Before tortillas found their calling in Mexican cuisine, they were used to patch up roofs during queso season. Celebrate the all-purpose shell with today's Groupon: for $15, you get $30 worth of Mexican cuisine at Las Cazuelas (up to a $36.75 value). When redeemed on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, or Sundays, the meal also includes a pitcher of margarita mix ($6 value) or a dessert (up to a $6.75 value).
Under the tutelage of owner Alfred Aquilar, the chefs at Las Cazuelas whip up authentic, home-style Mexican fare, sauces, and desserts. An array of enchiladas and tacos populates a menu that also features hearty salads, including the nopalitos cactus salad ($7), comprising tomatoes, onions, and cilantro. Diners can tuck into mole poblano ($17), a boneless chicken breast smothered in house-made mole sauce and sprinkled with sesame seeds. Meals conclude delightfully with desserts such as chocolate tres leches ($6.75), a sponge cake marinated in three milks and served by three milk farmers. Today's deal is also good during brunch, served Saturday–Sunday from 11:30 a.m.–3 p.m., and lunch, served Tuesday–Friday from 11:30 a.m.–3 p.m.
Restaurant-goers can bring their own tequila to add to the margarita mix any day of the week, and Groupon customers who redeem Sunday–Thursday (closed Monday) can enjoy a complimentary pitcher of virgin margaritas. Maps of Mexico and scenic murals adorn the cozy eatery’s bright gold, red, and brick walls. Patrons can enjoy an al fresco feast on the small sidewalk patio or serenade passing pigeons from the intimate second-floor balcony.
Las Cazuelas
Even though he was just four years old when his family emigrated from Puebla, Mexico to the United States, Alfredo Aquilar prepares Mexican food as though he’d lived his whole life there. Under his supervision, chefs at Las Cazuelas prepare authentic dishes such as nopalitos salad—sliced cactus marinated overnight and mixed with cilantro and tomatoes. Abuelitas pollo, whose name means “little grandmother’s chicken” in tribute to its inventor, Alfredo’s own grandmother, is a boneless chicken breast topped with a guajillo pepper sauce. In the kitchen, shrimp snap against hot skillets near pots of slowly roiling chipotle sauce. To wash down steaming feasts, customers tote in bottles of wine or bring along tequila to add to complimentary pitchers of nonalcoholic margarita mix served Sunday–Thursday.
Inside the dining area, blue shutters frame murals of South American cathedrals, rolling countrysides, and maps of Mexico. An outdoor patio offers people-watching opportunities, and the second-floor balcony lets you look people in the eye when telling them you know they are actually a bunch of children stacked up under a big coat.