The Food Dude

Some Changes for Diego's good, some not

Posted September 21, 2010 by David Cathey Comment on this article Leave a comment

When Diego’s Mexican Restaurant moved from its previous location on NW 39th Expressway to 1501 nNW 23rd in the space previously occupied by Tom and Jerry’s and the ill-fated and ill-executed Mexicasa, I was thrilled for the area and for Diego’s.

I had been to Diego’s many times in Warr Acres, loved their menu, which fused the Tex-Mex we’re used to with a full-scale taqueria menu. But the place was a bit of a dump. Great Jetson’s-era architecture but still in need of a lot of work to overcome the overall feeling that the place needed to be razed or thoroughly remodeled.

And since that’s what Diego’s got when it moved I was ecstatic. But when I opened the menu at the new place, I was sad to find the taqueria section was gone. The revised menu does carry one entree that includes four street-style tacos, but now rather than costing a buck and a half, you pay upwards of 10 bucks for four tacos plus beans and rice.

On the other hand, Diego’s is a major upgrade over Mexicasa. The space, which began as a Captain D’s, was brilliantly remodeled for Tom and Jerry’s. So, of all the Mexican food purveyors from Aguascalientes, Diego’s has by far the the nicest space.

On my latest trip, Greg Elwell and started with the salsa especial. It’s similar to what you’ll get at Abel’s, a large molcajete filled with roasted tomatoes, chiles and onions dotted with fresh avocado wedges. This is delicious stuff, though a little tamer than I’m used to. On the other hand, I have a feeling the ferocity of the sauce could easily regulated up the inferno scale. On a previous visit, I tried the Salsa Guajillo, which was a little like the final shootout in “The Wild Bunch” in my mouth. I thought at the time that the sauce was great, but seemed less suited for dripping off the end of a fried tortilla chip than as a braising liquid for cubed pork shoulder. With either sauce, you get a boatload so if you’re a party of two be prepared to take some home.
I tried the aforementioned taco platter. I loved the presentation, topping each with avocado slices and sliced radishes on the side. The corn tortillas were mediocre, so they could’ve used the introduction of a little fat to give them life. The fillings were solid and accompanied by better than average beans and rice.

Greg got guiso, which typically is served with more gravy. However, I got a similar guiso at Abel’s, which made me wonder if that’s the

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