They say the first thing to look for in a great Mexican restaurant is homemade tortillas. Fewer and fewer restaurants meet that criterion these days, especially for corn tortillas. For some reason more restaurants make their own flour tortillas than corn, which is a shame since handmade flour tortillas are only slightly better than factory-made while fresh homemade corn tortillas are an infinite improvement over the day-old cardboard most restaurants and grocery stores try to pass off.
Anyway, today I stumbled across a Mexican restaurant that makes its own in both varieties: Bejucos Restaurant #2, just opposite the main Bergstrom entrance at 2517 Hwy 71 in Del Valle. The corn tortillas were every bit the aromatic, melt-in-your-mouth experience that a homemade tortilla ought to be.
I'm afraid I can't attest to the quality of the rest of the food. Beside the tortilla test, which as I say most places fail these days, I usually judge a restaurant on the basis of its enchiladas. But I wanted something suitable for wrapping in the tortillas so I chose the bistek encebollado, which was tasty but as tough as one expects from bistek. Bejucos bills itself as "La Catedral del Marisco" so maybe I should have ordered seafood. Unfortunately the menu has full-color photos of all the dishes, done without benefit of a food stylist and with the bluish tinge of a cheap color printer, so the subliminal effect was to make me avoid anything that might turn the diner the same color. If you go you might try pretending to be vision-impaired and ask the waitress to read the menu to you.
Regardless, I'll be back the next time I'm hungry and in the vicinity of the airport, worshipping at Bejucos' templo de la tortilla.