Los Gallos Restaurant
 Youngstown, Ohio           Date of Visit  02/26/11        
 http://www.losgallosmexicanrestaurant.com/index.shtml

You know how I feel about our local Mexican place…Casa. My  brother and mother often enjoy a visit when they are in town. For the past few months they have been talking about finding their own local “casa” which has become family-speak for an in town building that serves awesome Mexican food. Tonight we had a chance to try their Casa at Los Gallos in Boardman. Much like Casa the Los Gallos parking lot is apparently always full making finding a spot as hard as finding a table inside - the unfortunate side-effect of tastiness.
 

No, Seriously. It's Salsa...Queso...and Cole Slaw?!?
 

This place is huge comparatively. I didn’t see the banquet side of the building but just the restaurant side is large. They have put a bit of thought into the décor which is more than the typical “buy a Denny’s, paint it wild colors, call it Mexican”. It really nice inside from the door to the door of the kitchen. We took a small table in the bar since there is not telling how long another table might take. The service is nowhere near as friendly or efficient as at Casa, but they are busy and seem to be interested in providing a positive experience. Just a side note...when you are wiping down tables in a place that serves salsa...check the sides of the table...it's an unpleasant surprise to smear tomaters all over your shirt.

The first oddity of the night was the bowls that accompanied the tortilla chips. The first bowl was instantly recognizable, a comfort, bright red salsa in those little bowls that look like they are made from half a cooled lava-ball. The second bowl was a surprise. It was filled with coleslaw. I don’t know what else to say. The slaw is very savory without a hint of sweetness or pungent vinegar. It lends a very rich fatty feel to the chips with a strong mayo-ey flavor and mouth feel. Total surprise, but it actually worked pretty well.
 

I ordered one of my favorite Casa plates (thanks to my brother) is the #40 or el Tapatio. Chicken with chorizo. Grilled chicken mixed with the chile and garlic loaded Mexican sausage make for a ridiculously good combination. At Los Gallos its called the Chori Pollo and it is the same classic combination of flavors. The other big dif at Los Gallos I have not experienced elsewhere is the tortilla factory. The servers every now and again converge on this machine which churns out fresh and hot tortillas to use as gift-wrap for all of the ingredients on your plate. It took a bit too long between tortilla delivery and the arrival of the innards but the fresh tortillas were still an exceptionally nice touch. My mom ordered a chicken quesadilla which had to have weighed about four pounds. I just snuck a bite but it was just delicious. Steph tried something completely new that is not on any menu we had seen to this point, something called the Valeria Special. This consisted of ribeye steak sliced thin and stuffed with bacon and cheese. Is this really a Mexican restaurant? Served with an avocado salad? Who cares, it was really good, and bad in a super good way. One thing Los Gallos needs to work on is their Margaritas. There is just no comparison in that catergory. Casa will forever remain # 1 in my heart…does that zip code excuse for cheating on your significant other count with restaurants too?
 

The Bacon and Cheese Stuffed Ribeye...I Know...Me Neither!