Seth Dubner and Matt ReedTitillation Score: Titillating
From the moment you step out of the car, it smells like Mexico. The arousing aromas of supple roasting meats and succulent grilled vegetables intoxicate the air with the welcoming smell of Mexican seasoning. This is El Maguey.
You know a restaurant is good when the line of fanny-pack clad Midwesterners is protruding out the front door on a Tuesday evening. The slew of cars surrounding the restaurant immediately diverts your attention away from the barren parking lots which otherwise line the roadside in the area. We almost turned around to ask for directions as we passed by both Ted Drewes and the Catholic Supply Center of St. Louis, but El Maguey seemed to beckon to us with the glow of every Mexican beer sign in existence.
El Maguey is not the kind of restaurant that messes around. Everyone that works there has a mustache. There are no vibrating coasters or even a hostess to call you when your table is ready. You sit down to eat in the order that you show up at the door. They get you in and out of the restaurant faster than the Mexican border control. There are no fancy decorations besides Corona and Dos Equis advertisements. El Maguey merely offers traditional Mexican cuisine at a very reasonable price.
El Maguey is Spanish for agave, which is a plant that happens to be the main ingredient in a staple of the Mexican diet, Tequila. True to form, El Maguey offers a variety of margaritas to choose from. While you may only have three choices of flavors (lime, strawberry and pi¤a colada), your choice of size will undoubtedly determine the rest of your night. The sizes are 12 oz., 27 oz., and the mother of all margaritas, the 46 oz. variety. If you have the cojones to tackle the beast that is the 46 oz. margarita, your pants are surely coming off later that night, one way or another. If you want to drink a fair amount without spending as much, you and your amigos can share a small or large pitcher of margaritas. Though simple, El Maguey knows how to make a great margarita.
Like the interior d‚cor and the margaritas, El Maguey’s food is unsophisticated culinary prowess. Each meal begins with a basket of thick chips which never break in the bowl of El Maguey’s famous spicy, homemade salsa. El Maguey veterans will usually accompany this appetizer with a bowl of their famous cheese dip. The cheese dip and salsa combo creates a flavor fiesta in your mouth. When your chip count is getting low and you’re about to go all in, the waiter replenishes your table with a new basket of chips faster than you can say Tenochtitl n.
There are dozens of combination plates to choose from and also a number of entr‚e specials on the menu, including burritos, fajitas and steaks. The fajitas come in a variety of ways and are served for one or for two people to share. We chose to taste the fajita, “El Maguey” which included chicken, steak, chorizo and shrimp, as well as grilled peppers and onions with a side dish of all the standard fajita fixin’s. We ordered the plate for two, and when our waiter brought it to the table, we thought that one of the steaming hot platters could have easily filled us both. This was not the case. A second platter was soon to follow, and they were both as hot as a midsummer’s day in Guadalajara. The fajitas were so good that even after we had eaten enough to be full we still yearned for m s tortillas.
The food was overwhelmingly filling and, in true Mexican fashion, we felt the need to tip down our sombreros and take a peaceful nap after the satisfaction of a great Mexican meal. If El Maguey were a matador, we would have surely been the bull.
Imagine yourself sitting in Puerto Vallarta, sipping on a cold Mexican beer after Victor brings you a complimentary shot of tequila and has been calling you and your friends, amigos, all afternoon. While everyone is an amigo at El Maguey, you’re actually sitting across the street from Jesus’ Walmart, undoubtedly in the heart of Middle America. If all the Mexican restaurants in St. Louis were put into a pi¤ata, El Maguey would be the best prize that fell to the ground.
El Maguey (314-832-3632) is located at 7014 Chippewa St.