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Friday, January 28, 2000
Rios' recipe: basic foods, good prices
Family-owned restaurant not a place for dieters
A blue-collar cafe with a South Texas menu, regulars at Rios Mexican Food have been coming back for more than 20 years.
Jerry Rios, the grandson of restaurant founder Ramon J. Rios, says his family's recipe for success is simple: good food at good prices.
"We're your basic meat and potatoes place," Jerry Rios said.
Located along the industrial end of Agnes Street, Rios Mexican Food is well placed for most of its customers of the industries nearby.
Inside the white cinderblock building, the red tile floor, orange booths and wooden plank ceiling give the impression that not much has changed since Ramon Rios opened the doors in 1979 after quitting his job with Reynolds Aluminum.
A bakery case packed full of fresh pan dulce immediately caught our eyes, as we moved through the first, cramped dinning room and into the main dining area.
During our recent breakfast visit, the room was filled with the voices of a clutch of gray-haired and gimmie-capped men sitting together at a corner table, laughing and talking and drinking coffee. Cowboy hats, big bellies and blue jeans were also in abundance.
Only open for breakfast and lunch, Rios' offers the standard fare. For breakfast, there's breakfast tacos, steak and eggs, huevos rancheros, migas, etc. Lunch brings Mexican combo plates, chicken fried steaks, nachos, chili and the like.
Good solid working food, nothing fancy. And, like Jerry Rios said, "this isn't the place to come and eat if you're on a diet."
Our waitress came to the table immediately and her warm smile and friendly manner made us like regulars immediately.
We tried the machacado and eggs plate, served with fried potatoes and refried beans; the migas plate; a couple of breakfast tacos and some pan dulce.
The machacado and eggs, which is dried beef strips scrambled with eggs, diced jalapenoes, onions and tomatoes, were good. The diced potatoes were frozen and fried and also pretty standard.
But the refried beans that came on the side were great. Dark and oily, the beans had a unique flavor. Jerry Ruben said that's because they refry them on the grill, giving them a distinct flavor.
The migas plate, basically a machacado plate without the dried beef mixed in, was also good if a little bland. But a steaming hot plastic bowl of ranchero sauce served on the side really helped pickup the flavor.
Both came served with piping hot, home-made tortillas wrapped in foil and tossed on the side.
The breakfast tacos, scrambled eggs and bacon, were also fine.
The highlight of the meal was the pan dulce, which is baked fresh every morning - maranitos (thick gingerbread cookies shaped like pigs), pumpkin enpanadas, those thick pink cookies that leave grease spots in white plastic bags - mmm. The pumpkin empanada, though, served with the sweet, spiced filling still warm, were fantastic.
Overall, the food was predictable and consistent, just the way the regulars at Rios like it.
Rios' Mexican Food
4217 Agnes Street, 882-1625
Hours: 6 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Saturday, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday
Entrees: $1.95 to $6.25
Wheelchair accessible
Checks: Local
Credit Cards: All
Food: **
Atmosphere: *1/2
Service: **1/2
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