Yo Quiero.... Tarahumara's???

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A small break from the usual blogger, Bob will now be filling in for Becky until April. I apologize for the break in Disney themed blog entry titles, Becky is awfully busy with her National Board Certification work and I’m afraid I’m just not that well versed in Disney Literature.

This entry was inspired by a recent visit to the website:

http://www.urbanspoon.com/lb/46/best-restaurants-Oklahoma-City

If you don’t feel like clicking on the link, I’ll just tell you that Tarahumara’s of Norman is the number 1 ranked restaurant in the OKC metro. While I was happy to see a Norman restaurant in the number 1 ranking, I was a little un-eased seeing that it was Tarahumara’s.

I should start by saying most of my pre-college memories where I was first introduced to Mexican cuisine come from a medium for Oklahoma sized town of Bartlesville. We really only had two Tex-Mex restaurants. One called Monterey’s and the other called Alfredo’s. Two years after I graduated the owners of Alfredo’s were arrested by the FBI on money laundering charges (no joke). People at church joked, “Oh that must have been why their food tasted so good,” I never got the joke, because I thought their food sucked. Monterey’s on the other hand was pretty good for a medium sized town Tex-Mex. The rice wasn’t dry and they had just enough spice to satisfy my taste. I mention Monterey’s (I think there’s three locations in Tulsa now) to say “I’ve had some decent Tex-Mex to compare to.”

So back to Tarahumara’s, to be fair, the last time I ate there was maybe 5-6 years ago, so maybe their recipes have changed, maybe my taste buds have matured, I don’t know, I just remember the last time I ate there thinking, “well, I guess this is ‘okay,’ Tex-Mex for Norman, man, I wish Monterey’s would opened up here.” Are they getting more hype than deserved because where else are you going to go in Norman for Mexican food? Or is my judgment too quick and too harsh for someone who hasn’t been back to Norman recently?

To be constructive, here’s a small list of some of our favorite places to eat for South OKC:

-Belle Isle Brewery*

-Lemongrass Asian Bistro

-Alvarado’s Mexican grill

-Bricktown Brewery*

-Sodapop’s (Not Pop’s, although Pop’s is good)

-Papa Murphy’s Pizza

-Dan McGuiness Irish Pub

-Louie’s

*I know, these are north of I-40 but I think they’re still worth the drive

I do think the great majority of the restaurants listed in the top 100 belong on that list, and if we haven’t been to one of them, it’s on our ‘to-visit,’ list.

But the #1 spot goes to Tarahumara’s… really?