The Casual Restaurant Critic is not always snarky and occasionally has good things to say about a place. One recent restaurant visit elicited such a response. The place? Pico de Gallo, at the San Angelo condo complex, where you can also find the oh-so-serious Kuro Uma as well as that pizza place that has the best reviews online. Not the best, but really entertaining to read.

This restaurant is just a few tables big inside and outside, with a really friendly hostess/manager/server who is from CDMX and knows how to serve a table. Some of the tables are quite long, so community dining can be enjoyed if you like talking to others while devouring your taco and sucking back that heavenly horchata.

The reason the Critic ended up here was thanks to the always lovely Better Half, who suggested the place when the Critic had a hankering for a good pozole during the recent Mexican independence celebrations.

A really good pozole is hard to find and Pico makes one that is absolutely amazing. Highly recommended and substantial with a broth that kicks butt, the pozole is loaded with chunks of pork and chickpeas. The soup is so chunky that the Critic asked for an extra helping of broth, which is delectable entirely by itself. What really blew the Critic away, was taking sips of the most delicious horchata to dampen the spice of the pozole. But, don’t get your hopes up. It is the Critic’s understanding that this feast in a bowl is only available during the fiestas patrias.

Horchata (ore-CHAH-tah) is the rice drink with a cinnamon twist that practically everyone who has ever been to a Mexican restaurant anywhere in the world, is familiar with. Served alongside its red cousin Jamaica (hah-MY-cah) it is a staple drink and ubiquitous to a fault. Both drinks are often made from a commercial concentrate and Merida’s horchatas are usually of that variety but the Pico version is so thick and sweet and intense, that it must be savored to be believed.

If you are in the San Angelo area or perhaps City Center visiting La Europea to stock up on decent mezcal and wine, drop by and have a taco (they are delicious) and drink some of this very recommendable horchata.

Pico de Gallos is up in the northern part of the city. They have a Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/PicoDeGalloMex