As you can see in the picture above, the place has good illumination, and gives a warm welcoming feeling. The tricolor decoration hanging from above, I imagine was in celebration of the Mexican Independence Day, celebrated on the date we were there.

OMG, omg, Oh My Gooooosh! Well, no surprise here. I am from the land where we are famous for 'Carne Asada', so serve me any type of grilled style dish and I will snork it all, ha. Let me describe this dish to you. A cocked and sliced nopal was the base for this plate. On top of it, three delicious grilled meats: Tazajo, Cecina, and Chorizo. Then, it is topped with Oaxacan-style cheese, my favorite. And to top this deliciousness, a side of grilled onions and jalapeño peppers. I died and came back just to have another bite. When we got home, I couldn't wait to eat this. I chopped all the meats up, mixed it up, and we ate it as taquitos. Just writing about it right now, gave me the cravings. This was so good, and it tasted even better with their salsa. A word of advice, it is spicy--but spicy good. So if you don't want to burn yourself, you don't have to add it to your food. It is so good with and without it.
I believe that now you have an idea of which one plate I will be ordering again, because--we are definitely going there again. I think we might have just found our new favorite Mexican restaurant, and the best part? There are still so many other authentic Oaxacan dishes to try. Did I mention the salsa was delicious?
Oh and yes, we did try the 'Chapulines' (an insect from the grasshopper family), which is also part of the traditional Oaxacan cuisine, although mostly consumed as snacks. I must say that we did not order them, because we weren't really sure we wanted to try them. However, we were given a sample, just to try them out, and since things happen for a reason, we chose to hop on board. After all, this was a culinary adventure right? And so we did, it was a funny experience because we were hesitant to do it, but after a while and getting brave, we finally did it. I believe the looks of it is what mostly discourages you. But if you place them inside a taco, and you don't see the texture of the chapulines, the fear fades away. The taste? It tasted very similar to dried shrimp, in my opinion. Not bad at all, however, not something we'd choose to try again. It just wasn't our thing. I do know that in many places of Southern Mexico, such as; Puebla, Tepoztlán, and Cuernavaca, not to mention Oaxaca, they include 'Chapulines' as part of their artisan traditional food, plus, they are a good source of protein. So why not give them a try to share the experience. At least you can tell your friends that you've tried grasshoppers; how cool is that for a conversation starter?
All in all, we were very glad that we got to celebrate our Mexican heritage, and have such a wonderful and interesting experience at a local restaurant, even while being so far from home. In my opinion, I felt like if I was eating somewhere back in Mexico. I am not surprised that this was my experience, considering that Doña Lucy, the owner, shared how she tries to make the flavors as authentic as possible, by making sure most of the ingredients are either exported from Oaxaca, or made from scratch. The best and my favorite part is, the tortillas are organic! I know, your mind just got blown away. NO OTHER Mexican place that we know of, aside of a fast food franchise, are selling organic tortillas in their dishes, at least not around the area. This just makes our lives so much easier now that we can go out and enjoy Mexican food without GMO worries. And regarding taste, I must say that I could totally tell the difference. Before we ate here, we had been to many Mexican restaurants around, and although close enough, none tasted like the real deal; that is, until now. Now that we have heard the mermaid song, and have been bewitched by the serenade, both my husband and I have agreed that this is our new Mexican-to-go place to dine in. Who would have known? It is so hidden from plain sight. This is why, you should never underestimate a restaurant by its store front, because you can literally have, as my husband said "a hidden gem", right in front of you.

So that's it. I hope you enjoyed this review, and get really inspired to visit all those hidden gems in your home town. And if you happen to live in Escondido, CA or surrounding neighboring cities, or even found yourself just driving by, come visit 'El Tejate Restaurante', and have a taste of authentic Oaxacan food. We would love to hear what your experience was, and what you ordered. We might just want to try it ourselves the next time we go visit. If you want to stay up-to-date with any news regarding 'El Tejate Restaurante' follow them on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/El-Tejate-Restaurant
Other social media venues coming soon. So be on the lookout for new events, promos and more, at El Tejate Restaurant, here in Escondido, CA. Until the next time, remember to smile, not only because it's contagious, but because every day is a new opportunity to try something new and have a fun adventure. ¡VIVA MÉXICO!