El Amanecer Restaurant ~ St Paul, MN

Cuisine: Authentic Mexican, Breakfast
Restaurant Features: On-Site Parking
Location: St Paul, MN (District del Sol)
Address: 194 Cesar Chavez St. St Paul, MN 55107 (651)291-0758
Hours: M-F 8am-10pm   Sat-Sun 8am-11pm
Links:   Google Map

Atmosphere: El Amanecer is located right in the heart of St Paul's District del Sol, at the intersection of Cesar Chavez St and State St.  The restaurant is divided into two dining rooms, both with tables and booths.  The main dining room has beautiful, brightly colored murals painted all over it's walls.  There is also a large, gorgeous handmade Mexican Mosaic in the dining area when you first walk in.

Menu: Breakfast items include Lomo de Res con Huevos, Cecina con Huevos, Bistec de Puerco adobado con Huevos, Huevos con Carne de Puerco en Salsa Verde or en Chile Guajillo, Huevos Rancheros, Huevos Divorciados, Huevos a la Mexicana, Huevos con Jamon, Traditional Breakfast, Huevos con Carne de Shebrada, Chilaquiles Verde or Rojo Bistec, Rancheros con Cecina, Enchiladas Montadas. Omelettes include the Mexican, Carne Asada, Ham & Cheese, Puerco & Queso Chihuahua.  There are also Pncakes, Pancakes with Fruit, Molletes al Gusto con Chorizo, Jamon or Tocino.

Appetizers include Quesadilla de Queso, Quesadilla al Gusto (shrimp, steak, chicken or ham), Nachos al Gusto, Guacamole, and Fried Calamari.

Soups offered are Caldo de Res con Vegetale, Menudo.

Combination platters at El Amanecer are all served with beans & rice and include the Aztec Combo (taco, enchilada & tostada), Mexican Combo (quesadilla, tamale & enchilada), St Paul Combo (taco & enchilada), Enchilada Combo, Tamales Estilo Suizo, Enchiladas Rancheras de Pollo or Res (chicken or shredded beef), Enchiladas al Gusto de Queso, Res o Pollo.

Burrito, Taco and Torta Plates include Burrito al Gusto (choice of meat in flour tortilla), Chimichanga al Gusto, Torta al Gusto (sandwich with choice of meat and served with fries), Platillo de Tacos al Gusto (can mix & match 3 tacos).  All plates except the Torta come with beans and rice.

Mexican Entrees include Chiles Rellenos de Queso, Carne de Puerco en Chile Verde, Bistec a la Mexicana (strips of beef simmered in tomatoes, onions, jalapenos and ranchero sauce), Fajitas (steak, chicken, or shrimp), Carne Asada, Lolo de Res a la Tampiquena, Milanesa de Res (breaded steak with ranchero sauce), Cecina con Sopes, Arraxhera con Enchilada Rojo de Queso.

Seafood Entrees include Coctel de Camaron, Seafood Cocktail, Oysters on teh Shell, Shrimp Salad, Jumbo Breaded Shrimp, Shrimp with Michoacana Sauce, Camarones a la Diabla (Spicy Shrimp), Red Snapper in Diablo Sauce, and Tilapia in Diablo sauce.

El Amanecer has a variety of Bottled Softdrinks including Jarritos and Mexican Coke.

Price guide: Breakfast $6-8  Combo Plates $9  Entrees $9-13   Seafood $7-17
What I ordered: I had the three-taco plate and I tried three different meat with the tortillas prepared three different ways.  Pictured here in the left is the Res (shredded beef) on fried corn tortilla.  This taco was packed full of mildly flavored shredded beef.  The meat wasn't too exciting but the shell was nice and crispy.  Next taco was chicken in a fried flour tortilla.  It had a ton of tender, shredded white meat chicken that was only lightly seasoned.  The tortilla was small and very thin and was not fried long enough so it wasn't very crispy.  The last taco was asada served on the traditional double corn tortillas.  The tiny bites of steak were very tasty and tender,  my favorite of the three meats I tried.  The corn tortillas were pretty good.  I had the homemade salsa on all three tacos, which gave the tacos a little bit more flavor with the tomato and cilantro in it, but it was still only slightly spicier than most mild salsas.

 

I think I enjoyed the beans and rice more than I did the tacos!  The rice was very flavorful, slightly dry but very soft.  The refried beans were also very good and had a nice consistency- not too thick, not too thin.

Service:  Very nice and friendly, happy to make substitutions on the menu.  My take-out order took about 10-15 minutes.
Overall Impression: Glad I was finally able to try El Amanecer.  The tacos were decent, but I would like to explore more of the menu on my next visit.  Wish they had a bar with margaritas!

Comments

[Vittorio]

1.

This restaurant would better be called 'Necromancer' - the food is terrible and the service awful - I have eaten there twice; the first was bad and a month later the service, food quality and general filth level was worse. I went the second time only because I thought the first was a 'bad day' as experienced by all restaurants - not true - this is a 'bad restaurant'!