April 11, 2008

Tokyo (JAPAN)

The Ebisu Beer Garden and Expensive Mexican (What's New?!) with  Full MexicanAttire

It has become a kind of tradition since arriving in Tokyo to visit the Ebisu Beer Museum every Friday. However, starting next week I will be practicing regularly with the Tokyo Tech soccer team, which means today marked the end of a tradition. (It was fun while it lasted).

While the 200 yen Ebisu premium beer on tap is nothing new to other alcoholics (or regular readers), what is new is the Mexican restaurant I discovered hidden down a flight of stairs called El Rincon de Sam (presumably meaning something like, Sam's Watering Hole).

Joining me were my American compatriots (and fellow Mexican food enthusiasts), Neil and David, along with David's Mongolian girlfriend, Nara. I ordered a plate of beef nachos, with both fingers crossed, as I have thus far been let-down time and time again at both the portion sizes and inflated prices of Tokyo's Mexican restaurants. The only worthwhile Mexican food came from Kumagai-san's home cooking. Would tonight reach that standard?

While waiting for our food, Sam came out to give on of his nightly week's end performances. Playing the guitar and singing Mexican songs that everyone has heard (but no one can name), the waiters around the restaurant were a bundle of energy as they danced along and got the guests interested. Somehow, I ended up with a large sombrero on my head and a quickly-grown beard.

The look will not stick.

When the food arrived I thought it was some kind of a joke. While I can accept substitutes for difficult to find cheese (i.e. Colby Jack or Monterrey Jack), what is unforgivable is only providing 11 (yes, count them: 11) tortilla chips on a plate normally used for serving a piece of cake - especially when I am paying 900 yen (around $9USD) for the dish. Honestly, it is not that difficult to double (let's be honest, triple) the tortilla count and pour extra cheese on everything. Then, things got worse when the restaurant tried to charge us a 500 yen table charge, but for each person! While everyone else was pulling out their wallets thinking there was nothing they could do, I called Sam over and explained what happened. He seemed to understand that we were being screwed, and kept the table charge at that: a table charge. Nevertheless, I have given up on Mexican restaurants in Tokyo, and will stick to the home-made kind from here on out.

The difficult part is going to be convincing Kumagai-san to make nachos again...