El Sol de Tala

What's Cinco de Mayo without Mexican food?! Since my trainer conveniently cancelled our session that day, I was able to fully enjoy this holiday. :-) Abby and I visited El Sol de Tala at the recommendation of one of my favorite local food bloggers, The Chubby Eater. (Read her blog! It's good!) If you read my previous post about La Piedad, you know that no Indianapolis Mexican restaurant has stood out to me...until now! Just a quick glance at their menu and you can see it's a gem!

Don't be put off by the fact that it's in the hood (It's 1.5 miles away from where I grew up) because you wouldn't realize it once you stepped inside. The place was huge! There was a little "cantina" area to the left when you first walked in, and there were 2 levels of seating passed the hostess desk. I wondered why they needed so much space until we were leaving and not only was every table filled, but lots of people were in the waiting area!

Since it was a special occasion, we went all out. We started with an order of guacamole and queso. Both were good. The guacamole station was right next to us, so you could see them making it. I liked seeing that the guac was fresh and not from a big jar.

Even though, the Chubby Eater told me to order the #2, the sizzling plate of spiced meat...I'm a sucker for tamales, and the #15, Tequila (Tamale Dinner) was calling my name. It had 3 different tamales: a chicken tamale, a pork tamale, and a sweet corn tamale that really could have been my dessert. And it also came with my favorite: rice and beans. I chose pinto, but you can also get black beans. That's what Abby ordered and they were fantastic. These tamales weren't as good as the ones I used to get from Chicago (via a friend at the time), but they were definitely the best I've had in Indy.

Abby ordered the #14, Ameca (Chiles Rellenos): 2 poblano peppers filled with queso fresco. Abby had never ordered chiles rellenos before, but she really liked it. I liked them too. I stopped getting chiles rellenos because they're usually soggy and unbalanced in flavor and texture. These weren't. I was not disappointed!

Another nice treat is that both dishes came with salads, but salads as sides or appetizers are really just wasted space to me. I rather skip those. This day, I ate my salad so that I got something green in my diet. Sarah, aren't you proud?? ;-)

Getting ready to describe the flan we ordered to dessert, reminded me why I even had to order it! I needed one more course to wait out the buzz I got from my amazing top shelf SMALL margarita! Even though it gave me a buzz, it didn't taste strong at all. Hmm...maybe that was the problem...

Normally I don't care for flan, but this one wasn't bad! The menu said it's an over 3 decade old family recipe. It was sweet without much of an egg flavor. The texture was firm, but still creamy. I enjoyed it.

Go here. To quote the Chubby Eater, "It's in the ghetto, but it might be worth a trip to the Wishard ER to get a taste of this."

The Rating

- Best Mexican I've had in Indianapolis!

The Info

El Sol de Tala

2444 E. Washington St.

Indianapolis, IN 46201

317-636-1250

www.elsoldetala.com