One of our favorite Saturday lunches is Mexican food, provided we can find something more interesting than the likes of Taco Toot Drive-Thru. That’s a lot easier than it once was, not only with the Cherokee Street neighborhood offering a larger selection and good, down-home quality, but St. Louis County showing a burgeoning number of reasonably authentic establishments.
We’d never been to Senor Pique in Ballwin until recently, but we’re glad we went. Just a fast, relatively light lunch, just like this review.
The menu emphasizes that this is a family operation. Housed in a former chain restaurant that shares a parking lot with, among other things, a Starbuck’s and a Marshall’s, it thus begins with something most St. Louisans seem to worry about: There is plenty of parking. And that’s good because it’s a large restaurant, with a big bar, some outdoor seating and about four dining areas.
Chips are fresh from a warmer; the salsa that accompanied them was chunky and perkier than it looked, despite wearing the brilliant red of canned tomatoes. Guacamole sprinkled with diced tomato and white onion arrived in three scoops the size of ping-pong balls. It was nicely made, both creamy and chunky at the same time, and, while a little pale, tasted of nothing but avocado and a little seasoning, and none of the heretical mayonnaise.
Mushroom lovers need to beat a path to Pique. The caldo de hongos is among the best soups we’ve ever had in a Mexican restaurant. A dark, clear broth holds plenty of mushrooms, some epazote leaves, a little onion and some thin slices of avocado. The broth itself smacks of deep mushroom-ness, a reasonable amount of chile de arbol, and a little chicken for the background. The delicate palate may find it too spicy, but we were beaming.
The house version of ceviche, which uses tilapia marinated in lime juice, with some pico de gallo stirred in and punctuating things nicely with its tomato, onion and chile, seems a little different. There’s another note in there, almost a sweetness, although the lime juice leaves it plenty tart. It’s remarkably tasty, something we’d eat again anytime.
A couple of tacos? Of course. Our server, young and enthusiastic, raved about the tacos de camaron, or shrimp tacos. Okay, one of those, and another with chicharron verde. The shrimp arrived on a four-inch flour tortilla, the shrimp in a creamy sauce very lightly spiked with the smoky chipotle pepper, a few black beans hanging around. It was good, although not miraculous. The chicharron was not the crispy pork skins that come under that name, but rather shredded lean pork in a spicy red-brown sauce, full of porky, peppery flavor, a single strip of cheese laid across its top as it rested on its four-inch corn tortilla.
These are single tortillas, by the way, not the pair that usually hold each taco at other local Mexican restaurants. Nothing tore through, but safer to eat them over the plate than the lap. What the menu calls "classic tangy potato/onion side dish," is diced potatoes with a generous portion of shredded onions, all cooked together and a tartness added by what seems like a squirt of lemon. Fun, and we can imagine it in a taco with some scrambled eggs and/or chorizo.
A good quick lunch for us, and a menu with many more intriguing choices for another visit. Sadly, the menu is not on the website. But for those who are used to Cherokee Street prices, be aware that the shrimp taco, solo, was $3.29 and the taco de chicharron verde was $2.99. Not the end of the world, but a warning.
Senor Pique
14870 Manchester Road, Ballwin
636-394-3455
Lunch & Dinner daily
Credit cards: Yes
Wheelchair access: Good
Smoking: No
Entrees: $10-$18
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