Nashville Food Friday: Las Fiestas

Las Fiestas Cafe is a relatively new Mexican joint on the East Side that moved into the location formerly occupied by Cat's Music and Smiley's Soul Food Cafe. While there is a plethora of good Mexican places in the neighborhood (El Jalicience quickly becoming my favorite), Las Fiestas has been recommended most often for breakfast. There are few things in the world that get me as excited as a breakfast burrito (one of the worlds most perfect foods as far as I'm concerned) so I knew I was going to have to check this place out.

The decor is "meh" at best. It looks like they picked up their dining sets from an old hotel that was letting go of their continental breakfast area. We went on a Sunday morning and the place was empty. For most of our dining experience Steve and I were the only people in the restaurant. And let me take a guess at why: They were BLASTING TV preacher Joel Osteen on the two large screen TVs. In addition to the unwanted religion I was getting with my burrito, they were playing salsa music over the televised church service. I'm all about mashups, but this was downright annoying. If I wanted to hear a sermon, I would spend my Sunday morning in church. I wanted a burrito, which has nothing to do with Christianity in the slightest. My one major recommendation for this restaurant would be to show sports/music videos on the TVs on MUTE, and play the salsa music in the background.

We started out with our morning coffee. It was fresh, but unremarkable. It tasted very much like typical bottom-less cup diner coffee.

But we were there for the burritos, and boy did we get them. Las Fiestas' breakfast menu is pretty traditional American/Southern stuff, with the exception of the Burrito Loco. The Loco is filled with eggs, your choice of chorizo, bacon or beef, topped with pico and queso. Since I'm not a big queso fan, I asked for salsa verde instead. This burrito was MASSIVE, filling, and very tasty. For the price, you can't really beat this breakfast.

Let's also talk about their home fry potatoes- possibly my favorite thing at this place. They are half circles cut thin and pan fried until almost crispy and dusted with a great mix of spices. These little slices of heaven tasted really good dipped in my leftover salsa verde.

Steve ordered a side of grits (because he is a southern boy) and said they were fairly average. I trust him on this because I have yet to develop an idea of what really good grits are like.

By the time we were finished eating, Reverend Osteen finished his programming and was replaced with an informercial on skin cream- which was also at full volume and not shut off. Overall, breakfast at Las Fiestas Cafe is pretty darn good, if only they would at least shut off sound on the TV.