Today I had some business in the Big City, and concluded it right before 11am. Time for lunch. Hadn't eaten at a Mexican place for ages, so went to (what I found out USED to be the best place in town)and ordered the lunch special: A chimichanga, Spanish rice and refried black beans, for $10.00. Now this place USED to have the most delicious beans--I know they came out of a premade container etc. but they were always so delicious.

I've never had a chimichanga before so thought why not try it? Okay, the waitress brings the ubiquitous salsa, which was really good, and chips, and really good iced tea. Soon the food arrived. It was a big fat burrito looking thing consisting of: A flour tortilla with ground beef inside, rolled up and fried, with a spoonful of some kind of gravy on top, a congealed blob of Spanish rice, and the refried black beans. First the beans: they tasted old and leftover, maybe from a day or two before. Big disappointment. I didn't even try the rice. The chimichanga meat tasted like ground beef that's on the verge of going bad, with that incipient whangy flavor. The tortilla it was wrapped in was tough and hard to cut into. Should I just pay and leave, or say something?

I called the waitress over and asked to see the manager. Here comes this kid that looks to be 18, wearing a baseball cap turned backward, bad acne and bad teeth and identifies himself as the manager. What do I know? Maybe he was the dishwasher they brought out for show. I told him the food was inedible and why. He says okay, order something else, no charge on the first plate. I ordered two enchiladas. I waited and waited and waited. Customers started coming in. I waited. I finally left $5.00 on the table for the tea and tip for the waitress and left.

If that was really the manager, and the food is that bad, I can understand why the several new Mexican places in town are going to run them out of business. Besides, this place used to have the most gorgeous healthy patch of cacti out front that I have ever seen. They produced beautiful flowers in the spring, and cactus pears that when cut open looked like a strawberry and tasted like it to. Wonderful plants! A waiter said they had dug them up and thrown them away and put gravel there--somebody might hurt themselves on the cactus so they had gotten rid of them. Sigh. They should have left the cacti and gotten rid of the restaurant.

susil