It was a cold, dreary Saturday morning in Columbus. Typical February Saturday? No, it was September 13th! Your Columbus Chow 'gumshoes' were on the hunt for a Mexican Restaurant known as Cucos Taqeria. We pulled into the lot off of Henderson Road to a totally dark, closed, not opened joint! Now what? Jersey Boy's eyes shifted a little and landed on The Front Row Sports Bar.
The strawberry blond booze slinger looked us over as we entered. We looked her over back. And she was easy to look over with all the right curves in all the right places. "Wha'ta have boys, a cold one?" That's the last thing we wanted from her; just some information. "What time does Cucos Taqueria Open?" "Not til 8:30," Cassandra Brockman, owner and head cheerleader, said. "I can put on a pot of joe," she offered. "Thanks," I said as I pushed back my fedora and lit up a Lucky Strike. Jersey Boy looked around, soaked up the images of a neighborhood bar at 7:45 in the morning and let his memory take over.
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| She's a shrewd bartender, good looking, smart, with a great smile and happens to own the joint! |
Jersey Boys been my breakfast partner since 1977 and he's taken me down his memory lane many times. I don't mind; it's so much more interesting than mine. The Front Row Bar took him back to a summer job throwing trash into the back of a garbage truck in Laurence Harbor. That was a awesome job. You know what I'm talking about if you where raised in a union environment like New Jersey and Chicago. Good hourly pay and the work is usually not too hard. Well, Jersey Boy was the junior member of his particular team and the team he was on liked to stop at bars.... a lot of them. Seems that they would stop at each of the nine on their route and have a boilermaker. A boilermaker is a shot of whiskey or bourbon chased with the contents of a tall bottle of cold beer. After his first week Jersey Boy stayed in the truck. The Front Row Sports Bar was full of guys that reminded him of that time. Cassandra yelled over "Cucos opened." I laided out a few bucks, stubbed out my Lucky and we left reluctantly.
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| Rene was our greeter and server...the food was as bright as his smile! |
We walked in and were welcomed by Rene into the restaurant at 8:31. Cucos Taqueria is a full service Mexican Restaurant and we mean full service. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. Bar and outside seating on a patio. They also maintain a very minimally stocked food store. While I've never been to real Mexican restaurant (Cancun doesn't count nor does watching endless reruns of Rick Bayless shows) this place had all the expected décor and music playing. We could have ordered a Modelo Especial, Dos Equis, Corona or a Carta Blancha Beer to go with our scrambled eggs.
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| Oaxaquena Enchiladas |
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| Huevos Con Chorizo |
He ordered Oaxaquena, Three eggs, potatoes wrapped into enchiladas topped with black bean sauce with sour cream and lettuce for just $6.99. It was a lot of food. The Southsider went for the Huevos Con Chorizo. Two eggs scrambled with Mexican sausage. Served with rice and refried beans for just $7.00. Our opinions? While we really don't know this cuisine we do know that the food was good, hot and well presented. The restaurant was clean and our server attentive.
So your Columbus Chow 'Gumshoes' had solved the mystery! We found a pretty good breakfast spot and a great place to quench your thirst; The Front Row Sports Bar! A tip of our fedoras to both of them.
Cucos Taqueria
2166 West Henderson Road
Columbus
We proudly award this restaurant 3 bellies!
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