MYSTERY MOUTH: Fantastico fare

Tamarindo and mandarina Jarritos.

• Chicano’s Restaurant

902 Prospect Ave., Scranton

570.341.0841

Hours:

Tuesday-Sunday, 11 a.m.-8 p.m.

Visa and Mastercard accepted.

by Mystery Mouth

An authentic Mexican dinner for two: $17. Still full and raving about it the next day — and several days after: Priceless.

On an unassuming block of Prospect Avenue in Scranton’s South Side is Chicano’s Restaurant. If you aren’t looking for it, chances are you might drive right past this half house/half restaurant. Once you do find it, however, you’ll be hooked.

There’s nothing special about the restaurant’s small interior, where the plastic seats and tables are pretty much of the backyard variety. This bare-bones d�cor allows you to really focus on what you’re at Chicano’s for in the first place: the food.

Oh, the food.

The Mouth has heard from many, many people that Chicano’s is the place for authentic Mexican food, so last week, I made the pilgrimage with my amigo Sonny in tow. We sat ourselves at one of four tables up a short flight of stairs, and opened up the menus, which are written in Spanish and English. It was a refreshing sight to see that the most expensive items — mojarra frita (fried tilapia), mixed fajitas with grilled beef, chicken and shrimp, carne asada con nopales (grilled steak with cactus) and camarones a la diabla (shrimp in red hot sauce) — are just $10.

Sonny and I started with Jarritos, Mexican soda available in mandarina (mandarin), limon (lemon) and tamarindo (tamarind). Sonny was intrigued by the latter, so he decided to try one after our server Luis explained that tamarind is a fruit. Always a sucker for orange soda, I went with mandarina. Luis quickly delivered the frosty-cold bottles and complimentary tortilla chips with a side of fantastic super-spicy chipotle-esque sauce. Both sodas were less carbonated than regular sodas, and while mine tasted like a melted orange ice pop, it wasn’t overly sugary like orange pop can be. Sonny’s tamarindo was light and refreshing with a soft sweet-and-sour flavor.

After seeing an enormous burrito delivered to a neighboring table, Sonny declared that he was getting a longaniza (Mexican sausage) burrito ($5.50). He got it “wet,” with sauce on top. Seeing that all tacos are only $1, he wanted to try one in longaniza, too.

Most of the items — tortas (Mexican sandwiches), tacos suaves (soft tacos), empanadas, enchiladas and burritos — are available in the standard chicken (pollo), pork (puerco), steak (bistek), cheese (queso) and spicy pork (carne enchilada). For those with braver tastes than Sonny and I, burritos and soft tacos also come in lengua (beef tongue).

After choosing a spicy pork taco and chicken empanadas ($4), I housed the rest of the chips, much to Sonny’s chagrin. Luckily, our tacos made a swift appearance so he didn’t go hungry for too long.

Though the tacos were small, both were mighty in taste and topped with onions and tons of fresh cilantro, which the Mouth adores. My spicy pork was accompanied by a side of red sauce that had a spicy and slightly smoky flavor while Sonny’s Mexican sausage came with a tasty vibrant green cilantro sauce with a nice kick of its own. Both meats were moist and flavorful, and both of us regretted getting just one taco — until the main event arrived, that is.

Sonny’s burrito, nearly as big as the plate it arrived on, was smothered in cheese and a red sauce that wasn’t overly spicy but did provide a little zing. The burrito was full of rice, sausage, beans and more than a few jalapenos that gave Sonny a treat a few bites in.

“They aren’t too bad,” he said of the jalapenos’ heat as he wiped his eyes, “but they are certainly a surprise.”

My three empanadas were deep fried and topped with shredded lettuce, sour cream and cheese. They were greasy — in a wonderful way — with a terrific crunch. The chicken was slightly dry but tender and savory. When I dipped the empanada in the cilantro sauce I commandeered from Sonny, the result was exquisite.

While we made pretty impressive dents, Sonny and I just couldn’t finish our dinners. Luis came to see if we needed anything else, and the three of us got to talking about that mysterious tamarind again, because Sonny couldn’t stop raving about his Jarritos. Luis disappeared for a minute and came back with a piece of the curve-shaped fruit and two homemade drinks for us to try.

Sonny went nuts for the first, horchata, which is made with sugar, Carnation Evaporated Milk, rice (which is strained out) and cinnamon, among other things. It was deliciously sweet and creamy, like rice pudding sans rice. It was an ideal meal ender.

The tamarindo was the antithesis of the horchata: It had no sugar, was a golden color and tasted like a mix between homemade iced and unsweetened apple juice. Like the tamarindo soda, it delicately balanced sweet and sour.

The tamarind fruit itself was sticky with a gummy texture I found more sweet than sour. The raw fruit certainly didn’t compare to how good it tastes in liquid form, though.

To say Sonny and I were pleased and impressed with Chicano’s is an understatement — we were blown away. From how friendly Luis and the rest of the staff were to the amazing and reasonably priced food, Chicano’s is a special place. Sonny and I look forward to returning a lot, especially on the weekends when tamales are available, to work our way through the rest of the menu.

Though Chicano’s will move to a bigger spot on the 400 block of Scranton’s Cedar Avenue by the fall, the Mouth knows it won’t be missing its intimate charm. That’s something that sometimes has nothing to do with the surroundings.