Mextopia Brings Home the Bacon

By Jareb Parker Mon., Jun. 6 2011 at 1:14 PM

Categories: Happy Hour

Free bacon: The sweetest words in the English language.

Let Happy Hour help quench your thirst by pointing you to some of the city's best drinking deals.

Where: Mextopia, 2104 Greenville Ave.
When: 4-8 p.m. Thursday and Saturday
What: $3 house margaritas, $2 Tecate Light, Firemans #4, $2.75 domestic bottles
Why: Because we like cheap booze and love bacon and freebies. So, when the bartender behind the gold flaked bar at Mextopia asked, "Bowl of bacon?" we almost fainted. Doused in cayenne and maple brown sugar, sizzling bacon added a great contrast to the salty and spicy of the regular Mexican fare. As for the menu, it's more home-style Mexican cooking than Tex-Mex, so the familiar items have a bit of a twist compared with many similar restaurants. Whether Mexican flavor is your thing or not (they have plenty of harder-to-find tequilas and imports if it is), there's something for everybody with margaritas and domestic bottles also on the happy hour roster.

Most regulars seem to know their way around the place, and many of them are friends with owner Ricardo Avila, who considers his restaurant an extension of his home, except here instead of helping with the dishes, his guests pay a bill before hitting the road.

As for our stay, chips and salsa, a bowl of pozole and a few Tecate Lights later, what was a quick after-work stop lasted well past sunset. Though the bacon bowls served only at the bar stop at 8 p.m., the happy-hour pricing doesn't end. In fact, as long as you're sitting at the bar, it's happy hour no matter what time of day it is. That's why we recommend passing on table service and opting for the bar night or day, whether the bacon's on the grill or not.

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