So Many Flavors: Our Night at Pollo Tropical

A new restaurant opened in New Braunfels a few months ago. It’s called Pollo Tropical, and I’d never heard of it before. It went up so quickly I figured it had to be a chain. I also figured that it was a Mexican food restaurant which was slightly disappointing. When you grow up in San Antonio you KNOW what Mexican Food is supposed to taste like. Casa Rio. Mamacitas. Garcias (in Round Rock). Such. Good. Food. So new Mexican restaurants are always kinda iffy. Still, it was there, and we had to eat, and the kids were gone…so it seemed like a good night to try something new.

We knew when we walked in the door that we were NOT in a Mexican food place. But it was hard to label. It wasn’t a Chinese food place, obviously, or actually ANY kind of place I had even been in before. Most menu choices involved chicken, with sides of black beans, yellow/brown/white rice, french fries (because of course) and other foods I have never eaten before…fried plantains and yuca.

Day and I both ordered the “One quarter” plate, which was chicken, something that tried to be pulled pork but did’t quite succeed, and the BEST beef I have ever eaten. The main feature of Pollo Tropical, though, is the sauces. There was ketchup available (but I refused to touch it on principal). Special sauces were Pineapple Rum, Guava Barbecue sauce, Curry Mustard, and Cilantro Garlic (which is a cream sauce that reminds me of the sauce on the doner kabobs we ate in Italy).

The most overwhelming aspect about Pollo Tropical is the plethora of flavors. The fried plantains were sweet, spicy, chunky like a banana, and crunchy. The boiled yuca (still not sure exactly what kind of food that was…) tasted warm and starchy, like a potato. This was the best for dipping because it had so little flavor of its own that it didn’t get in the way of the sauces) We dipped the meats in EVERYTHING and I coated my yellow rice with the curry mustard.

Oh, how do you say “the thing I liked the most” without sounding like a fourth grader! Honestly, the best part of eating at Pollo Tropical was that we were eating REAL FOOD. The sauces weren’t filled with secret ingredients, but rather simple things like “Curry Mustard” and “Guava Barbecue.” Good food. Real food.

Definitely food we’re going to eat again.