Chevy's

I like Chevy's. Yes, a chain restaurant is no more authentic "Mexican" than Outback is authentic "Australian." But Chevy's is definitely closer to the real thing than, say, Taco Bell (eww). And Chevy's was the place that my sister and I wound up last night amid a glut of Christmas shopping.

After just a 15 minute wait (DuClaws had its typical 50 minute wait) we got seated and started to peruse the menu. Each of us went for fajitas! My sister got the lime-tequila chicken - yum! - and I got the carne asada with chile relleno. Again, yum - or at least, were I able to actually bit into the meat. I don't remember carne asada being so tough! It wasn't uniformly tough, mind you, but tough in a few spots. Still tasty, though. But I was very satisfied with their sweet corn cake and plentiful sides - the rice and black beans, the sour cream, salsa fresca and guacamole (Mmmmm, guacamole), the tortillas on-request. The main dish was tasty, if tough. And the onions on the side were also goo, too. I did notice that the meat was more tender (okay, tender) under the chile relleno (again, spicy and yummy).

We avoided dessert - just no more room! But a Negra Modelo with a wedge of lime tided me over. All in all, a good dinner.