One thing I’ve had fun doing in this seven month tour is finding unlikely places around town for steak and today I’ve found a doozy! Mariachi has been open for over a year now and I’ve enjoyed the Mexican food there on several occasions, but on my last visit something jumped out at me from the menu and that something is pictured below:
They have a whole section devoted to steak dinners! Not one, not two, but there’s eight selections altogether! And they all sound delicious, so it may be a little tough to pick which one will be our 25th steak on this mighty and meaty journey!
I love the Mariachi building, it’s rugged, large and looks like it means business. So let’s go in and begin the 25th week of steak. Just three more to go and then we’ll have a surprise or two at the end of the tour.
There’s the owner of Mariachi, Pepe clutching a menu at the host station near the entrance. Pepe showed me the Mariachi bar banner and then led me into the large bar room and...
He quickly went behind the bar and got me an iced tea! This guy is quite the multi-tasker! I asked him for a suggestion on which steak dinner to order and he suggested the one that is the most popular on the menu and so that’s what I went with. He took my order and then...
Magically fresh tortilla chips and homemade salsa appeared next to me and they were delicious!
As you can see the back of the bar is colorful and there’s two TV’s if that’s your thing, I prefer to ignore TV’s in bars, so I set my sights on the selection of eight beers on tap and the half dozen frozen margarita machines.
There’s dining tables behind the bar and large and comfortable booths line the wall. I saw a couple of familiar faces at a booth, but the sunlight silhouetted them out. Just another reason to hate that rotten sunshine. This couple will be revealed at the end of this post, so keep on scrolling to see who they are!
There’s a party going on here in the main dining room and there’s more booths to the rear and lining the front wall in here.
The decor is Mexican themed art and artifacts, all colorful and lively.
Meanwhile, back at the bar, the table has been set and it looks like it’s just about time for this week’s steak dinner. I like the fact you get a choice of green and red hot sauce. I always go for the red because the green brings back this horror movie memory and it’s not too appetizing.
Alright, here we go! This is Pedro delivering the mystery steak dinner! Time to find out what Pepe suggested for this week's steak dinner.
This is the Steak and Shrimp entree. It’s a grilled T-bone steak with a quartet of grilled jumbo shrimp (oxymoron alert!) on top. It comes with a side plate of rice, guacamole, salad and beans. Beans? Aaaahhh! Well, we’ll just put it off to the side. It is a side dish after all.
I thought we’d clear the shrimp off of the steak first and they were so tasty! I think they grill them alongside the steak because they had a savory flavor to them and they were so juicy! Now it’s on to the main attraction!
The steak comes sizzling on a hot skillet and underneath the steak are a bed of grilled onions and peppers. I added a few dollops of hot sauce and A-1 Sauce (hello Mikey C!) and sliced away! I made sure to add some onions and pepper to every bite and this was one hearty and delicious steak! It was grilled to perfection and so tender and tasty! Now I want to come back and try the oher seven steak dinners!
Oh my, it was so good I accidentally ate the bone! That’s the mark of a truly tender steak!
And here’s the mystery couple from the table revealed: It’s Kevin, who we know from Castle’s Patio Inn and his girlfriend, Amy! They’re in full sombrero mode and it’s great to see them!
Steak Rating
Four Elsie the Cows—The T-Bone Steak was grilled, juicy and delicious and the quartet of jumbo shrimp and grilled peppers and onions really took it over the tasty top! And next time I need to ask them to hold the beans...between their knees!
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1818 W. War Memorial Drive
Peoria
309-431-3109
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