El Potrero does a pretty decent job with them. Finally, one of our favorite things about El Potrero is they serve alcohol. Sometimes I just like to drink a Negro Modelo with my food. It makes it taste so much better.

On Wednesday, I felt like taco house food, so I ordered chimichangas. They were okay, but I reminded myself why I like this restaurant: chimichangas are boring. Helen, on the other hand, ordered the vegetarian fajitas, and I knew the moment I smelled them cooking in the kitchen that she ordered the right thing. The presentation was great, the portions were healthy, and the food was delicious. On the other hand, even sprinkling her fajitas on my chimichangas didn't save them.

One of the best meals we had there, we ordered the Bistec Tampiqueno, a T-bone steak served with the requisite rice and beans (we're still looking for a Mexican restaurant in Flint with decent rice and beans), guacamole salad, slices of fried potatoes, and flour tortillas.

The Mexican parrillada was excellent as well. It's strips of beef, chicken, shrimp, carnitas, and chorizo cooked with bell peppers, onions, tomatoes and squash. It is served with the requisite rice and beans, guacamole salad, and pico de gallo (which is pretty good).

The service was strong (which was nice because our last time there it was worse than poor), and owner came buy to check on things and carry away some dishes. Prices are reasonable ranging from about seven to twelve dollars for entrees.

El Portrero is located at 3756 S. Dort Highway at Atherton. It's located in the old Red Roof Ribs restaurant that used to be a pizza hut or something like that.

Enjoy.