A commoner’s recap of Eduardo’s, DeKalb, Ill.

I still have a lot of catching up to do to cover the various places I visited this summer.  For instance, I tagged on a little side trip to DeKalb, Ill., on my way back from the Algonquin Art Fair around July 1.  Why DeKalb, you ask?  Because a former travel companion attended Northern Illinois University there, and I thought it would be a nice bonus to check out the place on our way back.  I like to think I do have some nice qualities that manifest themselves once in a while.

Anyway, this posting is not about NIU or other points in DeKalb, although I did find a great bargain on Tito’s Vodka and stocked up on Old Style beer at American Liquors near the campus.  Actually, most prices there were pretty reasonable.  College kids have a limited budget, you know.     

I continue to digress, because after we drove around the campus, we waited out the opening of the restaurants along the main drag of downtown to grab an early dinner and, since I was still feeling my Mexican restaurant mojo, decided to try Eduardo’s.  

Eduardo’s is apparently on offshoot of an older Mexican restaurant standby from DeKalb’s past, Rosita’s.  They’ve made Eduardo’s a more modernized version of the original, with a large, well decorated formal dining area as well as a nice spacious bar area off to the right when you walk in.  Guess where we sat?

A nice spacious seating area in the bar room, with several TVs for a sports bar feel.  Cater to the masses, I suppose.

And, being a college bar at night, even during the summer they had an impressive selection of signature shots and drink specials.  However, with a long drive home ahead, we chose to pass on those. 

Those two pictures combined may give you an idea of how long the bar really is.  It could definitely hold a large crowd.  As for the drinks, we went the traditional route with sangria and margaritas, of course.  And when combined as a sangrita, the result was pure thirst-quenching deliciousness.

Quenching a thirst on a hot afternoon.

Turning to the food and what I can remember from two months ago … first, the menu makes you pause several minutes before making a decision.  That’s because there are so many good choices to select from, and all reasonably priced -- most ranging from $10-$15.  It’s not all your standard Mexican restaurant fare, either.  And it’s my understanding they switch it up quite regularly, so I can’t recall exactly what this is.

Suffice to say, it was outstanding.  It was similar to tacos al carbon except the beef inside was more like Texas-style brisket.  The Tex-Mex combination must have appealed to me.  And, for what it’s worth, the Spanish rice was some of the best I’ve had in some time.

As for my dining partner that evening, this picture of melty cheesy goodness should give you an idea of what she thought of her plate – I think it was the pollo del ray.  One last note, the chips and salsa were exceptional – both fresh and homemade.  So, naturally, we were practically stuffed by the time these huge main entrees arrived.

As I continue to catch up, I’ll try to hit some of my trip to Galena, Ill., next.  And, I have my annual Illinois State Fair recap to capture, too.  I’ve also been thinking up some music-related blogs to mix things up a bit.  I’ll be a busy blogger for the foreseeable future.