A “New” Mexican Restaurant…and More!

We hadn’t had Mexican food from a restaurant in over a year.  Our last experience with this cuisine was via take-out during the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic.  We’d ordered dinner from our favorite local Mexican restaurant…and it just wasn’t as good as we remembered.  We were so disappointed that we haven’t been back.  Perhaps it was a bad day or possibly Mexican food doesn’t lend itself well for take-out. 

In any case, we finally yielded to our desire to once again experience Mexican cuisine.  El Jimador Mexican Grill had been open for some time, but it was ‘new’ for us.  This location in Madisonville Tennessee had been occupied by a ‘not so great’ Mexican restaurant.  Having driven by this new dining iteration a few times and noted just how busy they were, it felt ‘right’ and so we recently stopped by for an early dinner.

We both loved the creativity and craftsmanship shown with the creation and placement of these 4 mariachi band members near the front entrance of El Jimador.

The name El Jimador translates as “The farmer”, that is a farmer who raises and harvests agave plants.  These plants are used primarily for the production of alcoholic beverages such as mescal, stool and tequila.

The interior of El Jimador is very colorful.  It starts with the mural behind the host station and continues throughout.  The attractive bar is located toward the back of the restaurant and it certainly gets your attention.  Although it’s really loaded with color, the interior of the restaurant seems to work well.  Perhaps the number of windows keeps the color palate from overwhelming the area. 

So what about the food?  Laurie ordered the Camarones al Ajillo. ($13.99) Shrimp are marinated in a special house recipe sauce and then they are grilled and served with rice, lemon and garlic butter.  Laurie let me have one of her shrimp… We both really thought that the shrimp were cooked perfectly and that the marinade and garlic butter combined for a truly tasty entrée.

For my meal, I decided to order one of my favorites, the Chili Colorado. ($11.99) This spicy offering features pieces of beef cooked with red chili pepper sauce.  As you can see, it came with Mexican rice, refried beans and warm flour tortillas.  I was a very happy customer!

Service was attentive and very pleasant.  We will return in the not too distant future…

As it turns out, I discovered that there are 2 El Jimador locations.  The first location is in Maryville Tennessee and this one in Madisonville was the second.  The Madisonville El Jimador can be found at 4621 Highway 411 South.  Phone: 423-545-9990.  To check out the company’s website with their menu, go El Jimador | Mexican Restaurant in Maryville and Madisonville Tennessee (eljimadortn.com).

Now for a little home cooking…

With the price of steak these days, we’d taken a chance and purchased a couple of thin cut ‘chuck t-bone’ steaks.  The marbling was good and so was the price.  Laurie noted a recipe for creamy peppercorn sauce on-line and she decided to make up a batch for our ‘inexpensive’ steaks.  I grilled them on the stove with seasonings and butter…and then Laurie scraped up the remaining ‘goodies’ and added the peppercorn mixture.  At the table, we simply poured the sauce over the steaks.  The combination turned out to be a hit!

How to deal with a leftover store bought rolled chicken breast that was lightly breaded and stuffed with cheese and spicy sausage?  I decided to make a breakfast entrée for myself!  I reheated the stuffed breast meat, placed it on 2 small slices of buttered toast and topped it with a shredded cheddar cheese mixture.  I zapped it in the microwave for 20 seconds to melt that cheese and then of course, I had to top it with an easy-over fried egg.  While it wasn’t my favorite breakfast…it was pretty good and certainly carried me over until dinner.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave