Chuy's has arrived in Abilene--get ready for the creamy jalapeno sauce!

Chuy's Tex Mex has arrived in Abilene! I usually do not focus much on chain restaurants but the arrival of Chuy's has been much anticipated locally and since they opened they have been swamped with customers since they opened almost 3 weeks ago.

Pico de gallo or salsa? Something is off.

My first visit to Chuy's was about 30 years ago at the original Barton Springs Rd. location in Austin, TX. This was long before their acquisition by Darden Restaurants (owners of Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse and others) in 2024. It was  positive experience and I do recall the cart with all the salsa and chips. The last time I went to a Chuy's was in Waco about 8 years ago. From that visit, I remember eating a lot of the creamy, spicy jalapeno dip with my chips and having a meal with the famous Boom Boom sauce but what I most remember is that I was tired that evening and so full after dinner that I went to bed almost immediately after getting to the hotel. 

Yesterday (Sunday), I went to Chuy's at 2:45pm to meet a friend for either a late lunch or early supper...lupper? It was a 25 minute wait for a table for two. Even at that time of day there were still several people waiting to be seated. Abilene folks have a tendency to overwhelm new places in town, especially when they are chains that people have been looking forward to having locally available. It was a nice day to sit outside, so the wait was not terribly inconvenient. There was not a lot of space in the entry for people to wait but there are benches outside and they had also put out dining chairs on the sidewalk as well.  Once you are on the waiting list, you get a text when your table is ready. The waitlist option on the website is not active for Abilene yet.  

Chicken Flautas dinner

Once we were seated, we were greeted fairly quickly by our server and the chips and salsa arrived. The salsa looked very anemic. It was more like a watery pico de gallo rather than salsa. It was a disappointment. When we asked our server about it she said that it looks that way when it comes out of the freezer before it has a chance to thaw and get more red. I am not sure about that. Perhaps they ran out of regular salsa and had to substitute something similar. By the way, it is absolutely not uncommon for there to be supply issues when a new place gets hit as hard as they do when they come to Abilene. The demand here is unexpected.for most of them. However, once we asked for the creamy jalapeno dip, that helped us have something better in which to dip the tortilla chips. It is very tasty with a nice kick. 

For my meal, I ordered the chicken flautas dinner. It came with six good sized flautas, rice, refried beans, sour cream, fresh guacamole, and chopped tomatoes. You can choose between the traditional Spanish rice or green chile rice. I went for the green chile and it was perfectly fine but a bit blander than I expected from something with green chili in it. The refried beans tasted like they came from a can. I was put in mind of either Old El Paso or Gebhardt brand canned beans by the color and consistancy...will not be ordering any bean based dishes at Chuy's in the future. However, I was impressed with the chicken flautas which had cheese as well as white meat chicken on the inside. The outer part was perfectly fried. The chicken was moist and there was plenty of it. Frequently, flautas come out dry and overcooked in a lot of places. I was only able to eat 4 of the 6 on the plate so the portions were generous and worth the cost. The guacamole was also a standout. Not too much onion or lime, very fresh and flavorful. 

Enchilada (no cheese) and taco plate

My friend ordered the enchilada and crispy beef taco dinner. It also came with rice and refried beans. She opted for the traditional Spanish rice. Since she is lactose intolerant she substituted a beef enchilada for the default cheese one and got the regular ranchero sauce on top. She liked the taste of the ground beef in her taco and enchilada but was not crazy about the sauce on top of the enchilada. The dinner was adequate but nothing to "write home about" in the end. 

Both of our dinners were between $11-$12 each which was at the lower end of the cost spectrum. The price point was very reasonable for the amount of food we were given. Menu prices on the website for pick up or delivery do not match the printed menus inside. Dine in was a little bit less expensive. There is a weekday happy hour from 3pm-6pm with drink and appetizer specials.

Service was just fine considering how busy they were in the middle of the afternoon and considering most of the servers were likely new hires. There were plenty of workers on hand to keep things moving along. The inside of the building has fit as many tables as possible so it does have a bit of a cramped feel to it and there is the usual eclectic Chuy's decor. 

All in all the experience had some hits and misses. They deserve some grace since they have not even been open a month. As I love Tex-Mex food, I am sure I will return once the hub bub has died down and the wait times are not as long. I just hope they fix the salsa situation before next time but at least the creamy jalapeno was as good as I remember. 

Chuy's

4104 S. Clack St.

Abilene, TX 79606

325-237-1113

Located at the Mall of Abilene

Website: https://www.chuys.com/home

Hours:

Sun-Thurs 11am-10pm

Fri & Sat 11am-11pm

Maria's Mexican Kitchen in Odessa, TX, elevated Mexican food with magnificent mole sauce

Maria's Mexican Kitchen only opened in Odessa this summer but it is already a hit judging by the crown at 1pm on a Saturday afternoon. I traveled with my companion to Odessa just to eat at this restaurant as a birthday treat. 

A 

House-made guacamole

little back story on why I wanted to got to Odessa for lunch...in the past when I would visit San Angelo, Texas, I enjoyed going to a family run Mexican restaurant there called Armenta's. Primarily because they served mole sauce with some of the dishes. The sauce was the matriarch Maria's recipe. It was a rare thing to find mole sauce on the menu of the average Mexican restaurant. The last time I visited, I found out that they no longer serve the sauce as Maria had passed away. When I read that Maria's Kitchen, which is owned by her chef son Felipe Armenta, and was named this one in honor of his mother, I had to eat there and enjoy the delicious mole sauce again. The Odessa location is new and the other location is in Fort Worth. Chef Armenta has several restaurants in Texas. 

Chips and salsa

First off, I recommend making reservations, especially on the weekend. Odessa, much like Abilene, is a town that always wants to try the newest restaurant arrivals to the local scene so that may or may not have contributed to how busy they were on a Saturday at lunchtime. We arrived a little early for our reservation and were seated about 5 minutes after walking in the door. Maria's Kitchen is not an overly expansive restaurant, which is another reason to make reservations. The decor is modern and there are very high ceilings and contemporary style furnishings. The only drawback to the building is that it is quite loud when the tables are all full so keep that in mind if  that is an issue for you when dining. There will eventually be patio seating outside but the summer heat does not make that a pleasant option at the moment.

After we were seated at our table, the server arrived quickly. The service for the entire meal was very attentive and professional. Homemade chips and salsa was placed on the table almost immediately. The flavor of the salsa was very appealing. It had a roasted tomato profile and was served warm. I thought the chips were a bit on the thick side but they certainly did not break when used to scoop up some of the flavorful salsa, which did have a spicy kick to it due to the seeds that were visible. 

Mariposa and Maple Old Fashioned

A minor critique is that the drinks from the bar were a bit slow arriving, I think there was only one bartender working, but that was not a major issue for us and the manager brought our beverages over himself once they were ready. They were perfectly balanced cocktails. 

For an appetizer we ordered the house-made guacamole ($14). It was absolutely fresh tasting and quite delicious. There was a bit of a sweet flavor to it instead of the avocado being overwhelmed with a lemon/lime, onion, or cilantro flavor, as can happen with guacamole at times. It is a guess, but I think it may have had pineapple juice in it. We enjoyed it immensely and it was consumed quickly. 

For my entree, I was torn between getting the chicken in mole sauce or the enchiladas tres colores ($22) which had three different sauces on each enchilada. The enchiladas won because I wanted to try the poblano sauce in addition to the mole sauce. The third enchilada had sour cream sauce on it. For the filling, I got the chicken but picadillo beef was another option. My companion ordered the steak fajitas ($36). 

Tres colores enchiladas

Steak fajitas

My enchiladas came out looking like perfection on a plate. Of course, I had to try the mole one first. It did not disappoint. The sauce is complex and had some heat to it, the bitter chocolate note was there but the underlying flavor was red chili. Sesame seeds were sprinkled on the top. The chicken inside was tasty and tender. It was even better than I remembered it. The poblano sauce was also yummy and almost gave the mole a run for its money. The sour cream sauce was very, very good, no complaints at all. I could not have been happier with my choice. It was well worth the 2.5 hour drive, one way, to Odessa from Abilene.  

My friend's fajitas came out sizzling and the meat was full of flavor and tender. The accompanying flour tortillas were just the right size to make the a "bite-able" fajita taco. They came with the requisite peppers and onions, with a whole grilled jalapeno and grilled pineapple as well,  which as a little surprising but not unwelcome. 

Our dinners came with rice and refried black beans, served family style. Both were non-traditional as the refried beans were made with black beans and the rice used long grain rice, which put a different twist on the staple sides. I am not a huge fan of black beans but the flavor on both was good but to be honest I was too full from the enchiladas to each much of the sides. 

Interior

As you may surmise from the price points that were annotated, Maria's Kitchen is "elevated" Mexican food. The ingredients are high quality, along with the presentation, and the service as you would expect from the prices. The menu is not huge but the choices reflected several seafood options which one would not expect to see in west Texas. My next goal is to try the Fort Worth location which has been in business longer and see if it is just as impressive. 

If you find yourself in the Midland/Odessa area, I recommend you got the Maria's Kitchen for a lovely meal. I know I will again.  

Maria's Mexican Kitchen

7254 TX-191 #200, Odessa, TX 79765

432-282-0240

https://www.mariasmexicankitchen.com/odessa/

Hours

Mon-Thu 11am-1opm

Fri 11am-11pm

Sat 10am-11pm

Sun 10am-9pm

Brunch--Sat & Sun 10am-3pm

Happy hour--Mon-Fri 3pm-6pm

CLOSED Biscuit Bar--Go for breakfast or brunch when the biscuits are fresh

The Biscuit Bar is a theme restaurant  that opened in Abilene last fall. The food is served on a biscuit. Not just breakfast items but all sorts of sandwiches. It is located in the new entertainment area on N. Judge Ely Blvd. close to Abilene Christian University. The other restaurants that are already there are Fuzzy's Tacos (Abilene's second location) and a Vietnamese place. 

The area has lots of outdoor seating, a playground and is situated around a pond with a walking track around it. In this pandemic world, the outdoor seating has lots of appeal. Even more so than it normally would with the generally agreeable weather in this area. There is room for more establishments to come in to the space. 

For a girls night in mid-December, myself and three friends went to have dinner at The Biscuit Bar as none of us had been there yet. Yes, they do have an actual bar and serve alcoholic beverages in addition to their menu of biscuit sandwiches and tater tots with a variety of topping options. It is a small chain with a few other locations around the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex.

We arrived on a Friday evening around 6:30pm, early yes but with most new places in Abilene we anticipated that there would be a line even though they had been open for about 3 months. Lo and behold, no line and only about three diners inside. This set off a bit of warning bell in my mind that it was so sparse but I put it down to the end of the semester and the mass exodus of college students for Christmas break. There was a large party seated outside along with a couple or two. 

The service set up is to go through the line and place your order and it will be brought out to you. We all placed our orders and went to find a seat inside which as I stated wasn't a problem, except that we had to clean it off ourselves. I ordered the Fancy Chicken ($6.60) with a side order of plain tater tots with ranch ($3.80) and a drink. The sandwich was a fried chicken breast, dill pickles and house-made "fancy" sauce, which tasted like ranch to me. I found the biscuit to be tough and not warm enough, very disappointing since the entire restaurant concept was based on their biscuits. The breading on the chicken was tasty but the entire sandwich was quite small for the price. I do realize that prices have gone up everywhere but almost $4 for an order of plain tater tots no bigger than a large order of tots from Sonic was to be blunt, dissatisfying. To get toppings on them would have added another $2.50 to the cost. I think the toppings are meant to make them an entrée so the price follows. They are just not good enough or plentiful enough to cost that much, sorry.

My friends ordered the grilled chicken biscuit ($6.90), the grilled chicken biscuit with no biscuit--as there were no gluten free options in regard to the bread and salad would have cost $2 more--and the biscuit French toast ($5.80). Out of all of us the French toast biscuit was the best option. Perhaps going there and sticking to breakfast style features is a safer bet. Safer still would be to go early in the day when the biscuits are fresh. All day you have the option to get a sausage biscuit or a biscuit with sausage gravy for less than $5 or a bacon, egg and cheese for less than $6. Kid's meals are about $5 and there are salads but they start at $8.50. There are sweet potato tots for those that like them.

All in all, I may go back for brunch sometime and enjoy sitting outside if the weather is nice but it is not going to make my regular rotation. 

https://thebiscuit.bar/

2447 N. Judge Ely Blvd

Abilene, TX 79601

Sun – Thurs: 8am – 9pm

Fri & Sat: 8am – 10pm

abilene@thebiscuit.bar

325-267-6538