One of the reasons I began doing this blog, aside from the main reason of keeping family and friends informed, is to help myself remember which places I will or will not go to and why, because I tend to forget. Like last night, when Jeannine and I decided to go to El Tenampa's Authentic Mexican Food on Rt. 72 East in Manahawkin. Jeannine was on the phone with my parents, inviting them, and then it clicked and I said, "Wait, did I say I wouldn't go to this place again?" Jeannine said I hadn't said that, after a strange pause. I knew something was up. I remember saying I wouldn't go there again after a particularly horrible take out incident with them in which my meal was extra-salty (and that's saying a lot) and Jeannine's dish, which I believe was a Taco Salad or something, amounted to a few pieces of dry meat on a small stack of brown, soggy lettuce. But I couldn't remember if I said I wouldn't go there after our last dine-in experience. So off I went, only to have my suspicions confirmed in the car that I indeed said I would never go there again. But we were on the way, and hey, it's the only Mexican food joint in town, especially during the winter.
I picked up a six-pack of Negra Modelo, because there's something about beer in general, and that beer specifically, that goes so perfectly with the spicy hotness you get from Mexican. We got there, saw Mike Demio, said hello, then sat down at a table my parents had already picked out. The place was packed, but the waitress, upon seeing the beer in tow, brought over a bottle opener quickly. Highlights include my Mom drinking a beer "for the first time in thirty years of marriage," according to my Dad, and from the bottle no less. There were already chips and salsa, which I love to a fault, almost. Nothing's worse than when you go to a Mexican place and they don't bring chips out. I don't go to those kinds of places again.
The order was quick to be taken and the food was quickly brought out, which is one thing that I like about Mexican food: the speedy delivery. I got a chicken chimichanga, which was really good and packed with meat and cheese all wrapped in a thick, chewy tortilla, deep-fried, and covered in cheese and a nice hot sauce. The downside of the dish: the price.
In my opinion, Mexican is to be exalted for a triumvirate of traits that should be inherent to all Mex food: it's quick, it's cheap, and it's delicious. Unfortunately, it seems like a lot of places, especially in the Manahawkin/LBI area, while adhering to the first and third of these, seem to have forgotten about the second, and sometimes most important, of the three. All the ingredients in Mexican are relatively cheap, and with a small side of beans and rice, I fail to see how a chimichanga should cost over 13 dollars. I don't know, I may have been spoiled by the likes of Fresca Tortilla in Queens, who could deliver food for two, by bike, in the snow, in under five minutes for under $10 (none of that is an exaggeration), and Cinco de Mayo in New Brunswick, which was open for about 21 hours a day and delivered some of the biggest, most delicious Mexican I've ever had for about 1/3 the price of a movie ticket (no lie, check out the menu for prices). These places believed in and adhered to the trinity of qualities that make Mexican so good, but sadly there are those who just can't keep the faith.
But that's not to say the food wasn't good, because it was. It was so good. And so was dessert. I don't usually get dessert out, unless it's a really nice place or a special occasion, but almost everything they had on the dessert menu had the words "deep-fried" and "ice-cream" in the descriptions, so I felt obligated. Jeannine and I split the Cheesecake Chimichangas, which consisted of cheesecake rolled in a crispy pastry shell and then, you guessed it, deep-fried, and served with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, and chocolate sauce. Ridiculous. To my pleasure and my detriment, Jeannine could only eat a few bites, and I was bound to finish it (waste not, want not) and by that time I was full.
At around three in the morning, both Jeannine and I were wide awake with a vicious case of Salting, which occurs when one has consumed too much salt. I, who never has trouble sleeping, could not get back to sleep, tossing around in dry-mouthed delirium until I got up and read for a while. Jeannine suffered a similar fate. I know Mexican food is salty, but this was in excess of the norm. I've been delirious with fever and hallucinated that aliens were talking to me, that is not a lie, and this was almost as bad (well, that's an exaggeration, but you get it).
So, will I go back to El Tenampa's? The price's have gone up since they first opened, and the food quality has dropped a bit, not to mention the salt. But, they are the only option as far as Mexican in the Wintertime. To translate the title of this review: "I will never go there again, but I might."
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