In the years I’ve been doing the blog I haven’t done too many entries on Mexican or Chinese. Mainly because they are both so easy to find and mostly Americanized. I can’t blame them since they are in business to make money so they sell what people eat. I’m trying to make changes in my eating habits and decided to make the multitude of Mexican menus work for me.

The quest here is to find a healthier, hopefully at least semi-authentic meal to replace my previous criteria. That criteria, sadly for my waistline, was a calculation of just which special or combo gave me the greatest ratio of meat and cheese to other ingredients. My new criteria is the inverse without going vegetarian because I do love me some meat and cheese.

My first visit was to Alazan Mexican Grill in Seneca on N. Radio Station Rd. I’d had some tacos from their food truck at work one Tuesday and really enjoyed them so I felt good about this choice. When I got to the restaurant there was exactly one other vehicle in the parking lot. It was in front of the pizza place next door. The Open sign was flashing though so in I went.

Unsurprisingly I was seated quickly. Actually I was told to pick my own spot in a particular section and I picked one out quickly so I’m counting it that way. They have a good menu part of which looks exactly like every other Mexican restaurant in the US. Part of it included Chef Specialties that showed some non-standard items. I opted to try the Pollo Alazan. I mean it had the name of the restaurant in it so they had to have some pride in it.

My Pollo Alazan was a chicken breast pounded down to about 1/4″ thickness and grilled with mushrooms and topped with just enough queso to be saucy not sodden. That worked out pretty well too because the vegetables needed a little something to punch them up. The veggies were supposed to be broccoli, cauliflower and carrots. The first 2 were plentiful but there was only 1 tiny little slice of carrot hiding under the pile. The meal was simple but tasty and quite filling. Aside from the queso and rice there wasn’t much to make it feel like a Mexican entrée though. I managed to walk away without unwrapping the tortillas or finishing the rice.

Overall I’d say this was a better choice than past selections but I think I can do better next week.