El Zarape in Mendota perfect choice for Mexican food fans

If you're a fan of Mexican food, like me, you'll want to make a visit to El Zarape in Mendota, located at 1206 13th Ave. (Route 251).

Currently, El Zarape offers carryout as well as inviting dining areas outdoors with shaded tables.

We were served the traditional chips with salsa that had a little extra kick to it, just the way I like. We added a queso (cheese) dip for our chips, which came in a sizable bowl ($6.99). While the chip bowls are small, they were replenished by our waitress, who gave us quality service throughout our meal.

We broke Mexican ranks and ordered some onion rings for an appetizer ($5.99). They came out piping hot on a large plate (El Zarape does serve American cuisine).

A member of our party went with one of my old favorites, a chicken chimichanga, and topped it with queso. The plate came with rice, sour cream, guacamole and a tostada-like shell filled with refried beans (cost was $13.99 with a $1 add-on for the queso). I had to sample the beans, since my meal did not come with them.

I went with the Grand Burrito (chicken), which lived up to its name, because it was indeed grand. The dinner comes with rice, sour cream and guacamole ($12.99).

The third member of our party went with a plate full of four chicken flautas, which was served with rice, guacamole, sour cream and refried beans ($9.95). I believe I may have sampled one of the flautas, too.

We found all our meals to be muy delicioso.

It was a special occasion as we celebrated a birthday in our party. That meant our birthday celebrant was served some fried ice cream on the house, compliments of Joe, the owner. The birthday boy was given a choice of chocolate or strawberry, and went for a sample of both.

We each had plenty of leftovers, which we gladly took home for the next day's lunch.

The total bill came out to be $61.92, plus a $10 tip.

The Mexican and American restaurant has a fiesta spirit, and is known for its homemade margaritas. The website notes they prepare some of the most common culinary dishes from Mexico, including tostadas, tacos and tamales, and fine tune the flavor with four levels of hotness: mild, mild II, hot and flaming. Many of the dishes are prepared from their family recipes. There are numerous seafood temptations and classics like arroz con pollo (rice with chicken). Burritos in numerous variations are another specialty of the house.

In case you are wondering, the translation of El Zarape to English is, "the blanket" (I looked it up the last time we visited here, because my memory of three years of Spanish in high school failed me).

• The Mystery Diner is an employee at Shaw Media Illinois. The diner's identity is not revealed to restaurant staff before or during the meal. If the Mystery Diner cannot recommend the establishment, we will not publish a story.