Last updated: March 7, 2024

In the Weeds

by Travis S. Mullis

I was the only customer and the only noises in the dining area were the Norteño music videos playing on the television and the smattering of cooking sounds and giggly Spanish coming from the kitchen.  It was my first visit to Como en Mexico; I had driven by several dozen times before I actually had the good sense to pull into its strip mall parking lot and head in for a quick bite to eat. Its interior is about the size of my living room, and most of that space is filled with small tables and a large, wood-paneled counter where you place your order and pay. Now when I visit, I order in a sea of work crews and families hoping to either grab a quick bite to go or settle in for a family meal, a testament to the skills of the kitchen.

Those skills are on display across an ambitious menu that includes ubiquitous classics such as tacos, burritos, and quesadillas alongside harder to find dishes including tlayudas, menudo, enmoladas, and taquitos dorados. Delicious, fragrant, and soft handmade corn tortillas make all the difference when it comes to their tacos, their most popular menu item. They have eleven fillings for their tacos — even a vegetarian option — though their best are the campechano (steak and chorizo), alambre (sausage, bell pepper, steak, cooked onions, and cheeses), and barbacoa (soft shredded beef). Their homemade salsa roja and salsa verde are essential additions for any taco regardless of your spice preference due to their herbaceous, sweet, and sour flavors that don’t get lost in the heat of the chiles.

Como en Mexico does most of its business through takeout, and that emphasis can be felt when you take one of their few seats and dine in. Service isn’t bad by any measure, but it’s doing the bare minimum to get you fed and back out the door. Still, there’s a fun camaraderie that can be felt when you get there at their busiest and see all the hungry faces waiting for their food, chatting, huddling over phones to gaze at Tik Tok, or watching Los Tigres Del Norte croon and sway on the television, all the while knowing they’re just a few minutes away from eating some truly memorable Mexican food.

Como en Mexico does the basics so well they could stick to tacos and still be one of the best Mexican places in a city increasingly crowded with some of the best Mexican restaurants in the South. Their more ambitious menu items are what really set them apart. 

Tlayudas aren’t often seen in Charlotte. In fact, tlayudas aren’t really seen at a lot of Mexican eateries outside of the Mexican state of Oaxaca, their birthplace. Como en Mexico’s tlayudas stick pretty close to the Oaxacan tradition. An oversized corn tortilla is crisped up on a grill top with a little bit of lard, smeared with generous amounts of seasoned black beans, snowed with shredded Oaxaca cheese, loaded down with steak, chorizo, and cabbage, before being decorated with avocado and tomato slices. It’s brought to your table on a dinner plate the size of my Yaris’ hubcap and is best further decorated with a few ribbons of the aforementioned homemade salsas, and the juice from a lime wedge or two.

Many might be tempted to call a Tlayuda a Mexican pizza, but tlayudas are a much more complex dish than what you get at your favorite delivery place or slice house. While you might get some weird stares for tucking into a slice of pepperoni with a knife and fork, the heft of a Tlayuda and the durability of its tortilla base require them, or at least a pair of hands that don’t mind getting covered in neon orange chorizo grease and smashed beans. My only complaint about the tlayudas at Como en Mexico would be that they would benefit from the mellowing effect of a few lashes of Mexican crema thrown on top, something their tacos, enchiladas, and sopes could benefit from too. 

Menudo is a famous Mexican dish made of beef tripe and red chili broth that a lot of people swear by as a hangover cure. Its popularity, at least in the United States, seems to be in decline as people focus more on healthy eating options. That decline isn’t to be found at Como en Mexico, which describes their menudo as giblet stew and tastes just like abuela’s. Their even more satisfying  pozole, a pork and hominy soup, is best served with handfuls of shredded cabbage, sliced radish,cilantro, and squirts of lime juice. It always manages to lift my spirits and remind me of my mother-in-law’s comforting, homemade rendition.

Enmoladas are meat or cheese-filled tortillas smothered in mole sauce. The mole sauce at Como en Mexico is as dark and full of depth as a black hole and swamps the four enchiladas it’s served with in a quagmire reminiscent of the La Brea tar pits. The red rice served alongside it doesn’t rise above the average but doesn’t need to when it’s paired with such a complex, laborious sauce that combines the flavors of its dozens of ingredients to create a blend of umami, sweet, savory, and a hint of sour. 

Taquitos often bring to mind an image of cheap versions found in any grocery store freezer aisle. Most commonly known as flautas throughout Mexico and as taquitos dorados at Como en Mexico, handmade corn tortillas are deep fried, rolled up with marinated chicken, and topped with lettuce, tomato, avocado, and queso fresco. The crunch of that warm, crispy tortilla contrasted with the seasoned chicken, crisp lettuce and tomato, creamy avocado, and the vibrancy of the queso fresco light up your palate and lets you experience the pleasure you had as a kid or college student scarfing down a dozen Jose Ole’s before you knew how much better they could taste.