Plain Jane

We, my sister, my aunt, and I were driving from Pheonix to Elfrida. It was about half way thru our 4 hour trek when I knew without the aid of a clock what time it was. Lunch, and all three of us had the same idea, "Let's find some food!". So started our search for  something tasty. Over the next half hour nothing was looking good from our view on the freeway. The only thing that we saw was one chain-food place after another. Yikes my resolve to eat healthy was diminishing as the options were very few. My aunt finally said that we should turn off at the next town and try to find something. We passed a fast-food joint on the way down and I almost said "Let's just stop there". Well, I didn't hoping that we could find something that didn't come out of a package and was fried. As we drove thru the industrial part of town we realized that this would not be the place to find something. As they were peeling their eyes to find something, I was mentally remembering how to find our way back. Nothing, nothing and more nothing. If you could eat buildings you'd be full. We were about to turn around when a small side street appeared to our right. The car turned and we found ourselves on a colorfully painted street filled with little shops and stores. My sister took to scanning the right side and I took the left. Whoosh...a light green color filled my eyes and I caught the word "Guatemalan". As we neared the end of the street with no luck, I suggested that we turn around. The color green still played in my hungry mind as I hoped that it was a restaurant. As we passed for the second time we confirmed that indeed it was a restaurant and whoopee, it was open!

We circled again, trying to find parking. Once parked we walked up the street and entered the restaurant.After being greeted by a nice gentlemen and taken to our seats, my eyes drifted around the small room. It was brightly painted, just like the outside and very clean. Two women set at a table folding napkins around utensils. From the similar features I guessed they were mother and daughter. A

door stood ajar and

peering in I saw a small child enthralled with a movie. This was defiantly a family owned and operated establishment. We scanned over our menus deciding what to order. Most of the names were in Guatemalan so we had fun trying to say them. Once we decided, we told the man our order. He tried not to smile as we totally butchered his native tongue, though I think he appreciated our effort to say them. He walked back to the kitchen and the sounds floating thru the air told me that the grandpapa was the main chef. He jovially was ordering the other two voices around. Laughter and the sound of food cooking echoed softly off the walls. Soon a wonderful smell filled our noes's and we knew food was about to make an appearance. In it came arrayed cunningly on our plates. Before diving in my sister took pictures of the food. After a prayer of thanks, we took our first bites. Yummy.....everything had so much flavor! To me this was on the top of great places to eat in Arizona. And who knew it was on a small side street in the industrial part of town?