Los Bandidos de Carlos & Mickey’s

1310 Magruder St.
El Paso, TX
(915) 778-3323

Los Bandidos de Carlos & Mickey’s

Los Bandidos de Carlos & Mickey’s is one of the city’s longest running Mexican restaurants, and is a good example of what I call the classic El Paso style food. This food offers red or green sauce (or “chile” as they say in neighboring New Mexico), some local dishes not common in the more widespread area of “Tex-Mex” food, and an absence of some Tex-Mex staples.

The restaurant has two satellite locations, Carlos & Mickey’s in east El Paso and one in the airport terminal. I think it is worthwhile to come to this location if you can because of the ambiance, possibly better food, and of course not having to pay for parking as you would at the airport location (although I think the airport restaurant has food as good as at the Magruder location).

While doing research on the now mostly closed Pancho’s Mexican Buffet chain I discovered that the original Pancho’s on Alameda Avenue in El Paso was owned by the Carlos & Mickey’s proprietors. The various Pancho’s restaurants around the Southwest and other areas of the country had various levels of success in replicating the original recipes. If you remember when Pancho’s was good, though, or you remember having especially good meals there, I think you will really enjoy coming to Carlos & Mickey’s–the inspiration for it all. Missing, though, would be the buffet, raising a flag to get more food, and free sopaipillas.

One feature of Carlos & Mickey’s that is more Tex-Mex style is the green sauce which is really a chile con queso sauce and not the type of green chile served in New Mexico and most El Paso restaurants. It is consistent, though, with the type of green sauce that was served in Pancho’s

Carlos & Mickey’s has entertainment at certain times, mostly consisting of mariachi music groups. In spite of this the tab here is a little lower than most of the competing restaurants.

I have been coming here probably since since the 1970’s or 1980’s. I do not remember any individual meals from that time but I did get the idea that the restaurant has certain signature dishes that are the ones I like to order–these are the ones that are highlighted in this review. I am sure there are other items I would add to the list if I tried them.

Chips and Salsa

Chips and Salsa

The Salsa here is one of the best in town when the factors of both flavor and spiciness are considered (on the chile scale it is near the top but not over the top).

The Chips are different from most in that you get whole fried tortillas instead of ones broken up into triangle shaped chips. They are usually just right in the level of toasting they receive.

Combination Plates

The Chihuahua with enchilada, chile relleno, and taco

My normal order here has been one of the combination plates since I started coming here (which I think was in the late 1970’s or early 1980’s). The restaurant is proud of the fact that they have one of the most varied menus in town, but practically no restaurant can be the best in town for this many items. I think Carlos & Mickey’s, though, can claim to be one of the best for the items that are on the combination plates. All the plates have rice and beans (I think diners will be glad these are included when they taste them). After that customers have several choices of the size of the plate to get and the items that are on it. Some of the choices are as follows:

Red Enchiladas are usually my favorite item but the flavor varies quite a bit which I think is because the have a large staff of cooks and they don’t all do things the same way. This is particularly noticeable in the enchiladas because sometimes there is a very noticeable cumin flavor and sometimes they are heavenly (no noticeable cumin flavor!). It is usually worth taking a shot because everything else on the plate is usually very good. You do have a choice, though, of getting the green enchilada.

The Chile Relleno has a good mixture of cheese that melts in the middle, breading that is flavorful, and a chile that is soft enough to cut easily, spicy enough, and not too full of seeds.

Several times I have come here the Tacos struck me as being the best in town. Made with shredded beef, the other major factor (the shell) is equally impressive by not being overly greasy yet having a good flavor.

One of the plates has a Tamal (Tamale for those not living near the border) but I thought the flavor fell flat on this one compared to some other restaurants.

Other Menu Items

Crab enchiladas

One of the best items here is the Crab Enchiladas, made with the restaurant’s deservedly famous green sauce. The “crabs” are imitation, thus the enchiladas are not listed under the Seafood section of the menu. I think the green sauce is really nothing more than the chile con queso spread over the top. If so, though, this really works for me. The normal green chile in the local area would be a pureed green chile made with Mexican chiles, or Hatch chiles at a few restaurants. I have nothing against these, and usually enjoy them, but the way Carlos & Mickey’s does this with the crab enchiladas is a special treat. Kiki’s, another local restaurant, has the same dish but I particularly like the one from Carlos & Mickey’s.

Tacos al pastor

Tacos al Pastor are an example of one of Carlos & Mickey’s menu items that give a wider choice than is typically found in El Paso restaurants. These are pork tacos that are quite popular in Mexico City but not served very often in the El Paso “border style” restaurants. To me the tough meat showed, though, that this was not really one of the restaurant’s specialties. I think the fact that Carlos & Mickey’s serves a lot of items does not guarantee that they will all be as good as the restaurant’s signature dishes.

Other Notes
I do not review a lot of dishes here because I really like the ones that are my old standbys, I don’t get a chance to eat them very often, and these are the ones I am craving. There are probably other signature dishes that I do not know about.

Out of the dozens or hundreds of Mexican restaurants in El Paso it is odd that two of them, Carlos & Mickey’s and Kiki’s, have such similar food particularly with fairly uncommon items such as crab enchiladas.

Carlos & Mickey’s Web Site

RATING: 24

Mexican Food Details

Chile Index:
Cooking Oil:	N/A

 

Special Ratings

	Red Enchilada
	Crab Enchiladas
	Chile Relleno
	Shredded Beef Taco
	Tamal
	Beans
	Rice
	Salsa