RESTAURANTE EL AGUILA DOMICILIO (3495 Atlanta Highway, 470-201-0983): We can all agree that a gas station restaurant is one of the best things around—a statement that’s not even controversial anymore. Low rent, small spaces and a steady stream of customers brought in by lottery tickets, fuel and giant cups of soda combine to make something equipped to exceed expectations.
El Aguila, a lovely Latin American restaurant inside the Chevron at the intersection of Timothy/Mitchell Bridge and Atlanta Highway, doesn’t even have a sign that’s visible from the road, just a whiteboard with the day’s specials markered on it, propped next to the door. There’s a more permanent menu inside, where two women operate out of a small space just before you get to the Keno machines in the back, but even it is no guarantee that what you’re looking to order is available. Luckily, it doesn’t matter because pretty much everything is good to great. Eagerly awaiting the opportunity to try pupusas stuffed with shrimp and mushrooms? Well, they’re out of shrimp today, but they do have loroco as a filling for the stuffed-then-griddled corn cakes. These distinctive, almost spinachy-tasting leaves from a vine native to Central America are a traditional pupusa filling, but often unavailable in Athens. You can, of course, get them filled with beans and cheese, or various kinds of pork and chicken, but also squash, nopales and jalapeños. The pupusas themselves are roughly saucer-sized, kissed firmly by the heat of the griddle, and they come with two little slipknotted plastic baggies: one with a tomato-based hot sauce that balances heat and vinegar nicely and is good on everything, and one with curtido, the fermented cabbage relish that is a sort of cross between kimchi and coleslaw. At $2.50 each, they are a fantastic deal.
I think the cuisine is generally from Honduras, but there’s significant overlap with El Salvador’s food. It’s wise to pay attention to that whiteboard with the menu de hoy. A dish noted as “pollo con tajadas” doesn’t sound very promising, but it turns out to be a quarter of a chicken, unbattered but fried to perfection, alongside long slices of fried green plantain, plus beautiful, fluffy white rice cooked with chicken broth and yet another plastic baggie, this one containing a zingy pale green sauce that wakes up everything. Empanadas filled with plantains are the one weak spot I’ve found so far—too fat, too soft, too sweet.
Chicharrones with yuca are a solid two meals, each little pork nugget equal parts crispy, chewy, fatty, salty and a total flavor bomb. Rip open the hot sauce baggie and dunk the chunky fingers of fried yuca into it while it’s still warm. If there’s soup on the whiteboard, you should definitely get that. A caldo de pollo came with a small container of the same delicious rice as above, a large container of rich and vegetal broth with big hunks of zucchini and carrot and plenty of onions, plus a foil-wrapped quarter chicken leg that you can shred and add to your liking. It’s meaty, but it appreciates vegetables, too.
There are a few tables if you choose to eat inside the convenience store, but most business seems to be to go. You can pay with a credit card at the store’s register. El Aguila opens at 9 a.m. most days and is mostly closed Sundays, when it posts up on Commerce Road inside the Shell station there.
EL PERRITO (locations vary, @elperrito.ath): Equally worth seeking out is this tiny, cutely branded Sonoran hot dog cart from the owners of Calor Creative, a small branding firm. El Perrito pops up at places including Athentic Brewing, Normaltown Brewing, Paloma Park and Sunroof Coffee, and is available for private events. Marvelously, it offers pretty much one item: a hot dog, wrapped in bacon and grilled, then served in a split bolillo bun in between pinto beans on the bottom and, on the top, squiggles of a creamy jalapeño salsa, mayo and mustard, plus diced tomatoes, onions and jalapeño. You can pick and choose among all that, but the best option is just to go for it. That way you can unhinge your jaw and get a bite that’s soft and snappy, tangy and salty, hot and pickley, a real treat of texture and flavor all at once. The cart has vegetarian options, too, plus chips if you really need a side. It’s worth a special trip, especially if you order one just for yourself, then wolf it down in your car alone, a perfect example of “little treat” culture.
Like what you just read? Support Flagpole by making a donation today. Every dollar you give helps fund our ongoing mission to provide Athens with quality, independent journalism.
