Mystery Diner in Crystal Lake: Taqueria Las Cumbres an inviting choice for Mexican food

Sometimes you just need a good burrito.

Taqueria Las Cumbres offers that and plenty more in downtown Crystal Lake, where it seeks, according to its website, to serve up fresh, authentic Mexican food with a cozy, family feel.

A coworker and I headed to Taqueria Las Cumbres, 93 Grant St., on a recent weekday for lunch. I’m a big fan of classic Mexican food, and was very pleased with the offerings.

We started, of course, with chips, salsa and guacamole of which there’s never enough. The restaurant’s guacamole was tasty and had us asking for another round of chips.

The menu – which offers choices for breakfast, lunch and dinner – includes an array of burritos, tacos, gorditas, quesadillas and tortas, as well as nachos, huarache, a taco salad, and tamales.

I picked the generously sized chorizo burrito ($8.99), which came with beans, cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion and sour cream.

Other burritos include al pastor, chicken, picadillo and fish, all for $8.99. For a dollar more, diners can select steak, shrimp, barbacoa, potato or chile relleno. The remaining options are lengua ($10.75), veggie ($7.99) and bean ($5.99).

The restaurant also offers a similar range of tacos, with prices between $2.99 and $3.95; gorditas, which cost $3.99; tostadas, also at $3.99; and tortas at either $6.99 or $7.99, depending on toppings.

My coworker chose one of the main dishes, which all come with rice, beans and, for some selections, a salad of lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream and guacamole. His choice: Mole poblano ($15.99), featuring chicken breast smothered in a mole sauce, a complex classic with a hint of chocolate.

Like the rest of the menu, Las Cumbres offers plenty of chances to customize the order.

For example, the enchiladas ($13.99) can come with chicken or cheese and red or green sauce. The three-picadita dish ($15.99) comes with handmade, thick corn tortillas topped with a choice of salsa, onion, Cotija Mexican cheese and sour cream. The fajitas ($15.99) offers a choice of meat with onions and peppers.

The restaurant also serves Milanesa, a breaded steak cutlet, for $13.99; one of my favorites, chile rellenos, two stuffed poblano peppers with cheese, for $15.99; and bistek a la Mexicana, a grilled steak Mexican style, seasoned and served with tomatoes, onion and jalapeño peppers, for $14.99.

There’s embueltos ($13.99), three rolled corn tortillas dipped in a mole sauce, stuffed with chicken and topped with mole, lettuce, onion and Cotija cheese; and lomo en chile de arbol ($14.99), a rib-eye steak in a spicy, red chile de arbol sauce.

Just revisiting the menu is making me hungry! The restaurant really hits the mark on anything you could want, and its location near the downtown Metra station in Crystal Lake means it can be a great stop on the way home on days you just don’t want to cook.

You won’t go wrong picking Las Cumbres for your Mexican food craving.

• The Mystery Diner is an employee at the Northwest Herald. The diner’s identity is not revealed to the restaurant staff before or during the meal. The Mystery Diner visits a restaurant and then reports on the experience. If the Mystery Diner cannot recommend the establishment, we will not publish a story.

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IF YOU GO

WHAT: Taqueria Las Cumbres

WHERE: 93 Grant St., Crystal Lake

PHONE: 815-455-8200

INFORMATION: taquerialascumbres.com