La Fonda Del Sol

It is a Monday night and my mom is out of town....it can only mean one thing....I have to babysit my dad!! Who is going to be in charge of babysitting my dad when my mom is out of town is a running joke in our family, before this last trip, my sister jokingly said. "Can't we just hire someone?" Nonetheless, we joke about it, but we really don't mind, especially because it usually means lots of meals on dad's nickel!

My dad and I have a shared passion for Mexican food, we just love it, and we love going around trying new places in search for the best. My dad's mission has been to find the best chile relleno and pork green chile, while I usually base my opinions on the beans! There was a point in time a few months ago, where I would wait around on Saturday morning for the inevitable 11:00 am call asking me to go have Mexican food for lunch, which I always happy to say yes too. My sister, Laura, is also a big Mexican food fan, so when we mentioned that were going for Mexican, she wanted to join us too.

I had told my dad about a new place that I wanted to try over on Central & Dunlap. I showed him the add that I had cut out of the paper advertising for "Healthy Mexican Food - No Lard"...needless to say, he was not too amused by this notion and replied....No Lard, No Way! Thus, I had to rack my brain for a different place, and La Fonda Del Sol popped into my head. He was quick to agree, saying he probably hadn't been in there in 20 years, so with my sister in the backseat, East down Shea we went.

I don't ever recall eating at La Fonda Del Sol, although I am sure I did as a child. It is located in the funky shopping center at Scottsdale & Shea where I went to pre-school. From the outside, it looks rather small and a bit rough, but the inside is surprisingly large and just what you would expect from an old school Mexican restaurant. Booths run the length of the restaurant down one side, and there are a few tables and chairs down the other. The walls have hand painted murals that give the place a bit of a nostalgic touch. We arrived at around 7:00 pm, and for a Monday night, I was pleasantly surprised to see most of the tables full.

Shortly after being seated a basket of chips and two carafes of salsa were placed on our table. Further inspection told me that one was a fresh, chunky salsa and the other was more of a hot sauce. We salted the chips and dove right in. The chunky salsa was delicious, I could really taste the flavors of all the components and it was very fresh. It had a lot of onions in it, especially green onions, I really liked it, but those that are not onion lovers may have an issue with it. My dad really liked the hot sauce, as did I, it had a good amount of heat, but not enough that it was unbearable to eat. This was the perfect beginning to our meal.

My dad has always loved a good cheese crisp, and really, how can anyone not? I myself find myself craving a cheese crisp now and then, and there is only one way to eat them, hot out of the broiler. We decided to get one to start our meal, half plain (for my sister) and half with green chilies (for dad and I. It came out bubbling hot, with long green chile strips strategically placed on half of it. We all grabbed a slice and began munching. It was a decent cheese crisp, not the best one I have ever had, but at least it was crispy on the bottom and had a good amount of cheese on top, so it wasn't too greasy. I enjoyed mine by adding some of the delicious salsa on top. My dad liked it to, but his only criticism was that he wished the green chilies were chopped and scattered on top, instead of just one strip per slice, which I had to agree with him on.

We weren't even done with our cheese crisp when our entrees started to arrive. That night, my sister and I both ordered the same dish, with one exception, the beans!! I have gotten into the habit of whenever I go to Mexican restaurants, I always request no rice, all beans. It is not that I don't like rice, but I just like beans so much more! We both ordered Combo #10 which included a shredded beef taco and a red or green cheese enchilada, we both chose red. Like a typical Mexican restaurant, our plates came out piping hot with the standard "Don't touch, the plate is very hot" warning from our waiter. First things first, I took a forkful of beans and held it up, I could see the steam rising from them, I took the bite and was immediately in heaven! These are the beans that I have been searching for!!! They were so creamy and delicious, and had just enough cheddar cheese sprinkled on top....I could have seriously just had a plate of the beans and been happy! I decided that I couldn't neglect the taco and the enchilada, thus hurting their feelings, so I took a bite of the enchilada. I really liked the enchilada sauce, it had wonderful flavor and there was not too much cheese to where that was all you could taste, it was an excellent enchilada. I then tried the taco; the shell was crisp and filled with the shredded meat, lettuce, cheese and tomatoes. It was really good, the meat was not the best shredded beef I have ever had, but all the components together made it a taco that I would order again.

Laura also enjoyed her meal. She told us that the rice was really good, and it looked like a decent rice, not dry at all. She wasn't so hungry by this point, so she only ate the rice, beans and enchilada and took the taco home.

When I was growing up, our family's favorite Mexican restaurant was a place called Marilyn's. I have many fond memories of that place, considering we used to go there every Friday night for dinner! As kids, we were mesmerized by the Shirley Temples that were served to us in glasses in the shape of cowboy boots and the little bags of jelly beans that they gave you at the end of your meal. My dad had a favorite dish there, one that he would order every single time, a Chile Relleno con Carne. Back then, I was still into just the Mexican food basics (tacos & bean burritos), but I remember one night trying a piece of the meat that went with it and seeing why he was so hooked. Sadly, Marilyn's closed about 10 or so years ago, and ever since then, my dad has been on the hunt for something similar, with no luck. Well, when he looked at the menu at La Fonda Del Sol, there it was, Combo #17, Beef Chile Relleno. He asked the waiter if the meat was cubed or shredded, the waiter replied cubed and dad was sold.

When the dish came out, it looked just like I remembered as a kid. A large chile covered in sauce and cheese, with pieces of beef peeking through all the cheese. Dad dug into the beans first and his first reply was, "Mmmm, lard!" He too thought that the beans were excellent, and commented that you can't make beans this good without the lard...and he is probably right! Like myself, dad is not into the rice, so he received a generous portion of the delicious beans. Next, he dove into the chile relleno, he really liked it. He said it was very similar to his favorite Marilyn's dish, the chile was not overly battered and the beef was tender and swimming in lots of green sauce. He really enjoyed this dish, and decided that after years of searching, he may have finally found what he was looking for....although, that is not to say that he and I will stop the search all together....we will just know where to go to get a tried and true fix!

I am so happy to have finally re-tried La Fonda Del Sol, not only do I have a new addiction to their beans, but it is also not too far from where I live! The food was good, hot, fresh and the service was quick. It is the perfect little place to grab some authentic Sonoran Mexican food and satisfy my cravings for really good beans!

La Fonda Del Sol

7223 E. Shea Blvd.

Scottsdale, AZ 85260

http://www.lafondadelsol.com/