Saturday Night we went to El Patio’s in Troy to have a dinner in honor of Lila Seaman’s birthday. Lila was Omar’s sister, who passed away last year after a long battle with breast cancer. Lila was a remarkable woman who graciousness and generosity touched the hearts of all who knew her. She had a way of bringing out the best in everyone. I am very fortunate to have gotten to know her before she was taken away, far too soon. We had a great dinner, laughing, talking and feeling like Lila was there with us. We we joined by Omar’s parents, who graciously hosted the event, Omar’s kids, Lila’s daughter, Lila’s sister in laws, in-laws and special friends.
As this is a restaurant review blog, I guess I need to get to the reason of the blog. The food. El Patio opened in Troy I believe in 2012. We were happy to see a new restaurant open up close to home. El Patio is just rich with authentic, tasty, affordable Mexican fare. They bring you baskets of fresh, hot, crispy tortilla chips and a very tasty salsa. Be careful though, their hot salsa is HOT. Even for Omar. I dare not even try it. I recommend the cheese dip too. A very simple white cheese dip, but very good with the chips. What I would avoid is the guacamole. Obviously not made from scratch, this “pre-packaged” green monstrosity is not guacamole. When it doesn’t brown, turn it down!!! Ha good rule of thumb for guacamole.
I must say, I don’t veer off far from my standard “create your own combo”. How can you go wrong with 3 items of your choice, rice AND beans?? My go to – beef taco, chicken burrito and beef burrito. Yumm. Omar is not as stuck in his ways as I am. He has sampled the Enchilada’s Verde, a variety of combination plates (there are many) and his favorite, the Special Dinner which includes – are you sitting down? A Chalupa, a taco, an enchilada, a chile relleno, a tamale and ric and beans!! You can seriously split this meal with a friend.
This night however, I did take a walk on the wild side and ordered the fGRand Burito Fajita, with steak. It was flavorful and so filling!
Feeling adventurous? They even have Menudo Soup. No, not named after the delightful Puerto Rican Band of the 70’s, but a traditional Mexican soup made with beef tripe (which for the faint of heart is beef stomach lining).
El Patio is one of our go to places. They are fast, efficient, food always good and staff eager to please. There have been many restaurants in this spot, and I hope this one fares better than the rest and lasts!!