COLUMN: El Toro Viejo is a tough bull to judge
It’s good to be back for another semester of hitting the books, working hard at The Statesman and, of course, eating my way into food coma after food coma.
Over the winter break, I was able to exercise my jaw and stomach muscles, thereby keeping myself in good practice for my gastronomic jaunts about Cache Valley in search of fine eateries, good bargains and, most importantly, the occasional ultimately satisfying gut bomb.
I referred to my restaurant bucket list, which continues to grow as I learn of new places to eat here in beautiful Cache Valley, and realized I had yet to eat at all of the Mexican places in town. My roommate suggested a place a few months ago, and I decided to give it a try.
“El Toro Viejo,” which means “the old bull” in Spanish, also happens to be the name of a Mexican restaurant — a typical, quaint, casual-dining restaurant — located on north Main Street in Logan.
My roommate eats out often enough that I trust his judgment. El Toro, he said, is not too expensive, but it’s not college-student-budget cheap, either. He told me it’s a good place to go if you have a coupon or have been saving up.
One day, shortly after I received a deposit in my bank account, I decided to jump in my ride and swing on down to The Old Bull and get my comida on.
Upon walking into El Toro Viejo, I was immediately transported back to my days of living in Moab, in southeastern Utah, to a time when I used to frequent a place called Fiesta Mexicana. Essentially, these two restaurants seem to have hired the same interior decorator.
The walls are filled with everything you can buy at a souvenir shop in Tijuana, Mexico — all kinds of over-sized sombreros, plastic everything — Mexicano dolls, cactuses, chili peppers — and so on. The tables and chairs are brightly colored, as well as the walls, and the music playing over the PA system is, of course, authentic Hispanic and Latino music.
The one thing Fiesta has on El Toro is that its servers are dressed in authentic Mexican garb and look as if at any time they might be joined by a mariachi band for a spontaneous, impromptu song and dance. My server at El Toro was pleasant and gave good service with a smile. However, she was only wearing a regular server’s uniform — no mariachi gear.
Let’s talk about food, though. This is where my impression of El Toro Viejo went slightly further south than south of the border. It was hard to get more than a few words out of my server, so when I asked her what she recommended, I didn’t really get the advice I was hoping for.
El Toro happens to have a rather lengthy menu. Anyone familiar with Chef Gordon Ramsey’s TV show “Kitchen Nightmares” understands that the larger the menu, the wider the margin for possible error. Ramsey would likely scream a handful of expletives if he got his hands on this menu.
After page three, I started getting mired in choices. Of course there were the usual tapas, burritos, fajitas, enchiladas and tostadas. After succumbing to choice exhaustion, I eventually went with my default Mexican restaurant choice, which is tacos pescado, also known as fish tacos.
I happen to be a loyal fan of tacos — especially fish tacos. Therefore, I’m on a lifelong search for the ultimate fish taco. That said, I’m going to make this as painless as possible — El Toro Viejo does not have the ultimate fish tacos. Theirs are made with tilapia, as many good tacos pescado are. However, this tilapia — a flaky white fish without a whole lot of character — was over-seasoned and not too fresh.
I did enjoy the rice and refried beans. But, with a bill of roughly $17, if you include my Dr Pepper, I wasn’t overly pleased with my first El Toro experience.
The portion sizes were large enough to require a take-home container, which helped minimize my buyer’s remorse. The service was good, and the atmosphere was enjoyable. I noticed the restaurant was clean for the most part, too. Overall, though, I give El Toro Viejo a B.
I’ll certainly go again and order something completely different. But my first impression of the place was, as they say with a shrug in Spanish, “mais e menos.” Or, as we say here — meh.
– D. Whitney Smith is originally from Pennsylvania and moved to Utah five years ago. After 11 years’ experience waiting tables at a total of 23 restaurants, he decided to hang up his server apron and enroll at USU. Have suggestions for a restaurant to review? Email him at dan.whitney.smith@aggiemail.usu.edu.