If you are looking for great Mexican food with some authentic flavor, El Rincon Mexicano Dos, of Canandaigua, is where you will find it. After a peaceful 35-minute drive that leads to this picturesque city on Lake Canandaigua, you will find a fantastic restaurant that offers a menu of delicious Mexican cuisine in an elegant yet comfortable atmosphere filled with colors and sounds which take you south of the border.
Upon entering the restaurant, you find yourself standing directly in front of a large, fully-stocked bar that divides the dining room into two sections. The drink menu is complete with almost everything you can associate with Mexican cuisine. A wide range of top-shelf tequilas is featured, as well as margaritas both frozen and on the rocks. Mixed drinks are a bit expensive, but a nice wine list at a fair price makes up for it. If beer is more to your liking, don’t miss this opportunity to enjoy almost any Mexican brew imaginable.
You might want to start with the chips and salsa appetizer while you enjoy a refreshing cocktail from the bar and peruse the menu. The chips are crisp and warm and the salsa, which has a nice kick to it, is obviously homemade and a must-try. The flavor of this appetizer is a nice complement to the authentic Mexican atmosphere. The dining rooms are decorated with traditional Mexican artwork, which almost makes you forget you are in the middle of nowhere.
The menu offers an extremely wide selection of Mexican dishes, all of which come prepared with chicken, pork or beef. Of all their dishes are made with authentic ingredients imported from Mexico. In all of the dishes that we sampled, the beef was by far the tastiest. The chicken, although flavorful, was a bit dry and made for a more bland option.
The burritos are stuffed plentifully with chicken and rice, but are on the smaller side, so that leaves plenty of room for other Mexican delights. The enchiladas, a smaller, baked version of the burritos with salad in place of the rice, come with either a red or green sauce and delicious melted cheese. The tostadas are also a good choice. They are served open-faced, topped with salad and drizzled with a crme sauce that adds a very nice touch.
An individual burrito or enchilada can run about $5-7, so your best bet is to order a combination platter, which comes with about 3 or 4 different items and costs anywhere from $12-18. Although the combinations are pre-selected on the menu, there is an exhaustive list of platters with almost every combination one can think of. Each dinner is complete with a side of rice and beans.
El Rincon Mexicano Dos is definately worth the drive. After your delicious meal, don’t forget to head over to MacGregor’s of Canandaigua right around the corner.
Additional reporting by Genna Sheedy-Feldman.
Branower can be reached at jbranower@campustimes.org.
Sokol can be reached at jsokol@campustimes.org.
