The average “Mexican” restaurant is to Mexican food what Olive Garden is to Italian, offering up bastardized and Americanized versions of the real thing. Your neighborhood Chili’s (and what neighborhood doesn’t have a Chili’s, usually nestled between two Starbucks), usually has an interior that looks like Applebees with piñatas, and features food the likes of which Donald Barthelme once compared to Italian with jalapeño peppers.
So imagine the simple pleasure of a Mexican restaurant that actually serves Mexican food. Or come to Fiesta Hut, in East Rutherford. You won’t find machine-made tortillas, ugly masses of 50′s sci-fi refried beans atop more beans atop rice, or frozen, manufactured food passed off as fresh. You also won’t find Tex-Mex. Just a handful of simple, authentic Mexican dishes, made with fresh ingredients.
For me, creativity is always a plus; I like when the chef has an experimental streak. But there’s also a lot to be said for just getting the basics right, which Fiesta Hut manages in spades. You should never go to a restaurant and say–usually halfway through the first mouthful (sometimes discreetly covering your mouth with your napkin while speaking)–”I could do better than this,” whether in your own kitchen or the frozen foods section of your local supermarket. Thankfully this isn’t one of those restaurants.
You can get tacos, enchiladas, tamales, burritos, steak, soups, and a small handful of other things. If you’re self-conscious about sharing off your dinner companions’ plates, throw caution to the wind just this once (that is, if your companions don’t beat you to it). The ingredients are top-notch; whether you prefer chicken, beef, or pork*, you’ll be greeted with moist, perfectly-prepared animal bits, and the wait staff are always ready with suggestions, letting you know what goes best on which dishes.
The brown mole sauce is to die for, though the green and red are quite good as well. If you’ve never had brown mole, try it at least once. You wouldn’t normally think of chocolate on a burrito, but this isn’t Hershey’s, it’s a rich, spicy, complex blend of flavors with a subtle kick. The aroma alone will knock your socks off, but the taste… pardon me while I swab a small amount of drool off the keyboard.
The restaurant’s interior is cozy enough, painted in subdued but cheery colors. When we went, the restaurant was playing a mix of Brazilian tunes (I recognized some old bossa nova, and some newer stuff from Red Hot and Rio). That, my friends, is a Mexican restaurant with confidence to spare; no Mariachis, no Rancheros, no Corridos. Bossa Nova. The food’s authentic, and that’s all that matters.
Fiesta Hut is located at 227 Park Avenue in East Rutherford, NJ. Call ahead if you want, (201) 939-4338, though reservations generally aren’t needed.
*I’m told that cheese is also an option–and a delicious one, at that–but unless it’s a vegetarian restaurant, I’d better see some animal parts on my plate.
That’s one of the advantages of living in California, great Mexican food is everywhere. Here, Chili’s makes no attempt at passing itself off as a Mexican restaurant; I normally get the chicken fried steak there. We’ve got some chains, of course: El Torito Grill*, Acapulco, Chipotle, On the Border. But most are good, or at least good enough that the dreaded Chi Chi’s does not dare step foot in this state. And tons of mom and pop restaurants. Oftentimes, the problem is finding a decent restaurant nearby that *isn’t* Mexican. I think my record is 5 straight days of Mexican food (albeit never the same place twice).
* If it doesn’t have “Grill” at the end, avoid it.
BTW, I thought the name Fiesta Hut was a joke or movie reference. I just realized I was thinking of KenTacoHut – the nickname for KFC/Taco Bell/Pizza Hut combo “restaurants”.