The Food Snob treats every new Concord restaurant’s opening like a holiday. This week, it was Cinco De Mayo, as El Rodeo opened in the former Outback Steakhouse location on Loudon Road. We’d heard rumblings of the new eatery from the team behind La Caretta, the popular Mexican restaurant with four locations across New Hampshire, for a while; those bean-based rumblings have finally come to (musical?) fruition.
Before we left, we tried to figure out when El Rodeo’s lunch specials were; the restaurant did not appear to have a website, so we gave up and headed down around 1 p.m. Fortunately for us, the specials ran until 2 p.m., so we were in luck. We grabbed a seat outside (with a great view of a gas station and scenic Loudon Road) and awaited our complementary chips and salsa.
We had a little inside information, so we asked for some of the homemade tomatillo salsa to go with the standard layman’s salsa they usually bring out. The tomatillo salsa was outstanding. We could see the flecks of ground habenero and various other hot peppers on every chipful. To the Food Snob, this salsa was mildly hot; some of you gentle readers might find it to be above-average spicy, so beware. In our book, though, it’s the only way to go.
We decided to double our chip intake by ordering a bowl of guacamole ($4.25). Guacamole orders have been on the rise nationwide since the recent White/Schrader family dinner out on Breaking Bad, so we had to get in on the fun. The guac was prepared in the kitchen, not tableside, but we still found it serviceable, if a tad salty.
We ate all the guacamole and went right back to the salsa, seemingly on a mission to fill ourselves up interminably before our actual entrees arrived. And arrive they did! The Snob got the lunch special #12 ($7!), which consisted of one chicken burrito and one chicken enchilada with a side of rice. At first, we were given our burrito and enchilada with ground beef instead of chicken, but the wait staff rectified that mistake so quickly that we could not complain. This was a great meal and extremely filling for the price. The enchilada was delightful, swimming in sweet, brown sugar-infused sauce (admittedly, when the shredded chicken was isolated from the sauce, the chicken was nothing special). The burrito did us well, as well.
Our dining companion ordered the chori pollo ($8.99) – literally “pork chicken” – which came with rice and beans. This dish was top-notch! The chicken breast was tender and juicy; it paired well with the slightly spicy chorizo chunks that topped it. The refried beans on the side were the icing on the cake, so to speak.
By the end of the meal, we were incredibly stuffed, yet our bill was a mere $22.06. We could imagine it getting pricier for a dinner, but if you have a chance to get there for the lunch specials, it will be worth your while.
