California Vegetarian

As vegetarians, George and I are a little leery of trying new Mexican restaurants even though we love Mexican food.  The problem is that we have ordered ‘vegetarian’ burritos only to find out later that the beans were made with lard or to cut into our burrito only to find a ‘free’ piece of chicken at more than one Mexican restaurant.  So, when El Mariachi opened in Davis several years ago, we stayed away for a long time.  Well, once we finally decided to go in the front door, we regretted all the time we’d wasted. 

We love El Mariachi!  The restaurant is family owned and operated.  It always has someone friendly behind the cash register, is always clean, and always get the food out quickly.  And, El Mariachi is also the only Mexican restaurant that I have ever been to that has an entire vegetarian section on their menu.  The regular menu has eight items under its ‘Vegetarianos’ heading, but it also has two vegetarian items under its ‘Mariachi’s Special.”  In addition to those ten normal vegetarian options, El Mariachi also frequently puts vegetarian items on their daily specials (once George and I were so fortunate as to come in when vegetarian tamales were the daily).  Any nervousness I had about whether or not their vegetarian options were really vegetarian was assuaged by the sign on their menu which reads “ALL MENU ITEMS do not contain MSG or LARD. ALL NATURAL.”

We normally get the vegetarian super burrito, but most recently, I ordered the Ranchero Burrito.  It comes with cactus in a mole sauce (which I verified was vegetarian), black beans, rice, pico de gallo and Mexican cheese in a tomato tortilla.  It was very good. 

In addition to having great menu items, El Mariachi also has an outstanding salsa bar.  There are always at least ten salsas available.  George’s favorite is the habanero.  My favorite is not really a salsa, but sliced carrots soaked in jalapeño juices. 

Oh, and you have got to have the horchata to drink!  We were first introduced to horchata years ago by a Mexican woman working on a Native American reservation, and we have loved it since.  Horchata is a simple, refreshing drink, usually made with rice, cinnamon and sugar, perhaps with a bit of vanilla.  El Mariachi’s is right up there with the best.

If you are vegetarian and like Mexican food and find yourself in Davis, California, you should definitely try El Mariachi.