Traverse City Record-Eagle,  March 21, 2003
Taqueria Margarita: The Real Thing
If you've been there, or caught the ads on television, you know that Taqueria Margarita and it's sister grocery store, Osorio el Mexicano, market to a Hispanic clientele. The TV spots are in Spanish, and so is the voice on the PA in the restaurant, where flyers on the counter advertise classes in English as a second language. So you know that when it comes to Mexican food, this is the real deal.

     But no matter whom they advertise to, the language of good food is universal, and appreciative Anglos are finding their way to Taqueria Margarita, too.

     We're among them. After Rosa's in Acme closed when a relative in New York went missing on 9/11, we lamented the loss. But we brightened when we learned of another Mexican restaurant open on weekends in a tiny place known the rest of the week as Willie's. It was very low profile, hidden behind a South Airport strip mall, but it prospered. And now owner Miguel Osorio has not only taken over the little place in back, but has come to occupy the entire east end of the Hillside Plaza. Today, both his store and his restaurant proudly face the road.

     The taqueria's menu is limited, but it covers all the important, popular bases, and we high-school-Spanish speakers appreciate its English subtitles. The dishes are described in way that fits the very style of the food itself: simple, straightforward, honest, unpretentious, everyday Mexican.

     Each day brings a special soup and plate-lunch special to augment the regular lineup of tacos, quesadillas, and tamales. You'll find bistek encebollado (steak and onions), pork ribs in red sauce, and chiles rellenos that are properly stuffed, battered and fried. Actually the menu starts with breakfast, which is served all day, and rises from sunny-side-up huevos rancheros with tomato, onion, garlic and peppers to chilaquiles -- sauteed tortilla pieces tossed with eggs and meat.

     The rest of the day you'll find tacos¾four to the order, flour or corn, with any of seven fillings. Dedicated ethnicists can get them with tripas  (tripe) or lenguas (beef tongue), and the less adventurous can have pork, chicken, steak or sausage.

     We like Taqueria Margarita for carryout as well as eat-in. They're unlicensed, and carryout lets us go home and mix up a couple of Margaritas to go with the good food.

     Our last meal consisted of four tacos and an order of two quesadillas. The latter come con arroz y frijoles--the same rice and beans that accompany all regular lunches¾and the tacos included a side dish of chopped cilantro and onion as a sort of salad for filling or topping.

     Serious preparation was evident, and from the first bite we knew we'd left the land of Tex-Mex fast food behind. Very finely milled corn meant tacos as soft and fluffy as the flour version. Two of them contained chorizo sausage, a bit dry but evenly chopped and seasoned, and two held a slightly sweet and spicy chicken tinga, which was not only cooked to the proper state of disintegration but also finely shredded and evenly mixed with onion and mild chilies. The quesadillas were lightly filled with soft, white cheese. Two interesting dipping sauces accompany every meal and take-out order. One is a salsa of tomato, onion, chile and cilantro that is only mildly hot but very flavorful, and the other a smooth, creamy salsa verde we took to be made of lime juice, oil, and avocado puree.

     From the tortilla chips we found on the tables as we entered, to the very last bean, every bite was remarkably light and flavorful, and with none of the blazing heat and heaped-up gooey cheese that turn some "Mexican" food into an outright test of manhood.

     Our service at Taqueria Margarita was swift and friendly, too, despite an occasional language hurdle, and the prices were downright thrilling: Two quesadillas with rice and beans and four tacos with onion-cilantro topping cost all of $14, including those interesting salsas and all the tortilla chips we could handle.

DATA: Taqueria Margarita, Hillside Plaza, 1319 S. Airport Rd., Traverse City.  231-935-3712.