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| - "Have you ever been to Ellie's?" asked my fellow yelper Phil M.
"Umm... yeah, once at the governance center."
"No! Her new resturant. She has a legit resturant in town."
"No way!" I exclaimed.
"Yeah, it's somewhere in Chandler. I haven't been, but I thought maybe you have"
"hmm... no. I have to check it out sometime."
And days later... I did just that.
Ellie started her business from a humble frybread stand made out of plywood and nails and moved up to the Governance Center's inhouse deli and earned the money and experience to finally open her own resturant with her husband in Chandler. I remember going to her stand in Sacaton and everyone always complimented her amazing frybread. I especially loved her salsa! And when she went to the Governance Center (also in Sacaton) I would love to devour her stews while talking tribal politics with one of my best friends. And the other day, I had the chance to try her new legitimate resturant in Chandler.
Ellie is from the Gila River Indian Community, in a different district than mine. She operates her restuant with her husband who is Mexican and they have combined their cuisines to open Ellie's Native & Mexican Food. It sounds funny to me, it sounds like Native Mexican food, which would be different from the americanized version of Mexican food! but alas... that's not what you'll find at Ellie's.
We came in and Ellie wasn't there. Meh, I didn't really expect her there, but it would've been nice. (oh well) Anyway, I tried the 2 tacos with rice & beans and an extra plain frybread. The tacos are totally Gringo tacos with hamburger meat instead of shredded beef. The rice is way yummy but the beans were forgetable. I've had and made way better. The bread was good. I ordered it plain but the server/cashier offered to bring me some powdered sugar and/or honey... but as always, I chose ONE of those options... not BOTH!
If you're going to each frybread as a dessert... it NEEDS to have eaither powdered sugar OR honey... NOT BOTH! Okay... i'm done with the frybread rant... I'm sure you're all tired of it anyway! :P
But anywhoo... I asked for some honey and he brought it in a lil condiment container which was great because I ate my beans with half the frybread and then after I was done with m food, I broke out the honey and had the second half as dessert. Their bread is HUGE! Oh my gosh! Even by Native standards these things are huge. The bread was what all good frybread is: light, crispy, crunchy yet soft and warm. I totally recommend getting the small container with honey to go with the bread so you too can have your bread as part of your meal and for dessert! :)
My mom had a frybread with beans with a side order of rice. Which she liked but wished we went home and had me make it instead. Oh well...
BUT They have one of those popcorn poppers but it's filled with chips! and you can grab as much as you want and they have these baskets for you to fill them up with and a full salsa bar right next to it. I tried most of their salsas and I really liked the well chopped hot salsa. She liked the chunky salsa.
Overall, it's a nice clean place. The service was good, but not overwhelmingly friendly. The frybread was good but the beans were eh. The tacos were good - but were gringo tacos. I personally don't mind, but someone else might. The rice was very good! I love their frybites. Which are like sopapillas I presume but made with frybread dough. :) The best of both worlds.
To my yelpers: I'd like to say that I'm very proud of Ellie for growing her business from the most humblest of beginnings. It takes a lot of determination to go from literally a shack made of plywood on the reservation to a real legitamate business in town. I hope you give her place a try. Especially if you're in that area. Give her chili (red or green) a try. Enjoy the salsa bar and remember... get honey OR powdered sugar... not BOTH! and enjoy!
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