
This will be my first specific blog post related to food. You may have noticed I added Food and Travel categories to my site. It seems, as I head full-on into retirement, those are two areas of our lives that are rising to prominence. So here it is.
El Nopalito, in downtown Eugene, is a short walk from our house. We had walked by it several times in the last couple of months (they opened at this location in July) and kept saying we need to try them out.
Last evening, we had that opportunity. And we were NOT disappointed!

We started with the Chips and Guac. Everyone seems to do theirs slightly different and some are too salty, have weird flavors of spice combinations, or even dry (or greasy), stale chips. El Nopalito nailed it. The chips were fresh, crispy and not greasy at all. The guac had just the right amount of salt and seasonings. It was excellent. We immediately felt we were off to a good start and anticipated the next round.

We wanted a variety this first time, so we each got one taco. As is now common in most Mexican restaurants, the tacos are reasonably-priced street tacos, so they are smaller. That’s OK, because we also ordered a quesadilla. I had the Carnitas, which was smoked pork and very flavorful. They have four salsas to choose from and we tasted all four and settled on two. I can’t remember which two, but they were all good. Brenda had the fish taco and thought it was very good as well.
Our only criticism was I felt the Carnitas could have used some jalapeño (next time) and Brenda felt the fish taco was good, but not the best she had ever had. All in all, though, they were very tasty and flavorful.

OK, so don’t let this picture fool you. The quesadilla was probably my favorite of all that we ordered. Doesn’t look like much, but it was very tasty. Tinga de Pollo is generally a shredded chicken, braised in a chipotle-tomato sauce and spiced. So while all you see here is a flour tortilla, inside is…wonderful! The combination of chicken and spice was perfect. I will definitely order this again. And I won’t share it with Brenda!
We WILL be going back. I’m anxious to try their margaritas and a few other items on the menu.
RATING:
Food: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Service: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Atmosphere: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️