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| - I'll be honest, I did not have high expectations for Sol Azteca. From the uninspiring storefront to its handwritten fusion menu featuring Asian and Mexican cuisine, this restaurant raised more red flags than a Soviet-era May Day parade. However, I cast those apprehensions aside and ended up getting a pretty solid lunch during my recent visit.
If you ascribe to the philosophy for Mexican food joints that the sketchier the restaurant, the better the chow, then Sol Azteca is a must visit. The restaurant, across from the abandoned Thorstad auto dealership on Park Street and sharing a space with the South Park Coin Laundry, is easy to miss. Cautiously stepping through the door, I was greeted by an empty, dimly lit restaurant to could have served as the set for the straight to video budget sequel of From Dusk to Dawn - not an auspicious start.
I grabbed a table in the back and the restaurant's cleanliness impressed me. While the ramshackle building showed its age in places (tears in the faux leather booths and numerous scratches on the tabletops), the tabletops and floors were remarkably clean. I also was pleasantly surprised to see the restaurant had free wi-fi for customers (password protected). Once I settled in, my server provided me with a menu. It was the first time I ever witnessed teriyaki chicken and tripe tacos sharing menu space - I can check that off my bucket list. With over 10 different taco filling options to chose from, there are plenty of choices for both adventurous and cautious eaters.
My soft-spoken server did not speak great English and I continue to curse my decision to take high school German instead of Spanish, so I appreciated that my server pointed to each of my choices (pollo, pastor and barbacoa tacos) to confirm my order. Despite the language barrier, my server did a great job during my stay at Sol Azteca.
Within five minutes of making my order, my food arrived, which was a good thing, because Sol Azteca does not offer a complimentary basket of chips and salsa. Overall, the plate looked appetizing. Sprinkled with the traditional toppings of diced onions and cilantro, I noticed all three tacos had generous portions of the meat fillings. At first, I thought the cook also topped my tacos with chives, but upon closer examination, I realized it was the woody end of the cilantro stems.
The cook did a tremendous job preparing each of the fillings - I encountered no unpleasant textures in any of the three tacos. The tortillas were fresh and provided great corn flavor. On the other hand, all three fillings needed a little more seasoning to amp up the flavor. Next time I will ask to for hot sauce to fill that void.
I enjoyed the pastor taco the most - great porky flavor complemented by sautéed onions and juicy pineapple. The kitchen also nailed the texture by including some crispy pieces to go with the rest of the fork-tender shredded meat.
The pollo also was solid, packed with a serious helping of tender, shredded white meat. While the tomato base offered some flavor, the chicken really needed more seasoning to provide some much needed zip.
The barbacoa was the last taco I tried and it had cooled by the time I got to it, which contributed to its overall dry, chewy texture. Like the chicken, this shredded beef practically begged for some additional seasoning to punch up the flavor.
A side of rice and beans accompanied my taco platter ($7.99). While I enjoyed the rice, the beans looked pureed and needed a serious dose of salt.
While Sol Azteca had its quirks, overall I found my lunch satisfying and would have no qualms returning. I'd give it a solid 3.5 rating, but since Yelp digs whole numbers, I'm going with three stars until I can sample more items from their extensive menu.
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