El Azabache

http://www.elazabacherestaurant.com/

4200 S. East St., Indianapolis - IN (reviewed)

9976 E. Washington St., Indianapolis - IN

One of my college friends asked that I review an authentic Mexican restaurant. I hope this works for you Mary, but it might not be on your side of town.

Of all days to crave Mexican food, Cinco de Mayo is the day we spontaneously decided to lunch at El Azabache. As you can imagine, the place was packed.

After being seated, the table is given chips and salsa, as is customary with moth Mexican food places. The salsa was nothing spectacular, but better than overly processed jar salsa. That said, I still ate my fair share. :) One of the advantages of going at lunch is that they have lunch sized portions (and prices) of most of their popular menu items. This was my choice as they were advertising a new item, Arroz con Pollo.

Arroz con Pollo: Chicken Fajita covered with cheese dip, guacamole salad and Pico de Gallo. Served with a side of rice and flour tortillas.

Typically, I order light when eating Mexican food because I fill up on chips and salsa. However, this time, the Arroz con Pollo sounded like exactly what I wanted. Once the dish hit the table, it was on! The aroma was tantalizing, and the food was right there to meet, if not exceed, the reputation the aroma gave. Everything was paired nicely together and worked almost to perfection. I ran out of tortillas and progressed to using chips, which played nicely as well. Even though I had gorged myself on chips and salsa, I found room to finish, even if I might have been worthless the rest of the afternoon (kidding).

For being probably the busiest day of the year, El Azabache was well prepared. The servers were great and there was a mariachi band roaming and serenading all of the patrons. Since we went for lunch, none of us partook in the adult beverages. However, if you are looking for a Mexican beer (all of the big players), Margarita, or shots of Tequila (wide selection as well), they have them to accompany the great food.

I will be going back to this place! As I'm writing, I'm dreaming of the Arroz con Pollo again!