Homero's Mexican Restaurant In Marshall, Texas

It's 5:30 or so on the courthouse square any night of the week in Marshall, Texas. The first thing you notice is the number of cars parked outside an unimposing building, crowding the spaces on the red brick, and sometimes starting to overflow into the bank's lot. The entrance is rather unimposing, standard glass doors. The sign above says simply 'Homero's" and another hung on the door says "Open."

Walk in, and someone will immediately greet you. No manufactured tackiness here - although you have your standard Mexican beer sombrero pinatas, neon signs, and the obligatory serape hanging on the wall, the decor is obviously a secondary concern. Besides, less stuff on the walls, less stuff to keep clean - because clean they do. Tables simply do not sit unbused in this place, even if it's some odd hour of the afternoon. The restaurant is clean, and the food is fresh and hot. Yes, I know, every restaurant claims that. However, even my "heatproof" food-service damaged hands cannot pick up the plates here, and everything comes to the table sizzling, not just their excellent fajitas. The one exception to the burning plates rule is the children's plate - I have consistently been impressed about how careful they are with my toddler's food. They are also the only restaurant we've taken him to that actually supplies him with silverware and his own salsa bowl so he doesn't dip into mine. (Side note: Yes, I know two year olds aren't "supposed to" like salsa - but he's been eating it since before he was born, so something has warped his tastebuds.) My husband, not always in the mood for Mexican food, sometimes orders their gigantic chicken fried steak, and I've never yet sorted out how he manages to finish it and all the fries that come with it.