Mexican food flavors Athens

by Jay Boehmer
FOR THE POST

There are several great things about Mexican restaurants: Huge portions, complimentary chips and salsa and giant margaritas.

Tomatillos, 20 W. Stimson St., offers all of these, and more, at a reasonable price.

In a town where the Burrito Buggy, Union Street and Casa Nueva, 4 W. State St., seem to be the only refuge to satisfy the craving for Mexican food, Tomatillos provides dishes that are, in the words of Homer Simpson, "groin-grabbingly" good.

Budget permitting - average price for dinner is between $8-10 - Tomatillos is the perfect restaurant to appease the mightiest of appetites. If your taste buds prefer to stay north of the border you can get native favorites such as a cheeseburger with fries or a steak boasted "the best in Athens."

But for those who believe a 16-ounce strip steak is animal cruelty, a variety of vegetarian dishes with a Mexican accent are available.

Before you can get a good look at the menu, a large basket of warm tortilla chips complemented with a dish of fresh homemade salsa is rushed to the table. But be weary, because filling up on these provisions will make it impossible to finish the upcoming meal. With an array of enchiladas, tacos, burritos and chimichangas, Tomatillos' large menu proudly caters to the glutton in all of us.

After two baskets of chips and three cups of salsa, the Tomatillos Combo Plate seemed like an appropriate place to start. With a beef taco, a chicken enchilada, a beef and bean burrito and a side of refried beans and rice, the combo plate proved to be a good representation of Tomatillos cuisine.

And before one could devour another basket of chips, a hot plate the size of a monster truck's hubcap arrived. The taco's crunchy tortilla shell stuffed with seasoned ground beef and topped with shredded cheddar cheese was enough to strike Taco Bell dead with Freudian taco envy. Upon slaughtering the taco, the next step was challenging the beef and bean burrito to a fight to the death.

Until the last bite of beans, shredded beef and cheese wrapped in a soft tortilla shell were finished, it was difficult to press on. Yet the battle continued to rage with a large mound of refried beans with brown rice.

The atmosphere screams Mexican diner: The walls are adorned with sombreros and Mexican blankets; flamenco music and the scent of tortillas fill the air. The servers are friendly and prompt. But a word to the wise: As they serve the food, take to heart their warning that the plate ••is•• hot.

If you are looking for a worthy opponent to your large appetite then head down to Tomatillos on Stimson. They are open every morning at 11 and close at nine on weekdays, ten on weekends. For lunch, try Tomatillos' buffet served daily from eleven until two.