In searching for a restaurant to review, I was toying with the idea of a chic Italian restaurant in Downtown Dallas, an upscale steak house on Hillcrest, or even just finding another fantastic delivery place. While tossing these ideas back and forth with my friend from down the hall, he stared at me blankly and said “Javier’s… It’s the best Mexican food in the continental U.S.” Well, I thought to myself, I need to try it out. In Dallas, you hear a whole lot about how great the Tex-Mex food is, but I have yet to be blown away. I was hoping that my hall-mate – being a native of San Antonio – knew what he was talking about.
So, I set out for 4912 Cole Ave. without a clue as to what I was to find. The first thing I noticed was that it is less than a mile from campus – a big plus one for Texas and my hall-mate. Unfortunately, the second thing I noticed was that from the outside through to the main dining room, Javier’s toes the line when it comes to suburban middle-class restaurants. A two-person valet stand guards the front of a standard-issue green awning with an overly stylized “Javier’s” pasted on it. This is not necessarily a negative, seeing as how some of the most upscale restaurants in American suburbia resemble the Cheesecake Factory from the outside.
The first and largest dining room of Javier’s leaves no wall space untouched by knick-knacks and old photographs hailing from Mexico City – which is where the food is from. I’m not familiar with the different types of regional Mexican food (aside from the fairly obvious Tex-Mex and Not-Tex-Mex) so my initiation into the world of Mexico City fine dining was the salsa and chips already on the table. There was one green and one red salsa sitting next to a smaller ramekin of habanero sauce. All three were especially delicious when put on tortilla chips, which were a few notches above Tostitos.
After crunching into a few chips with the green salsa on them, my visiting uncle and dining partner looked inquisitively at the waiter and asked, “Is there sugar in this salsa?” The native Spanish speaker looked a little abashed as he nodded his head and then rattled off the list of other ingredients, ending with “Worcestershire sauce.” My uncle and I sat back in our seats after realizing the theme of the evening: fantastic pseudo-Mexican food.
I could have eaten that salsa all day, not only because it was delicious, but also because it was not very spicy. “Yes,” the waiter continued, “this sauce is more for the gringos.” I almost scoffed, but then recognized that I myself am a gringo and had a mouthful of the sauce and was loving it.
Later in the evening, I blindly ordered “Filete Cantinflas” on the recommendation of the waiter, who explained that it is one of the most popular specialties. (The next morning when I couldn’t find the translation for “Cantinflas” I had to call the restaurant to find out what it meant. The dish is named after a prolific Mexican actor probably best known to white folk for his role in “Around the World in 80 Days.”) As it turned out, our waiter was definitely not trying to scam me into buying one of the most expensive dishes on the menu at $24.95. I was served a hefty helping of steak stuffed with cheese and lathered in mole sauce with the traditional rice and beans on the side. The whole thing was put together spectacularly to make a delicious Americanized version of a dish I am sure tastes much different in Mexico City. Nonetheless, the whole set-up was very impressive and left my uncle and me full and satisfied.
The obvious comparison to Javier’s is a low-rent and cheap authentic Mexican restaurant far away from Highland Park Village. Dos Panchas on 920 South Pearl St. is the first dive that comes to my mind. When contrasting the two, I would much rather sit in the crowded, unfriendly atmosphere of Dos Panchas surrounded by the spices and salsas wafting from the kitchen than eat in the awkwardly-furnished poseur front room of Javier’s. That having been said, the two cuisines are miles apart from one another, literally and figuratively. I would not take a guest to Javier’s to show them Mexican food at its finest, but I would take someone to Javier’s if they wanted an amazing meal they won’t soon forget.
All of that is good and well, until you reach the back rooms at Javier’s and realize that there is more than first meets the eye. While roaming through the back of the restaurant with a full stomach and a light wallet, I tripped upon a tapestry-laden private dining room seating twenty-five people. After asking, I was informed that they have three – the other two seat sixty and ten respectively. Even further in the back I found a no-funny-business cigar room. In this smoky-cool ambience, Javier’s interior decorator decided to do away with the Trader Vic’s style hanging plants and totem poles and stuck with the essentials. Beautiful wooden inlays line a full bar overlooking a smoking parlor and small cigar shop. These back rooms make all the difference in separating Javier’s from your average suburban gringo-Mex restaurant.
Looking back, I think my hall-mate may have been off base when he said it was the best Mexican food north of the border, but it certainly was the best I’ve had in Dallas so far – but then again, I am a gringo through and through.
