Casa Tapatia: A taste of Mexico

ALBANY — Let me be bold and say that there isn’t anyone who doesn’t love really good Mexican food.

Okay, there is, but it’s safe to say that Mexican cuisine is extremely popular, especially in southwest Georgia. Tacos, burritos, nachos, fajitas … you name it, and we’ll eat it. So it’s needless to say that, especially in Albany, there are plenty of Mexican restaurants to choose from because we just love it that much. One of the favorites among these restaurants is Casa Tapatia on Slappey Boulevard.

Casa Tapatia was opened in Albany 11 years ago by mother and daughter owners Yolanda Medina and Ines Medina. Not the first of their restaurants, Casa Tapatia became the family’s foothold in the Albany area. Yolanda Medina came to America legally as a migrant farmer and farmed all over the country until she saved enough money to open her own grocery store in Fort Valley, which has a tortilla factory and a restaurant next door.

“I started working at our grocery store (El Mercadito) when I was 10, and by the time I was around 14 or 15, I was running the restaurant next door,” Natalia Rodriguez, Casa Tapatia’s general manager, told me. Natalia has been a part of her mother’s businesses her whole life. She has been Casa Tapatia’s general manager for nine years.

Natalia and I sat down together at a booth and pored over the menu. She told me that a lot of their customers get the house special, but I could tell that that wasn’t the dish she wanted me to try. For “Signature Dish,” we at The Herald aim to find the meals and plates that best represent our local restaurants. As a self-proclaimed (for this article only) food sleuth, I had to push a little more to get to the bottom of things. Finally, she said that the Molcajete is really what makes Casa Tapatia special.

For the appetizer, Natalia and I decided that I would try the Mexican nachos, which anyone might enjoy. For the entree, the Molcajete was something for the more adventurous diner. She also picked out a bowl of their charro bean soup to taste.

Natalia went back to the kitchen for a bit while I went off to explore the rest of the restaurant, and before I knew it, the table was covered in food. In hindsight, it was way too much for a small person like me to ever dream of eating, but who am I to turn down leftovers especially when they’re this delicious? Not a single bite went to waste.

I wasn’t sure what the best course of action for these dishes was because what I really wanted to do was scoop everything into a wheel-barrel and run. But with the general manager watching, I had to be on my best behavior. I started with the charro bean soup. Honestly, this one is tough to describe because it somehow encapsulated the entire essence of bacon. The soup is made of pinto beans, spices, some chorizo and, of course, bacon. This was the perfect rainy day pick-me-up or for whenever you just want something warm to enjoy that isn’t your basic chicken noodle soup or chili.

Next was the plate of nachos.

There are generally three kinds of nachos. There are the greasy, bar-style chips loaded with toppings that the faint of heart approach with a fork and knife and the brave dive in knuckle deep. Then, of course, there are the movie theater or convenience store style, rounded corn chips covered in a mysteriously orange sauce that can be purchased in large barrels labeled “cheeze” with a capital Z. Then there are Casa Tapatia’s Mexican nachos.

These tortilla chips are topped with your choice of meat, beans, shredded cheese, lettuce, sour cream, pico de gallo and guacamole. The ingredients are so fresh that these nachos will trick you into thinking you’re eating healthy. If anyone ever catches me saying that I’m off to have a salad for lunch, I’ll just be at Casa Tapatia eating these nachos again. The warm, melted cheese drizzled on top is kind of like a salad dressing, right? Right?

After I reluctantly moved on from the nachos, it was time to try the star of the show: the Molcajete. As far as Natalia knows, this is the only restaurant in town that serves it, and upon further investigation, I couldn’t find it on any other local menu. If the name of the dish is intimidating, it’s really just a name for the stone bowl the dish comes in, which is similar to a mortar and pestle.

Before making a taco out of the contents of the molcajete (which Natalia advised me to do), I picked out a piece of the chicken from the bottom of the dish. The only thing I could do was just sit there with my eyes closed and let myself enjoy the actual explosion of flavors that erupted from the sauce.

The Molcajete came with grilled chicken, onions, chorizo, a huge deep-fried jalapeno, grilled cactus, fresh Mexican cheese and radishes. The proper way to eat this is to put a little bit of everything into a taco shell and enjoy all the flavors together. The chicken was smoky and juicy. The cactus was sour with its own unique texture and flavor that I’ve never experienced from any other vegetable. The cheese was like a mild feta, and the chorizo was salty and smoky. All together, they hit every flavor base at once. Sorry, all other tacos, I’m taken.

The sauce was really what made it for me. Honestly, this is a dish you should order if you want a taste closer to Mexico. But all of their recipes (created by Yolanda Medina) have that “something special” to them that make you feel like you’re having a true authentic experience.

Casa Tapatia is located at 108 N. Slappey Blvd. in Albany, across from Brooks Plaza.

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