San Antonio a great-tasting departure from typical ‘Spanish’

Thursday, December 02, 2004

Good food, served quickly in ethnically interesting surroundings, is available if your tastes wander south of the border.

The San Antonio Market and Restaurant on Morgantown Road is a cafe attached to a small store that includes a selection of Spanish-language movies and music, as well as a selection of cowboy boots. Merchandise aside, though, the specialty of the house is the cuisine of El Salvador. Its not the busiest place in town during the week, though Im told things are hopping on the weekends.

In an age when chain restaurants offer up Americanized versions of Spanish food in nearly every town in this country, it is worth the time to make a trip to this little restaurant. It would also be a great idea to stop in if you are planning to head past the border for a winter getaway, a chance to taste what the food is really like before you get there.

Be forewarned that the restaurants television, and the sound of the conversation in the next booth, will remind you just how much of your high-school Spanish you have forgotten.

The menu fits the size of the establishment: smallish, but including several gems.

The Taste of El Salvador is a well-rounded meal served on small tortillas. Three crisp offerings come on a large plate along with a bit of slaw. One of the offerings is a quesadillia-like dish with Central American cheeses sandwiched between two tortillas and grill-fried.

The other two look like the tostadas offered at the chain stores, but the visuals are the only resemblance. The meat on these are slivers of well-grilled they are not filled with processed ground beef that has been basking for hours beneath a sun-lamp. Toppings for the dishes include a wedge of avocado on each.

This would be a good time to mention that this is not a place to visit if you are afraid of a few calories or several grams of fat. And, if you are diabetic, please stay away from dessert more on that later.

The dash of coleslaw should under no circumstances be mistaken for the mayonnaise-dripping sweet slaw you get at grandmas church social. This stuff will rip your lips off, as will the salsa verde that comes in the little plastic bowl as a condiment.

As a side note to the uninitiated, red colors in Spanish cooking generally indicate some spice, but green is something much hotter. If you are used to the burn, the tomatillias-based salsa verde is flavorful, as is the habanero sauce, offered at every table. The salsas taste leads me to believe they are made on the premises.

Other main dishes include a large serving of flank steak that is truly grilled to perfection. It is topped with grilled onions, tomatoes and unless you say no there will be jalapenos. Use the limes supplied to cut the heat on the little green-meanies.

Along with the steak, you will get some refried beans that are mildly seasoned and not as greasy as many tend to be. The Spanish rice is also lightly seasoned.

The sides are not the best Ive ever had; I like to taste the bacon fat in the beans, and the rice could have been a little warmer.

As for dessert, the tres leche is satisfactory. The name in Spanish means three milks, which is what the cake is made from. This incarnationis served with sweetened condensed milk filling the bottom of the serving container.

The cake itself tends to be slightly dry, and like many such cakes it is not as sweet as you might expect. But given the cream icing and all that syrup-like milk it is sitting in, the cake itself has to be mild to keep you from going into sugar-shock.

What is missing? Unsweetened tea for one thing, and the Diet Coke tastes like it does in Mexico strong.

The coffee, however, is a thing of wonder. Strong and black, it wont quite stand a spoon but has all the flavor you could want.

Talk to your server, ask questions about what you are ordering and expect to actually taste your meal. Food that tastes like it has been cooked for someone who likes to eat is a pleasure, and you will find that here. But be aware: You arent eating at the Ritz, so dont be surprised by plastic utensils and, occasionally, plastic containers for the food.  Daily News ·813 College St. ·PO Box 90012 ·Bowling Green, KY ·42102 ·270-781-1700