It’s always a help to get recommendations for good restaurants from readers. Such was the case for El Molcajete Sinaloense, a wonderful new Mexican eatery on Hixson Pike.

Fresh is the word here, as I discovered after getting a lead from Mary Zelle of Hixson who said that, unlike some Mexican restaurants that serve Tex-Mex, this place serves the real thing.

THE MENU

Naturally, there’s an extensive offering of fajitas — shrimp, chicken, steak or a combination of all. And you’ll find chimichangas and burritos, too.

I asked for recommendations from my server, Eva Sanchez, sister of owner Jeannie Sanchez, who both moved here from Sinaloense, a village on Mexico’s Pacific coast. She gave me three good suggestions: the sopes, a torta or the flautas. I went with the latter and found it to be a good decision.

Servings are quite large, so be prepared to loosen your belt and enjoy a filling meal, but don’t expect your food to arrive quickly. Each dish is prepared to order, so mine took about 15 minutes to arrive.

While waiting, I munched on chips and salsa, along with an order of guacamole, which is made in-house with fresh avocados, lime, cilantro and a little jalapeno pepper for good measure. I’m not fond of cilantro and would have been happy without it, but it wasn’t so overwhelming that I turned it away. In fact, the lime and jalapeno gave it nice little kick.

Flautas are thin tortillas rolled and stuffed with meat, then fried. My chicken flautas came topped with lettuce, sour cream and tomato. On the side was a rich, flavorful cup of seasoned chicken broth. It can be eaten as a soup with spoon, but I used it to dip my flautas in, and it was really good. The broth souped up the flavor of the chicken. Excellent.

Eva Sanchez told me that the restaurant really wants to be known for its seafood, and there’s a separate menu filled with shrimp, clam and oyster choices.

One favorite of Zelle and her husband, John, is the Seven Seas Soup, a combination of crab legs, shrimp, fish, calamari and scallops. It takes about 20 minutes to prepare but is worth the wait, she said.

THE SERVICE

Excellent and attentive on all accounts. Nothing adverse to report.

THE SPACE

Those familiar with the old Armando’s on Hixson Pike will know the layout of El Molcajete Sinaloense, as it has taken over the same space. It’s clean with a few south-of-the-border touches for decoration. Music plays in the background but not so loud as to be offensive.

One thing that would be nice would be cushions on the booth benches. Wood slats tend to bother the backside after a while.

THE VERDICT

To the best of my knowledge, this is the only true Mexican eatery along the 4500 block of Hixson Pike, so it brings a new cuisine to the area. People seem to appreciate the new choice, as evidenced by the crowd of folks on the weeknight of my visit.

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