Durangos

Durangos seemed to take forever to open. The inconvenient sign announcing the restaurant preceded its opening by 8 months. The business concept mirrors Chipotle with a Tex Mex spin, and the added bonus of delivery to Grandview, Upper Arlington and the Short North should help keep the place on people's radar.

There are plenty of vegetarian options on the menu. All of the beans are vegetarian, as is the cilantro lime rice. There are burritos, tacos, salads, enchiladas, salads, rice dishes and the requisite chips and dips.

A burrito is good, sure. It is a fine delivery device to carry rice, jicama, nopales, red pepper, beans, lettuce, tomato onion and guacamole to your mouth. But the delivery becomes better when the burrito is deep fried. It achieves perfection when it is drowned in red enchilada sauce.

Guacamole has a nice essence of citrus. It's a great add-on with tortilla chips for $2.45.

The laid back crew grows their own cilantro at the restaurant. The vibe is friendly.

Prices with delivery included match or are slightly lower than Chipotle. It's a fun carry out or delivery option if you can't stand the line at Chipotle.

Lopez SouthWest Kitchen

Lopez is a Southwestern restaurant in Cleveland's suburbs with an interesting back story. It originally was envisioned as a huge international chain. While multinational domination was not achieved by the restaurants, there are still locations in Palm Beach, Beverly Hills, Mexico City and Cleveland Heights. Rick Bayless, a chef you might have heard of at some point with his heralded restaurants, television appearances, cookbooks and grocery store foodstuffs, was the first executive chef in the Cleveland Heights kitchen almost 30 years ago.

Dishes run the gamut from Tex Mex and regional Mexican to those that reflect the American South. The bar has a nice selection of tequilas, beer and wine, and makes adequate margaritas that are a touch expensive outside of happy hour.

There are many vegetarian dishes on the menu. Seasonal items, like the Mexican corn cake with mushrooms and arugula in a balsamic reduction, also come in meatless versions.

The guacamole is excellent. The delicious house-made chips were served in adorable little paper bags.

The tacos are massive. With a side dish, two mushroom tacos are a complete meal. The jalepeño cheese grits are excellent, as was the cornbread pudding.

The restaurant decor is fun. One picture puts Cleveland more than one thousand miles from Mexico, though the kitchen makes it feel much closer. Service was friendly and capable with only a few minor pacing hiccups in serving a large party. The attention to vegetarian concerns was excellent. 

Rancho Alegre

Rancho Alegre is a small Tex Mex chain near Columbus. What it lacks in authenticity it makes up for with ample portions and larger margaritas. It's a step up in quality from its run-of-the-mill competitors (El Vaquero and Las Margaritas come readily to mind).

The main attraction at Rancho Alegre is the whole section of vegetarian combination platters as well as vegetarian fajitas and other entrees. Both the rice and beans are vegetarian items.

The guacamole appetizer is average but fairly priced. Other meatless appetizers include avocado salad, queso dip and stuffed jalepeños.

Many items, including enchiladas and tostadas, are served in a mild red sauce covered with cheese, lettuce and tomato. The tostada and the chile rellenos were well made. 

Margaritas definitely contain plenty of tequila. They are made with a sour mix/lime juice base with triple sec and served in a variety of sizes including pitchers.

Service is brisk and personable. The manager was extremely friendly, stopping by each table to check on customer satisfaction. Staff eventually was able to answer vegetarian dining concerns, although some staff speak better English than others.

Rancho Alegre is a restaurant that won't blow you away yet is still fun enough to keep you interested. Prices are reasonable, and the restaurant makes better use of the space than the Las Margaritas did before it.

The Burrito Bus

Fans of Athens' favorite food cart the Burrito Buggy will find plenty to like at the Burrito Bus. Steve Stone and the rest of the staff turn out a variety of Mexican favorites.

Almost anything on the menu is available with a vegan or vegetarian preparation. The meatless protein is a marinated tofu. It was a spicy Cajun tofu when I visited the Burrito Bus.

The Burrito Bus offered burritos, tacos, a burrito bowl and nachos. Much like Chipotle, items can be customized by selecting toppings.

The Hot Mama Burrito is rolled with one end open. It is stuffed with the tofu, rice, black beans, lettuce, tomato, onions, salsa, cheese, sour cream and jalepeños.

The tacos are quite large. They were made with the same ingredients as the burrito minus the rice and beans.

This truck definitely has potential for lunches and late-night eats. The Burrito Bus can be followed on the usual social media suspects.

Big Star

Patrons wait for hours just to sample the faux-dive decor and the Southwestern fare at the bustling Big Star in Bucktown/Wicker Park. The place combines the talents of one of Chicago's star chefs (Paul Kahan) with the skills of the city's most well-known mixologist (Michael Rubel of the Violet Hour) into a stylized honky tonk setting that never sees a slow second.

Since the place is new and hot, a long waiting list for a table is commonplace. I dined at the bar to avoid the wait. It is also advantageous to take advantage of the take-out window in order to avoid the wait entirely (the window is labeled "we sell flavor" in Spanish).

The West Coast honky tonk motif is more tongue-in-cheek than reality. The building is clean and brightly colored. The staff does a tremendous job considering the amount of business.

The menu is small at Big Star. There are limited vegetarian options that include poblano tacos, guacamole, pickled onions, pickled chiles and a house Southwestern salad.

The guacamole was very good. It was garnished with ribbons of radish and served with thick, crunchy tortilla chips.

The poblano tacos were outstanding. The sweet, smoky flavor of poblano was contrasted nicely by the addition of queso freir, which is a white cheese made for pan frying, as well as Mexican crema and oregano. It was excellent, albeit a bit expensive ($3 per taco). It is served with a green sauce and a red sauce, which add additional flavors to the dish.

Going along with the restaurant concept, cocktails and drink specials revolve around whiskey. There is also a substantial selection of beer.

While the experience at Big Star is enjoyable, it might be worth waiting a few months for the hype to die down before visiting. Those who just can't wait might also benefit from the convenience of the take-out window.

Big Star

The Bull

The Bull is a Southwestern restaurant located in Downtown Mobile. Although the focus of the restaurant is seafood, the Bull also features a couple of options for vegetarians.

The interior of the Bull consists of beautiful wood accents surrounding modern art. The bar is equally stylish, and it offers a fair selection of wines and cocktails.

The vegetarian appetizers are two salads and a chips and dips platter. I started with the Bibb salad with roasted beets, smoked tomato, pecans and quesa fresca in a honey chipotle dressing. Although the flavors were great, there was not enough dressing on the salad to accompany the gargantuan wedge of greenery in the center of the plate. The gamut of flavor was fantastic, while the portions of the ingredients were imperfect.

My main course was the smoked black bean cake with cedar-smoked tomatoes, Spanish rice, salsa verde and sour cream. The black bean cake was a smoky amalgamation of beans, peppers and corn. The sour cream adds richness to the cake, and the rice and green salsa add additional layers of complexity to the flavor profile. The skin on the roasted tomato should have been peeled in order to give the dish greater visual appeal. Other than that small complaint, the dish was a success.

The Bull is an excellent restaurant that offers great choices for vegetarians. Although they didn't hit every pitch out of the park, they definitely got the bat on the ball more often than they were thrown out.

Bull