Garrido's

Saturday, after a long day in the water and sun, the Italianini and I grabbed a quick bite at Garrido's (as in David Garrido) under the 360 building.

The heavy wood front doors are a nice welcome. The sleek leather chairs, modern light fixtures, the nice bar, and the very Mexican tile wall at the back made for a nice view as we walked to the patio.

The patio is right on the edge of the trail that leads to town lake (shoal creek)...It kinda stinks, literally.

The menu is small, and super cheap. The most expensive item is around $11.
It's a good concept for its location...cheap eats and drinks, then head dt.

It was happy hour (woohoo) so Italianini had the margarita, while I tried the very-close-to-the-real-thing Paloma. Grape fruit juice, Fresca, simple syrup, and tequila. Keep them coming!

We tried the oyster appetizer and the lamb. The oysters are very similar to Jeffrey's and 34th Street Cafe's. They are fried, on a yucca chip, with aioli, and topped off with pico. Garrido uses habanero aioli. Yum!
The lamb was perfectly cooked, on a bed of spinach, and with a spicy sauce drizzled on top.

Since tacos dominate the menu, I had to try a little bit of everything. I tried the oyster taco (same as the appetizer), carnitas, and chicken. Italianini let me have a bite of the steak, and the mahi mahi BLT.

The corn tortillas are just like you would have at a taqueria in Mexico, small, soft, and really fresh. The carnitas are not realy carnitas, more like barbacoa, but the meat is so tender and delicious. The chicken is your basic chicken taco with cheese and a raw green salsa that kicked my taste buds' butt. Steak was marinated very well, and the mahi mahi was interesting and surprisingly good.

The black beans were different. While they looked like your typical refried black beans with cotija cheese on top... there was a spice in there that I can't quite put my finger on... and it's a bizarre taste.
On a happier note, the green rice was splendid.


Don't go in thinking it's going to be a cheaper or smaller version of La Condesa. While it's also Mexican food, it falls under a completely different category. Here you won't find the adventurous nightly specials, the homemade mole, or the twist on autochthonous dishes like chapulines...to name a few.

No desert... too full!

(512) 320-8226