El Senor Sol: Mega-Magaritas and vegetarian tamales

March 11, 6:54 AMDenver Dining ExaminerStan Dyer

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Cute building, good food.

Last Summer, I found “El Senor Sol” Mexican food at 2301 7th Street at Zang’s Brewery behind Invesco Field when the Democratic National Convention closed with Barack Obama’s acceptance speech and I was trying to get into the stadium.  This time, after visiting the “Get into your own business” Expo, I was a bit hungry, remembered the little restaurant and decided to stop by for a return engagement.  

I am not holding this margarita.  It is on another table.

For those who do no know, there are five locations of this restaurant in cities around the Denver area, and the trademark dish is what I call the “fishbowl” margarita.  El Senor Sol serves margaritas in three sizes, 1) Regular, 2) Mongo, and 3) Fishbowl.  I do not know what the restaurant calls their various sizes.  These are the names I have attached.  The fishbowl margarita is the largest margarita I have ever seen served in a margarita glass and is more like a pitcher of margaritas served as a single drink.  Unfortunately, I am observing Lent and I do not drink alcoholic beverages during that period, so I had to pass on the fishbowl, but I will certainly come back and sample the product for you.  If I remember correctly, the mongo, mid-sized, margarita was plenty for me last time and had a good taste.  This time, however, I was really after the vegetarian tamales. 
 

The Vegetarian Tamales, $8.75

When I visited last summer, I wanted to try the vegetarian tamales, but they were sold out and I had to settle for the enchiladas.  This time, I got to try the tamales.  Most places do not offer the vegetarian tamales, and the only places I know that serve good, jalapeno and cheese vegetarian tamales are Tamales by La Casita, and that little Hispanic church on 35th where the tamales are made by nuns.

The Vegetarian Enchiladas, $8.75

I was generally pleased with the tamales, but they were not great.  I like the corn taste of the masa used to make tamales, but this one had more of a “sweet” taste to it and the peppers used were not particularly spicy.  The really nice thing about the tamales is that if you like them, you can buy them to go for only $8.50 a dozen which is .50 cheaper than the least expensive I have seen, $1.50 cheaper than my favorites and about $3.50 cheaper than most.  That price is good for red pork, green pork or vegetarian tamales. 
 

Pretty good chips and salsa, but only the first serving is free.

The food at this restaurant is cooked the traditional way where they put the entire plate into the oven to heat the dish and melt the cheese.  The cheese is not vegetarian, and neither are the frijoles nor the rice.  Nonetheless, I still like this location of the restaurant.  The decor has the real “feel” of Mexico, I like the decorations, and I like the margaritas when I am able.  It is not my favorite Mexican restaurant, but they do have a pretty good salsa, (first serving free, each refill is .85), pretty good prices, and a pretty good following of fans.