El Tepayac Taqueria 97th St

One of the first things that stood out about the place was its lack of color.

It was a bright sunny early Fall afternoon. The sun was shining bright enough to make the black pavement of the road glisten, and the wind blew just enough to make it cold with a short sleeve shirt on.

The walls were white, but a shade that just felt off. A bit dreary. Kind of like the shade of white you’d see at a gym these days.

There was orange construction tape and a half dug out sidewalk blocking most of the street view from the windows.

The guac wasn’t satisfying your appetite.

Hung across the ceiling were paper cutouts that you might’ve seen at some other Mexican restaurant. They had vibrant colors, bright reds, oranges, purples, and yellows. Some of the cutouts almost looked as if they depicted faces.

The white still felt off. Especially against the paper cutouts.

You should’ve eaten more earlier.

Spanish music played in the background. You weren’t sure what type of latin music it was. It was probably a genre from Mexico, though for some reason, the restaurant also served Peruvian food.

You were deciding between a Mexican dish or the lomito saltado and the waitress came by. You asked your question about the dish whose bright picture stood out. You mispronounced “Oaxacan” when asking about the item.

It’s “Oaxaca.”

You weren’t sure if it was going to be as good as you said it was. You had a burrito as takeout from there once that bursted with flavor. It was a tiny, narrow restaurant. There were a few other customers but the place felt almost empty.

You hoped they did enough in takeout to get by.

The sign outside said their burritos are “Top 5 on Beli”.

The music switched from whatever was playing before to Spanish heavy metal. The guac and chips were almost gone.

The dish came out.

The “Blue Quesadilla Con Carne & Oaxaca Cheese” was purple.