Editor’s Note: Photos were taken at a different time than the review so discrepancies may occur. La Plaza Tapatia changes the selection available at its hot bar daily so all items may not be available at all times.
La Plaza Tapatia can be found right across the street from the casino. While the latter looms large and somewhat foreboding, almost like an overgrown malformed mall, La Plaza Tapatia is a bright and sunny grocery, flocked by its bustling, orderly parking lot. It shines, like a diamond on Georgesville Road.
Now would be the moment to tell you what sorts of foods can be found in its grocery aisles, but to tell the truth, we never made it past the cafeteria section. (But you can check that out here.) Right at the entrance, there’s a little bar/cafe, and then a winding counter that takes guests past an endless array of hot foods, ready to be scooped and served.
Let’s talk protocol first. Based on limited experience, the ordering queue is at the counter cash register. At many groceries, you typically stand near the food you like and the serving team tries to figure out who’s next. Here, it feels like the best approach is to line up at the register. When you get the nod, be ready to start making some good choices.
Don’t sleep on the Tamales. They’re first in the queue, but easy to miss because they’re unceremoniously piled in a warmer. There they sit, invisible in their neutral-toned husk shells. Unwrapped, their tender steamed cornmeal sweaters hold shredded chicken with a distinct, almost surprising peppery spike. The appeal is primal, and the mix of soft and homey with its sneaky fire is sublime.
But skip the Tacos Dorados. Fried and fluted, they look so good. They even crackle at first chomp: promising. That said, it’s pretty much a thick tortilla chip with shards of plain chicken inside. There’s plenty of poultry but no part of it comes across as seasoned, not even with salt. If you want some zing, you’ll be adding your own.
Moving on through the mammoth selection of eats, red things are generally good to go. That includes Arroz Mexicano, which is seasoned rice, and Camarones Salteados, nice, firm shrimp stewing in a slurry spiked with jalapeños and onions.
Bistec Entomatado is reddish brown (close enough) and also scores. It’s based on tender bias-sliced beef that soaks up its ambient savory, soupy sauce. The same bias-sliced beef, in Bistec a la Mexicana, suffers in comparison. It’s chewier; less tender than the saucy version.
There’s Chicken Soup, it’s not red, but offers bug hunks of bone-in white and dark bird stewing in real broth and a few token vegetables. It’s honest, homespun fare.
Most buffet items are priced at $5.99 per pound. The counter team does the scooping, but they’re value-oriented. That is, if you order the aforementioned soup, there will be plenty of chicken in your broth, no worries there.
Beyond the buffet, there are Jello Desserts. Stationed directly in front at the store entrance is a formal bakery section that offers up a bevy of interesting-looking sweets. The same sorts of concoctions greet guests at the end of the buffet line. Even as a non-jello fan, it feels like a moral imperative to score a mammoth slice of a dessert composed of chunks of all the jello flavors; they’re fused together with a coconut-flavored gelatin, and topped with whipped cream and a cherry. Jello fans will like it, non-fans will be at least entertained.
There’s a lot more going on at the new grocery: a coffee house, a bar, a bakery. The cafeteria is a good place to start exploring. You can find it at 255 Georgesville Rd.
For more information, visit laplazatapatia.com.
