Mi Sombrero

I hate to call you out here Scott but I'm about to tell a not very nice story about you. So my first night as a resident in Houston I met up with some friends I'd met at orientation and we went to a Thai place. Scott had the spring rolls and he immediately started complaining that they were nowhere near as good as the eggrolls at China Chef in Bastrop; in fact, he'd never, ever had eggrolls as good as those! This became a consistent complaint of his, that nobody in Houston could do eggrolls as well as they do in Bastrop. I believed him, naturally - Houston may have a thriving, vibrant Asian class - many of the streets in downtown are labelled in a language I know I don't understand, and our voter registration cards are printed in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese - but what do we know? Bastrop obviously is the superior township. Finally I was blessed to be able to enter into the holy city limits of this town God truly has smiled upon, and I ate the eggrolls of the legendary China Chef. And you know what, guys? They were only average! Years - DECADES - Scott built these eggrolls up, and I think I've had the same brand out of a box from the freezer section of HEB! Ever since then I've been gun shy, obviously. People want to take me to their favorite Asian restaurant and I can't do it. I have to stick to Pei Wei and Panda Express because I know they won't disappoint. It's started to seep over into other restaurants, too. If someone has been there more than twice, I can't go with them. The mediocrity of those eggrolls has scarred me, and even though Mi Sombrero, located at 3401 North Shepherd, is my boyfriend's favorite restaurant, it was months into our acquaintanceship before I was able to work up the courage to go.

We might as well turn this post into arbitrary criticism of my friends' eating habits. (We'll start with my friend Melissa - she refuses to go to any new restaurant with me without first looking up the menu online. She's really sneaky about it too; I'll be in my room tying my shoes or trying to find my shoes and she'll be in her room scanning the menu of McDonald's. I'm just kidding she's not that neurotic it's just new restaurants she has such an aversion to I actually think it's kind of cute don't tell her). Thomas has been to Mi Sombrero, by my calculations, seven thousand and ten times, and he's only ever gotten three things on the menu: the nachos, the number 1 combo meal, and the Tommy's tacos. Normally I'd mock somebody endlessly on this sort of thing (despite my own relationship with a certain Mexican restaurant in Waco who's name I won't mention Casa de Castillo) but I've now been to Mi Sombrero three times and I can report that the only thing I've ordered is the Tommy's tacos. They're really good, but what is it about Mexican restaurants? I like to think of myself as a really adventurous eater, but there's only about four things I'll eat off of any menu in any Mexican restaurant. I once lived in Mexico for two solid weeks, and my host mother made me a plethora of foods that I scarfed down, really just enjoyed the heck out of, but whenever I go to a Mexican restaurant I can't get past tacos and burritos it's so sad! But the tacos are really good and I think it means I feel at home at Mi Sombrero so I'll go ahead and give them a +8 for not making me try new things.

What you guys really need to know though is that this isn't the pretentious type of Mexican restaurant I usually go into. Their salt and pepper are in regular salt and pepper shakers. I was too upset in my review of Radical Eats to point this out, but theirs were served in Jarritos bottles. Not even Corona! Obviously after that similarly scarring experience I'm very grateful to eat in a Mexican restaurant that not only serves meat but also provides normally (white people) shaped salt and pepper. Mi Sombrero is so confident in their Mexican food that they don't need to drive home the point of what they're serving in their tableware! +11 for this confidence. They're so unpretentious though! They're called Mi Sombrero and you know what their wall decorations are? Sombreros! Of course they are! They tell you what they are and then they are just that! They're a restaurant that serves good tacos and has sombreros on the walls and you can go as many times as you want and you never have to order anything different! +5

Here's the very last thing. Why do you guys go to Jason's Deli ever? For the free ice cream at the end of your meal, of course! I know what you're thinking: I like going to Jason's Deli, but I hate that the ice cream is high fructose corn syrup free. Where can I go to get ice cream at the end of my meal that has all the fats and bad things that I want? The answer is here, guys! You can get it at Mi Sombrero! And it's not just regular ice cream, either! It's really good Mexican vanilla ice cream! +9 Unfortunately, out of the three times I've been there, the machine has been broken twice: -9. It remains to be seen how great that is but I remain positive that it's unpretentious and fantastic.

Anyways that's all! If you feel like some Mexican food and are thinking about checking out Radical Eats, don't! Go to Mi Sombrero it's way better! And then email me at arbitrarycriticism@live.com!