On Saturday, after rollerblading down the new stretch of greenway near Freeman Mill Road on a date with my best friend, our rumbling stomachs led us to Crazy Mexico’s Tate Street location.
A drink machine bubbling with horchata and aguas frescas (tamarind, hibiscus) greeted us from the bar. A rainbow of papel picado hung from the ceiling above the painted booths imported from Mexico. “Power Slap,” a show produced by Ultimate Fighting Championship President and CEO Dana White, played on the TV above the bar. My date was completely transfixed by the beefy players onscreen, adeptly plowing their hands into the faces of their opponents.
It reminded us of “Two People Exchanging Saliva,” one of the Oscar-nominated short films we recently saw at Winston-Salem’s a/perture cinema. In the film, slaps are doled out as currency–two for an Uber ride, 30 for a designer dress, four for a tube of toothpaste on the black market–and kissing is forbidden.
We sat down to a thick menu, plus a laminated sheet of specials, and I immediately asked Kevin, our waiter, for a blueberry horchata (sugary sweet like cereal milk, with real fruit bobbing in the waves) I’d seen advertised on a sign outside.
Burritos named after Cancún, California, and Hawaii jumped from the page. A Crazy Burrito, too. After much indecision over the vastness of choice, I finally decided to order a quesadilla with meat-free modifications before Kevin, our waiter, gestured for me to flip to the very back where a full vegetarian menu awaited.
I’d need a couple more minutes, I admitted.
Samuel Flores-Ayala created Crazy Mexico nearly a decade ago, which now has three restaurants in the Triad. The Tate Street spot, which is coming up on its first anniversary next month, is a family affair. Husband-and-wife team Christian Zaragoza and America Hernandez met while working at another location; she runs the front-of-house while he manages the kitchen.
Hernandez likes that it allows them to spend more of their days in each other’s company.
“You get to share more time together,” she said. Plus, managing a restaurant is easier with someone you really know and get along with.
When my date’s steak and shrimp and my veggie quesadilla arrived, they were full of flavor and fresh ingredients. My plate — a fluffy tortilla filled with cheese and zucchini, broccoli, and squash with a side of rice and salad — was less than $13.
According to my date, his steak was delicious and well-seasoned from the first bite, and the shrimp, tender, cooked just right. The smokiness of the chipotle salsa on the side added depth to the plate and brought all the flavors together. He said his tortillas were so hot they felt like they were ironed; that’s comfort you can’t put a price on.
“The orange at the end was quite nice, it cut the grease,” he said.
His Mexican surf and turf cost about $20, but it was definitely enough food to last 2-3 meals.
With great amusement, my date asked Kevin just how many slaps this meal would cost him.
Kevin mulled it over.
Two, he decided—but from everyone working that night, including the guy in the back going through a divorce.
My date passed on the deal. Paying full price seemed like a better option than ending up splayed out on the floor like the “Power Slap” competitors.
All I’ll say is, we still got slapped at Crazy Mexico—with flavor.