El Comal, 125 West O St.
Casual Mexican dining
9 a.m. - 10 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday
9 a.m. - 12 a.m. Thursday through Saturday
Quick, inexpensive and tasty; worth visiting.
Meals: $3-$7.50
A recent visit to a new Mexican restaurant highlighted the differences in restaurant-naming between Latinos and gringos.
To wit: My favorite Lincoln restaurants serving American fare are called Misty's, Lee's Restaurant and the Hi-Way Diner; the best Mexican restaurants in town are named The Mexican (La Mexicana), The Traditional Mexican Cowboy (El Charro), and The Short, Squatty Guy (El Chaparro).
Lincoln's newest Mexican restaurant is called El Comal - ``the griddle.'' It turns out to be an appropriate name, even if it is a little Waffle House-y, since most of its items are from the grill.
It is located a few blocks to the west of the O Street viaduct. El Comal is small and has a no-frills look, but it is fast and the food is good and inexpensive.
A few sombreros hang on the walls, but the tables are simple and adorned only with two lovely and flavorful sauces: one green and one red - the most effective colors for advertising, or so say the experts.
The quesadillas ($1.99-$3.99) fill up the plate and are filled with chicken, albeit a tad crunchy. A huge mound of lettuce and tomatoes serves as a salad on the side. The saucy burritos are just as big as those at Oso's, but are cheaper at $4.50.
No, they don't have Oso's eclectic variety, but that's because this is a Mexican restaurant, and pesto and ginger aren't welcome.
El Comal professes to be authentic, and so, of course, no rice is found in the burritos, either. My dining companion noted that the tomatoes actually had flavor, which is unusual for this time of year.
Tacos only cost $1.45, but their size is a bit disappointing. The shape - a round 4-inch tortilla served open-faced - was a nice change of pace, and the added second tortilla underneath was an excellent anti-grease measure.
I did enjoy my Al Pastor (pork with onions) version, which is El Comal's self-proclaimed specialty. Confusingly, El Comal also offers a Taco Especial ($1.75), which is topped with beef, a very creamy cheese, sour cream and avocado.
My torta (Mexican sandwich) wasn't exactly a letdown, but it was a little messy, and it wasn't as good as the one at El Chaparro. It was definitely too big to finish, though, and was cheaper ($3.99) than the El Chaparro torta.
All of the tacos, burritos and tortas are available with a variety of different meats, including the aforementioned Al Pastor, Asada (steak), Chorizo (Mexican sausage), Pollo Asado (grilled chicken) and Barbacoa (steamed beef).
Intestines, brains and tongue are listed as well, just in case you want to experience a genuinely Latino meal.
Horchata, tamarind juice, Jarritos and Coke in a bottle - the fundamental bevies of any good Mexican place - of course, are in effect.
El Comal one-ups the competition with authentic batidos (shakes) in banana (my favorite, very South American), strawberry and chocolate (very American). Breakfast meals run between $5.50 and $7.50 and are available all day.
The best thing about El Comal was speed; we sat down, looked over the straightforward menu, ordered and were eating within five minutes.
The service was solid, even after I was giving the waitress a hard time for not having any desserts. The big minus: El Comal does not provide free chips & salsa. In fact, it doesn't provide any chips or salsa. A travesty, I know.
Luckily, the restaurant gets a break because it has only been open a month, and the management is working on this problem. Because while Hispanics and gringos may be different in a myriad of ways, we can all agree that free stuff is always welcomed. Bienvenidos El Comal.
