When you walk in the front door of this place, the aroma of goat smacks you in the nose. Or is it mutton? Chivito asado al pastor (spit-roasted goat) and barbacoa de borrego estilo Hidalgo (Hidalgo-style lamb slow-cooked in maguey leaves) are two of the restaurant’s specialties; if it’s Friday or Saturday, odds are you’re smelling both. Weekdays the goat is reheated in sauce, but on the weekends the chivito (or cabrito, as it’s called farther north) is spit-roasted over charcoal while you watch. There’s a band playing favorite tunes from Hidalgo on Friday and Saturday nights when the whole Houston Huastecan community comes here to hang out.
This article appears in Sep 26 – Oct 2, 2002.