Time to pull a quick 180. My last review praised this little Latin American/Caribbean joint because…read moreit was bold enough to say our town was over inundated by taco jawns. Also colloquially known as taquerías. And now I find myself just LOVING the P. Rosel for its tacos.
Yes, we have a million kajillion taco shops in like a three mile radius. But they are all so freakin' good! I don't think having a million places that can dish out a top notch taco is necessarily a bad thing. I guess it gets kinda boring and redundant after awhile, but when you're craving a taco, it ends up being a blessing.
Now, I know these tacos are authentic, because they are served with stuff that I would never expect to be served with a taco. Like, a side of cucumber slices? And sliced radishes? Also, we have legit Mexican cheese here. Queso fresco. No pepper Jack here. I think that's what most Americans put on their homemade tacos. Some sort of cheddar. Pepper Jack if they're feisty. That's about as exotic as they go when it comes to cheese. Ok, ok, they sometimes use feta. "Oh hey, I made a Greek salad! It's a mix of Romaine lettuce and fried chicken, croutons, and FETA CHEESE! TOTALLY GREEK!"
In addition to a little taco sampler, I had snag some fajitas. Chicken was on the dry side, but I liked that they gave me a nice side of lettuce and pico de gallo. No sour cream, unfortunately. I'm serious about this - if you can find a Mexican place that serves a complimentary side of sour cream with fajitas or basically any entree, CHERISH THEM. Sour cream, as we we all know, as gone the way of guacamole. It's now a "premium" side that will cost you sometimes $1 or more. I'm pretty sure 10 years ago, restaurants were GIVING out sour cream because that shit sits in those commercial fridges so long, they NEED to give it away before it goes bad. But now we have to spend that stimulus money on those upsells that were once not a privilege, but a right.
The last dish I got was the Molcajete Ranchero. I thought I knew what "Ranchero" meant until this stage in my life. It apparently doesn't have anything to do with ranch dressing. This is one of their specialty dishes. Or maybe they just have amazing SEO. But when I Googled "Molcajete Ranchero," Paraiso Rosel was the first hit. Sadly, I think they screwed up my order. On their website, the description says it's grilled nopal with a bunch of other stuff. What is nopal, you ask? Well, it's cactus leaves, duh. I feel like the cactus leaves would have added a whole other dimension.
HAHAH, who am I kidding. I'm just complaining about the lack of something that I probably wouldn't have liked anyway. I'm complaining that something wasn't there, but if it was there, I'd complain about it because I would have thought the texture was "icky' or something. Now I know why restaurant owners pull their hair out when they read these reviews.
Alright, so my final take. Would I order from here again? I mean, probably? As mentioned before, we just have so many really great Mexican restaurants. And for real for real, I want to try them all. So it takes a helluva lot for me to re-order from a place when in the back of my mind I want to try a new place. Like, my time on this earth is limited, you know? I have high blood pressure. I drink too much. There's people still walking around without masks. I could croak any minute.
Now listen, if I lived within walking distance of this place, I'd go three times per week, easy. But a man's gotta live. I may never be back, but this was a meal I'll never forget (even if I never got to experience grilled cactus leaves).
