Garduno's Mexican Food

My friend Peggy and I went to Cherokee Street last Wednesday. A couple of weeks ago St Louis was featured in the New York Times Travel Section called 36 Hours in St Louis where they mentioned Cherokee Street as a fun place to spend the afternoon.

I had read some time ago about a Mexican restaurant that is a favorite with many Mexicans and that many a lunch time there's a line waiting for tables. My husband doesn't like what he calls "Foreign Food" meaning anything that isn't Italian, French or American Regional ( and PS he doesn't eat all of those either!), so I had been looking for a buddy to check this place out.

So Peggy and I made this date to investigate what Cherokee Street had to offer, and to go to this Mexican restaurant for lunch. Here I need to make a confession. The restaurant I thought I was going to was not where we ended up. We ended up at a place called Garduno's Mexican Restaurant 2737 Cherokee Street 314-776-2315.  There were about 10 booths for 4 covered in orange "leather", and about 4-6 tables down the center of the room. While we were there the TV was tuned to a Spanish station. It was neither loud or obtrusive.

We each ordered a combination platter so we could try different things.

Peggy's was a Burrito, an Enchilada, and a Tamale. You have your choice of hot or mild sauce; Peg chose half and half.  I orderd a Taco, Chile Relleno, and Burrito with hot sauce. We also ordered a small Guacamole.

The Tamale was authentically wrapped in a fresh corn husk and was quite good. The Burrito and Enchilada tasted pretty much the same-we couldn't distinguish the difference between them. The taco was crisp but also indistinguishable, but the Chili Rellenos was wonderful. I also liked the Guacamole. It came with fresh tomato and chopped onion on top and was well seasoned. Although we were in the"wrong" place, we had a fine time.