[Dpreefer]

I was smacking my lips for some good Mexican food and for convenience sake, I went to the corner of Constituyentes and 30th, which is loaded with good eats. In one corner you can find HC de Monterrey, El Fogon, los Huaraches, Nativo and La Pesca. That's a lot to choose from.

I was surprised to see that El Fogon is no more, but has been replaced by what seems like a fly-by-night operation, or maybe they are just waiting for their signs and equipment to arrive in order to establish their own identity. It is a surprise because El Fogon is so good, and this 3rd branch they opened was really not bad, although a step below the original on 30th and 32nd.

So I decided to try the HC, being anothe super fan of the HC de Monterrey on Primera Sur. I had not had the chance to try the two new HC's on Constituyentes and the CTM, so why not now? Sit, I did. Eat I did. OMIGAWD! What a grand dissapointment!

This is not the same operation at all. The old HC was far from luxurious, but the food was freshly grilled to perfection with a great arrechera tang. Sometimes you had to wait a bit to get served, but they were busy for a good reason.

The new operation seems to be another attempt to take good Mexican grill food and turn it into a fast food operation. After I placed my order, the food was served within 4 or 5 minutes. The meat had to have been cooked in large batches and sat waiting in a hot plate for the next order. It seemed fried and not grilled at all, and the flavor was flat and the meat too tough. I should have known that this was different, and not in a good way, when the waiter unceremoniously dumped on my table a tiny styrofoam cup of indifferent salsa and another small cup of mayonnaise. (Mayonnaise????) What happened to the basket of totopos and the good salsas I was used to?

I found that if you wanted them, you had to order totopos as an additional charge, which I did. They also came in a New York minute.................but they were baked and not fried. They tasted like cardboard and have no right to accompany a Mexican meal. These were not totopos. They were stale crackers!

I know that everyone loves the old HC de Monterrey, and it was with great anticipation that we heard that there would now be 3 of them to make our pleasures multiply. But do not be fooled. This is not the same operation, and you will be happier in almost any good dive in Playa. I would love to hear reports about the original location and the other new one on the CTM. Are they all terrible now? Did some smartie from Mexico City scarf up the name and try to pass it off as some great tradition when it is just McDonald's in a serape?

I just hate it when someone ruins a good thing, but make no mistake. This new HC de Monterrey is no good thing. My wish is that they go out of business faster than the El Fogon that was their neighbor, and now that I think of it, my guess is that El Fogon closed up so that they did not have to share the reputation for bad food that will certainly follow this deceptive operation.

You have been warned!