14 // COASTWEEKEND.COM
Coast Weekend’s local
restaurant review
EL COMPADRE
RESTAURANT
Rating:
119 S. Main Ave.
Warrenton, Ore. 97146
503-861-2906
Hours: 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Mon-
day-Friday; 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m.
Saturday; noon-9 p.m. Sunday
Price: $ – most dishes in the teens
Service: Efficient, thoughtful
Vegetarian / Vegan Options:
Not much for vegans
Drinks: Syrupy margaritas, full
bar, soda
Pollo a la Crema
Carne asada and chile relleno
Haven’t I eaten this before?
El Compadre inspires déjà vu
Review and photos by
THE MOUTH OF THE COLUMBIA
MOUTH@COASTWEEKEND.COM
FACEBOOK.COM/MOUTHOFTHECOLUMBIA
W
here do you get déjà vu?
Is it while making
coffee in the morning?
Driving to work? When you catch
yourself cursing out loud as some-
one with a full cart fumbles with
self-checkout at Safeway?
Déjà vu isn’t always bad. I get it
sometimes when cresting the dunes
on the way to the beach.
My déjà vu is also known to kick
in on visits to many of the region’s
Mexican-American restaurants. (It
flares up at plenty of pubs, too.)
When I cracked the four-page menu
on my first visit to Warrenton’s El
Compadre Restaurant I felt like I’d
been there before.
Of the 100-plus menu entries,
you’ll find maybe 90 percent over-
lap at joints like Plaza Jalisco, in
Astoria, El Trio Loco in Gearhart
or Mazatlan in Seaside.
Fish tacos
It’s like a classic rock radio
station that plays but a handful
of familiar songs in rotation. Of
these anointed hits (and B-sides), I
sampled a handful.
In the Carne Asada & Mas
($15.95), the top sirloin steaks
were cut cardboard thin, char-
coal-y, pumped with enough salt
and pepper to overcome their
overcooking. Except in the Fajita
Burrito ($13.95), which was dom-
inated by an abundance of too-
sweet caramelized onions. Mine
might has well have been called
the Sweet Onion Burrito.
A lake of mostly sour cream,
I happily slurped the Pollo a la
Crema ($14.95), embracing the
leavening tang against lardy refried
beans and cheese.
Speaking of cheese: It spilled
in slow motion like water bursting
from a damn when I sliced open
the Chile Relleno. The pepper’s
earthiness was a welcome addi-
tion to the plate — an earthiness I
would’ve welcomed three or four
times over.
The fish in the fish taco — dice-
sized cubes of tilapia — were scant
but aggressively well seasoned and
nicely seared. The finely chopped
pico de gallo — different from the
complimentary house red salsa —
also afforded a freshness that most
other dishes longed for.
Despite a pasty, tomato-y sauce,
the al pastor slid through almost
unnoticed in the night.
El Compadre offers plenty of
rote combos (like an enchilada and
a taco, or a burrito and a chimi-
changa) that, for the most part,
aren’t worth your attention.
Indeed, they’re mostly just
padding to a menu that doesn’t
need more items but more variety.
KEY TO STAR RATING SYSTEM
Poor
Below average
Worth returning
Very good
Excellent, best in
region
While the 100-plus choices
can at first appear overwhelm-
ing, when observed from a high
enough vantage, nearly everything
at El Compadre melts together
into an almost singular dish: a
melange of grilled proteins mixed
with lardy beans, melted cheese,
rice and maybe a tortilla and some
veg.
An alternative name for the
El Compadre — and the many
restaurants like it — would be Rice
& Beans. Of the many dishes, only
the tostadas and appetizers come
without them.
Which is not to say nothing
rattled me from the Twilight
Zone-y sameness. I dug the hot
sauce. Not the complimentary stuff
that appears on your table with the
menu, but the habanero variety,
which you have to ask for. A
brownish mix of red tomatoes and
green tomatillos, onions, cilantro
and habaneros, it’s watery like its
complimentary cousin, but punchy,
addictive and distinct.
The habanero salsa had not only
a verve but a distinct personali-
ty, one that the rest of the menu,
in this deluge of déjà vu, would
welcome. CW