Almost

Welcome to La Fogata

I met Leah for lunch Monday. I really like Leah, probably more than I like anyone else in the whole Texas-Arkansas area where I live. In my head, we have a lot in common, though our friendship is slow-going--but that seems like the norm around here. Or maybe it's the norm for my age. At any rate, Leah and I met for lunch. Seeing her, as always, was fun.  

In the futile attempt to find marginally reasonable Mexican food, I suggested a place on the Arkansas side: La Fogata, which translates to "the fire." I believe the joint was named this because the place looks like a dumpster fire. I sent pictures of the building to Marty and his reply was "modest." Yep, in a back-alley kind of way. That said, it probably is on the top of my Mexican food list for Texarkana. 

Set off of Genoa Road, La Fogata was situated next to a bog. I was greeted by the restaurant's friendly cat. The staff was pleasant and even turned the music down to something reasonable once we sat down. 

I guarantee there is a critter or two back
there in that bog.

The menu held promise. For example, though the chili reyenos came with or without chicken, they were made with poblanos. A far cry from the folks making this dish with a variety of non-poblanos that we tend to see around here. As a bonus, they also weren't covered in avocado mayo. The salsa had the correct spices and the chips reminded me of Arizona. I ordered the two for one enchilada plate. And here is where it all took a turn. The chicken enchilada had zero spice. The cheese enchilada was just a rolled up quesadilla--but I didn't have the heart to tell the staff that. It wasn't until I was driving home did I realize what the true issue was: La Fogata, just like everywhere else around here, uses flour tortillas for their Mexican food.  

Leah asked what I thought of the food. It wasn't Tex-Mex, which is a high compliment. I'll probably drag

The La Fogata Kitty Cat

Marty back there and order tacos and have Marty take a gander at the chili reyenos (no chicken, please). If the food isn't passable, at least we can drench it in the salsa.