Oh little El Caribe, What do we do about you?
El Caribe is situated in a little strip near the corner of N Lamar and Koenig, across from the Half Price Books, and next to a little Korean and Japanese restaurant.
From the outside you don't know what you're gonna get when you walk in. The sign is pretty cheesy neon, although I don't know if I've ever seen it lit up. Maybe that's a good thing?
Come to think of it, from the outside El Caribe looks like it might fit in better in weather worn Galveston as the overflow spot next to the massive seashell encrusted tourist trap that serves giant bright yellow terra cotta plates covered in the most generic chicken enchiladas.
I have mixed feelings about the food at El Caribe. On one hand they have a delightful, if a bit janky, little salsa bar. The salsas range from satisfying to weird. None are amazing, and some even cross into the category of yummy, but they are all made in-house and with pride.
The food is a mixture of from-scratch and from a package, seemingly leaning more toward the from a package variety unfortunately. You do get mass quantities though and it definitely hits the spot.
My husband got the mega Combo Number 1. Depicted here is only one of the two plates. You also get some Velveta-y nachos and an ice cream scoop of gucamole. The tamal (singular of tamales) was pretty good, seemingly from scratch or recently made, and Paul seemed quite satisfied with the rest.
As a frequent viewer of the Food Network and of Gordon Ramsay's various red-faced tirade-athon shows, I know that some foodies out there would stick their noses up at the thought of seafood and dairy together, especially cheap cheese, but I say poo poo to them. This stuff was delicious. The fish was fried in butter until crisp around the edges, but very tender. Garlic was clearly used in abundance in the preparation. The sauce contributed the acidity that fish so often begs for and since tomato and cheese are a match made in heaven, my mouth was left with the task of translating the fabulousness so my brain could release the endorphins.
My biggest complaint about El Caribe is that this little family run establishment is on the verge of greatness, but they don't seem to really know that. All they have to do is make a few more items from scratch and they'd be on the list of Austin hot spots over night (you know hipsters would love the broken neon).
If they made their own tortillas for example (they don't, I asked) that would bring up the standard of all their tacos and enchiladas to match the pride they clearly place in their dozen homemade salsas. They could take the beans from a brown mass of averageness to greatness if they stewed in some pork. And then there are the sopapillas. I had a hankerin' for a dessert, a rare occurrence, and the sopapillas looked perfect. I asked the waitress if they were made from scratch and she told me they buy the dough. Perhaps they are delicious; I don't know because I didn't try them. Such a disappointment.
Most Mexican restaurants fall into one of two categories. They either take pride in their food and make almost everything from scratch, and this can be the case with the whole specrtum of price. Others offer fast and cheap standard dishes in large quantities that keep customers coming back because you always know what you're going to get. El Caribe sits right on the boundary. One step will place them distinctly in a category, and for the sake of Austin's taste buds and for the lovely family that owns the place, I hope they realize their potential and decide to take things up a notch.
www.elcaribemexrest.com
El Caribe - 5610 N Lamar
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