It's certainly not hard to find Tex-Mex in our neighborhood, and not too difficult to find competent Tex-Mex either. What's difficult is to stand out. El Chaparro does manage to differentiate itself in a couple of ways. It claims to be "Mex-Mex" rather than Tex-Mex, but that's not one of them. However we had a good time the last time we went.
We came in on a busy Saturday night with a party of eight, and lo and
behold, there was an 8-top open! So off to a good start. El Chaparro
covers all the bases for Tex-Mex, and does them with reasonable flair.
We started off with a queso, which has nice color with the green and
red chiles but is otherwise pretty normal. I had the pork carnitas, and
they were tender and juicy, which doesn't happen every time. It's a
different recipe, a bit more acid than I'm used to, but if they are
tender they win me over. My wife had the 3 enchilada plate--a nice
chicken-foot presentation and good execution. Others had tacos,
quesadillas, and a taco salad. All were happy. The taco salad was as
big as your head--not that unusual, and mostly lettuce, but fun anyway.
They
have free ice cream for a sweet finish, and it's good. I went for the
"fried" ice cream. I say "fried" because it is not fried (some places
do that, but not here). It was vanilla ice cream and whipped cream in a
churro shell, coated with corn flakes. The garnish was a strawberry
the size of a tangerine which was beautifully ripe. I don't like
strawberries much but my daughter assured me it was a good one. Maybe
not the genuine article but a nice finish, I was happy I got it.
The
interior is pleasant, with a nice textured wall treatment and lots of
art. So for me, it stands out for presentation--the aesthetics are above average. On the downside, it got pretty noisy, it was something of a relief to get out. The place is family friendly, there were
many families with young children there. We'll likely be back.
My Yelp Review
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