El Portal Mexican Grill

Of all the restaurant types needed in Downtown Phoenix, the most surprising is the unfilled niche for an authentic Mexican restaurant. Given the city’s enthusiasm for south-of-the-border food, this omission seems counter-intuitive. Sure, there are places like the Matador, with Greek owners, and Mi Amigo's, which serves Mexican-lite in the Arizona Center. There are also fast food places like Maria’s Mexican Grill at the Collier Center. Still, for a full-service authentic Mexican restaurant, it’s necessary to venture east of 7th Street or west of 7th Avenue. In other words, there’s plenty of good Mexican food in Central Phoenix, but shockingly little in the city’s true Downtown.

In early 2009, the opening of El Portal Mexican Grill appeared to hold out a little promise of filling the gap. This El Portal is the sibling of the restaurant’s original location south of the freight railroad tracks. The original El Portal is a respected Mexican restaurant and gathering place for local Democratic Party officials. That’s not surprising given its ownership by Earl and Mary Rose Wilcox. The latter is a Phoenix City Council veteran and currently serves as the lone Democrat on the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. In keeping with its political pedigree, the original El Portal’s eclectic decor features portraits of Martin Luther King and Cesar Chavez. It’s an uncommonly blue outpost in an often-red state.

With that history behind El Portal, the announcement of a second location in the ground floor of the Cronkite School of Journalism’s new building at the ASU Downtown Campus, just a block from the Van Buren / Central (northbound) and Van Buren / 1st Avenue (southbound) stations, seemed like a welcome development. After all, the other tenants on the ground floor of the Cronkite building are outlets of the ubiquitous Sbarro and Subway chains. An independent alternative in a college environment seemed like a welcome development. Unfortunately something got lost on the way to the second location. Instead of serving as an alternative to its uninspired neighbors, El Portal’s new site seems almost determined to sink to their level.

The problem begins with the decor. Nothing from Grant Street made it north of Van Buren. The light fixtures are pretty, but there are no dark wood furnishings, no political portraits, and nothing distinctive. The look is late ‘00s airport food court – clean and comfortable but lacking in any charm or distinctiveness. A large television screen showing CNN and a bit of Sun Devils paraphernalia are all that adorns the walls. Nothing wrong with either, but haven’t we seen those elements a thousand other places? About the only distinctive aspect of the restaurant’s site is the impressive view of “Her Secret is Patience,” the controversial artwork suspended above the new Downtown Civic Space across the street.

The food has peaks and valleys – fortunately more of the former than the latter. Items like enchiladas, tostadas, and machaca are all capably executed. One house specialty, Mary Rose’s special (center photo below), is particularly noteworthy. The dish features calabacitas, essentially a squash casserole, optionally augmented with chicken or beef, and served with refried beans, rice, and flour tortillas. The beans are cream and slightly smoky, the rice is fluffy and not overly salty, and the tortillas are quite good with none of the rubbery texture that mars inferior versions. While these items are the high points of the menu, a few items disappoint. The guacamole appears to be diluted with sour cream, an ingredient also used to excess in the veggie burrito (right photo below). This item is nothing like what is described on the menu. Instead of featuring the promised grilled peppers and onions, it’s full of blah iceberg lettuce, chopped tomatoes, and way too much of the aforementioned sour cream.

There is no liquor license at El Portal. Beverages are limited to fountain sodas, iced tea, horchata, and lemonade. The last two are touted as homemade, but both are watery. It may be best to stick with name brand beverages here. To its credit, El Portal serves a breakfast menu, but the drawback comes at the end of the day, when El Portal closes early at 8 PM. Haven’t Downtown restaurants overcome the idea that they exist only for daytime office workers? Even the Subway next door stays open later. Even worse, the restaurant is generally not open at all on weekends.

At this point, it just doesn’t seem like El Portal is trying very hard. Disappointingly, the adjacent Sbarro and Subway are almost always more crowded. Does that mean that ASU Downtown students, staff, and faculty are unimaginative in their dining choices, or does it mean that El Portal hasn’t done enough to differentiate itself from its predictable competitors? It’s hard to say for sure, but when chefs and entrepreneurs are taking risks nearby with imaginative places like Sens, Moira, the Breadfruit, and PastaBAR, it’s frustrating that El Portal seems to have lost some of its mojo during the migration to a second home north of Van Buren.

555 N. Central Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85004 | Map
(602) 293-3916