El Charro

Champaign has been completely lacking in authentic Mexican food up to this point, but that has changed. El Charro is a small Mexican grocery store with a food counter that serves up things you normally don't see here, like authentic gorditas (delicious thick fried corn cakes covered with meat and cheese) and on the weekends, tamales. There are also great quesadillas, enchiladas, tacos...the usual suspects done right. I'm also looking forward to trying their specialty from the Mexican province of Jalisco, birria (goat stew, available weekends only.) This is the closest thing I've had in the North to Mexican food the way they do it in Southwest Texas, and my Texan born husband gives it the seal of approval.