Perfect Mexican In A Pub
Mt. Carmel Pub
4501 Mt. Carmel Tobasco Road 528-9974
Folks, here is a real gem of a find.
You’ve seen the Food Network show “Diners Drive Inns & Dives” with Guy Fieri. If not, check it out, it’s an interesting show where the host (Guy) searches the country looking for those sweet little spots tucked away on the back streets, edge of town or even under a bridge. Guy will go anywhere in this land to find small town eateries that serve dishes far above the norm that most people would simply overlook. Here’s one right up his alley... Mt. Carmel Pub.
Like many pubs Mt. Carmel Pub
offers cold drinks, hot bands and fun & games. They also have a kitchen where they served standard pub fare like burgers, chicken tenders, fries and the like.
You know the drill. Not exactly the kind of menu you set out searching for when your thinking dinner. Simple pub grub. It was what it was. Now, it is what it is and what it is, is really something special.
Recently the empty space next door to the pub was turned into an authentic Mexican grocery. Mt. Carmel Pub teamed up with the store’s owners and the pub’s kitchen has never been the same since.
You can still get the classic pub grub menu as before but when you see the rest of the menu I doubt you would want to. For instance how many menus have these dishes; Sopes, Flautas, Chilaquiles De Carne Azada, Tortas, Tamales and of course Enchiladas, Burritos and Tacos. Not “gringo tacos” either... real authentic Mexican tacos amigos.
Everything is so unadulterated & authentic that you may have to ask a few questions just to understand exactly what to order. No problem, that’s part of the excitement.
Everything looked and smelled incredible, I wanted to taste it all! So I tried to. “Two sopes, two tacos, five flautas, a burrito, rice and beans” was our initial order.
The Sopes are a thick round corn tortilla, crisp on the outside smooth on the inside. It gets stacked with your choice of seasoned meat, topped with lettuce, cheese, served with tomatillo and red chile sauce. Spectacular. A Flauta is a thin corn tortilla with meat rolled up into the middle fried crisp and topped with lettuce, tomato and cheese. Fabulous. There are so many authentic dishes it would take 4 pages to explain them all in detail, your best bet is just to go try them yourself.
Now, the Eastside has no less than 2 great authentic Mexican restaurants (don’t forget Tostados serves these authentic dishes as well).
Too bad Diners Drive Inns & Dives might not make it out to either of them. Oh well, it’s Guy’s loss, our gain. If you love Mexican flavors this is the real deal. It will make you realize what complete crap people have been passing off as authentic cuisine to us all these years and you’ll never settle for anything less again. Now you won’t have to.
