The Blue Banner

Issue date: 2/28/08 Section: Arts & Entertainment

The word "Guadalajara" may bring to mind visions of sombreros and cold margaritas against the background of a setting sun and mariachis playing. One might also picture a stack of cash floating slowly from a bank account to the airplane fare, the hotel manager, the sweet little old lady toasting corn tortillas and the vender at the corner offering bottled water. Fortunately, this mini-vacation exists much closer to home than imagined, in the K-Mart shopping center.

Guadalajara Mexican Restaurant has "El Eco," "La Voz" and "The Real Estate Book" free for the taking in front of the building. Walk inside to little candy machines, a quarter a piece for a gumball or a little plastic toy.

Pictures of Latin American plazas and maps hang along the walls. Stroll to your favorite booth, or whichever may fit your fancy that day, and slide in as a bilingual waiter approaches to take the drink order.

After ordering, receiving and consuming a burrito, enchiladas or huevos rancheros, leave your tip, rise, pay at the check-out counter and maybe drop a quarter into the can in exchange for a mint.

"There are two types of Mexican restaurants in America; there's the upscale TexMex chain restaurants, and then there's the family-owned back room Mexican restaurant," senior drama education student Kimberly Hersey said. "That's the type that this is, and all of those are really cheap. But this one is cheap and good. It's not like diner-cheap, which is good, but later really disgusting."

After Hersey introduced me to Guadalajara, my stomach simply can't get enough. All my stomach needs in life are tortillas and salsa.

Having lived in Mexico for three years and being a native Texan, I couldn't help but doubt the abilities of North Carolinians to produce decent Mexican food.

"The food is the best I've had up here and it's always the best I've had up here," said Hersey, a Raleigh native. "When I first moved here I thought it was almost on par with my favorite place from back home, and then I went back home and realized it was better."

When the servers deliver your drink orders, they automatically bring a side of chips and salsa.

The salsa is a medium level of spicy; munch on them throughout the meal but you may need at least one refill of water. The chips flake slightly but not enough to break in the salsa.

The "Special Quesadillas" for $7 remains my favorite dish. The menu describes it as "two grilled flour quesadillas filled with beef or chicken, served with guacamole salad and sour cream."

Add a little salsa from the salsa dish already on your table and it's perfect.

"I just get a burrito and a side of Mexican rice and I drown the Mexican rice in queso. It's not too thick, it's not too thin and it sticks to your chip well," Hersey said.

Guadalajara uses a light, whiter cheese to make the queso, resulting in a more pure, rich taste.

Hersey also suggests the "Pollo Azado" for the diner who forgot breakfast in their rush to get to their 8 a.m. scheduled classes straight through lunch and obtained a hefty hole in their stomach by dinner time.

This dish comes with a boneless chicken breast, a side of Mexican rice, a guacamole salad and tortillas, all for $7.50.

But no matter how rich and cheap the food is, a Mexican restaurant isn't worth its weight in tortillas if it doesn't serve a decent margarita.

Guadalajara offers a serviceable, sweet selection according to 21-year-old Hersey.

"The regular margaritas pour kind of strong, which is a bonus if you're kind of broke and you're only going to get one," Hersey said.

The strawberry margarita measured up similarly to the original, though its flavor soothes the taste buds more than arouses them.

"The primary reason for ordering a strawberry margarita is it tastes less like, 'You want some margarita with that tequila?'" Hersey said.

Hersey also discovered her favorite Mexican beer at Guadalajara, Negra Modela. The menu offers a variety of both Mexican and American beers.

In addition to beers and margaritas, the beverages include the usual soft drinks, daiquiris, wine and some mixed drinks, such as Tequila Sunrise, Cuba Libre, Fuzzy Navel and Salty Dog.

Guadalajara has two locations, in the K-Mart shopping center and on Mineral Springs.

However, the one on Mineral Springs is said to be less appealing.

Hersey dislikes that one because they put corn in their rice. Not to mention, the location is less than ideal.

If you're tired of walking all over downtown or driving 45 minutes away to find a decent restaurant in Asheville, Guadalajara's convenient location near the major stops for errands makes it irresistible.

It's located across the street from the Asheville Mall, in the K-Mart shopping center near Wal-Mart and Target.

"It's great if you're running errands because it's not going to take an hour out of your day," 18-year-old Cassidy Robbins said. "It's functional."

When a rapid McDonald's-timed meal is needed, just call Guadalajara a bit of time.

Even, for example, just before a run to Target to pick up toilet paper and shampoo.

If you call and place your order, the take-out will be ready when you get there.

Such an advantageous location should have customers flocking, and certainly peak dinner hours and weekends remain fairly hectic.

But almost any time you go, there's at least a few booths open.

"We have our table," Hersey said. "It's the one in the back, closest to the bar; don't take it."

"If people start taking our booth, we're going to have an issue," said Robbins, a Hudson native and Hersey's girlfriend.

Hersey introduced Robbins to Guadalajara for their first date.

It worked appropriately because they went later in the evening when it was quiet.

"It would be the perfect place when you get a group of your friends together and you don't know where to go. That's my fallback. If I want to do something with somebody and I don't know what to do, I say, 'Dinner at Guadalajara, be there,'" Hersey said.

Guadalajara Mexican Restaurant

K-Mart Plaza

4 South Tunnel Rd.

Asheville, NC 28805

828 - 298 - 0702

Monday - Saturday: 11 a.m. - 10 p.m.

Sunday: 11 a.m. - 9 p.m.

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