Mariachi Restaurant (Canton, Michigan)

When we lived in Kalamazoo, there was a hole-in-the-wall Mexican grocery-store/restaurant that I completely loved. Authentic food, everyone working there seemed to be family, and the atmosphere said "hey, velvet paintings of half-nude Aztec princesses relaxing next to waterfalls is pure quality art." Yeah, it was great. One of my favorite things about Juanita's though was the tacos. Warmed, soft-shell corn tortillas with shredded pork, cilantro and onions....and nothing else, made for the lunch of champions. In fact, I ate there nearly every friday for 9 years. I tell you this so that you understand: I'm really picky about my mexican food. Don Pablo's won't do, Chi-Chi's is an abomination and I don't really have any room in my life for Rio Bravo or any of the other "giant burritos are AWESOME BABY" restaurants that mistake quantity for quantity.

Imagine then my pleased surprise to stumble into a nicely decorated mexican joint near Ikea (where you don't necessarily expect to find great food) in strip-mall-ville USA (Canton, MIchigan) that served authentic Puerto Vallartan dishes at incredible prices, and even put up with two toddlers throwing salsa like it was confetti.

Mariachi Restaurant came highly recommended (passionately recommended even) by a good friend of mine, Erik, who also works for a hospital as a P.A. (so I assume he knows what's good for me). I had him tell me what to order and how to get there. I even let him tell me which beer to get (when it comes to making my own choices beer ranks up there with hot dogs as something about which I arrogantly claim expertise).

The lunch was outstanding. I'm drooling as I write this. Mariachi (there were no Mariachis by the way...that's a dinner-time feature I'm told) has several home-made salsas to mix with their home-made chips. They were all great of course, but there was one that had cucumers and jalepenos that was so delicious (sweet and hot at the same time with that unique coldness that only cucumbers can impart) we were left wishing it came in giant soup bowls so we could stuff ourselves.

Thankfully we resisted the urge to goldfish on chips and salsa. The ceviche was a great starter, served on nice crispy tostadas, and sprayed with lime wedges. I'm pretty sure "real" seviche is raw and this stuff was cooked (I think) but it was really good. Good enough to get again and certainly good enough to recommend to others.

For lunch Megan had enchiladas (shredded beef) which were expectedly tasty (can you crew up enchiladas?) but nothing terribly unique. Just good wholesome enchiladas.

The stuff that sealed the deal was the tacos, Vallarta style. We had carniatas and birria tacos, along with a couple fish tacos. The meat was tender, perfectly seasoned (not over-seasoned which would kill the flavor of the cilantro y cebolla) and served on warmed, soft, corn tortillas. I immediately had a flashback to the Aztec princesses of Juanitas. Only here at Mariachi, the meat was more tender (especially the birria), the tables were cleaner and they served beer.

Essentially, and I suppose this is all that really matters, I'd say we'll be eating here again for sure. It's close enough to Ikea to be worth a jaunt any time you're shopping at the blue and yellow box, and in a world of Taco Bells and Chi-Chi's it's always refreshing to find something that's on a different level.