Arcelia's - St. Louis

Finding great Mexican food on the road can be so hard sometimes.  It's really difficult to find a good authentic place for Mexican food that isn't "American-ized".  During a recent trip to St. Louis, I had a free night for dinner and I wanted Mexican.  Good Mexican.  Authentic Mexican.  I ended up finding a little gem in the Lafayette Square area called Arcelia's.  (see map)

Arcelia Sanchez (left) was born in a small town on the Pacific Coast of Mexico.  She emigrated with her husband to the U.S. and became a cook at a number of notable Mexican restaurants in the St. Louis area, bringing a lot of her hometown recipes with her. 

In 1990, along with her son, David, Arcelia opened her first restaurant in the Soulard area of St. Louis.  It was a very small place, but it did a lot of business.  With business booming, Arcelia's moved to its present day location across from Lafayette Square.  It has been named as the Best Mexican Restaurant by The Riverfront Times, St. Louis' weekly free entertainment paper. 

Unfortunately, Arcelia died in 2003 from injuries and complications she suffered in a car accident.  Family members have continued to run the restaurant in her spirit.

I found Arcelia's rather easily and parked my car on the street down from the restaurant.  There's a little seating area outside that a few people were seated at a couple tables eating dinner.  They were speaking Spanish, which is always a good thing when you're looking for good Mexican food.

It was about 8:30 and Arcelia's closes at 9 p.m. on Monday thru Thursday, so there wasn't a lot of people in the place. (They're also closed from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m thru the week, as well.)  I was told I could sit anywhere, so I chose a booth about halfway back. 

Service was a little slow, but finally a lady who looked to be well into her 50's came over with a menu.  I ordered a Sol beer while I looked to see what they had.  Another person brought me some chips and salsa.  The salsa was definitely homemade and had a great kick to it.

I saw a lot of interesting stuff on the menu.  Now, this food was REALLY authentic Mexican.  And with so many different things to choose from and try, I didn't know which way to go.

For example, they had Albondigas - spicy Mexican meatballs served over rice with a Mexican gravy; Arroz con Pollo - pulled chicken meat served over rice with a Mexican vegetable sauce; and Nopales - a stir fried cactus served with tomatoes and onions.  Now, that really sounded interesting. 

The also had something called an Empanada - a pastry folded and stuffed with beef and cheese.  I'd never heard of that before.  They also had a sour cream enchilada with pepper strips with onions and cilantro.  Man, there was just too much to choose from.  I really wanted to try it all.

Suddenly, I saw that there was something they called the "Trio combinación" - pick three items for $12.95.  That gave me the latitude to try different things.  So, I went with the Empanada, a pork tamale and a soft corn shell beef taco.

My food was brought out in about 10 minutes and it was a plate full including refried beans and rice.  I didn't know where to start, so I took on the beef taco, first.  It was very good.  Good flavor to the beef.  Fully authentic Mexican flavor all around. 

Secondly, I tried a bite of the pork tamale.  Oh man!  Was that ever good.  It may have been one of the best tamales I've ever had - and I've had some very good ones over the years. 

But I had to try the Empanada.  I cut into the flaky outer shell and pulled out a big chunk of beef that simmering in sauce inside the crust.  Oh - MY - GAAAAWD!!!   It was one of the best tasting things I'd ever had in my life.  It was just outstanding.  I quickly forgot about my tamale and devoured the Empanada.  I'm thinking, "Where have these been all my life?"

I was barely able to finish the tamale and I have to tell you, for $12.95 that was a boat load of GREAT food.  The food was just all incredibly great. 

Arcelia's isn't much to look at on the inside.  I gathered from reading some of the reviews they had on the wall inside Arcelia's that it's definitely a family run endeavor.  But I love places like this.  Arcelia's is definitely a "must-go" if you want Mexican food in St. Louis.          

(Update June 2011 - I went to Arcelia's for lunch on a recent visit to St. Louis but found that it was closed.  It closed either late in 2010 or early 2011.  However, I found out that the restaurant has been purchased by Pat Shelton who said she hopes to have the restaurant open by Labor Day.  Arcelia Sanchez's granddaughter, Kim Reid will be on board running the kitchen using the original recipes from Arcelia herself including that outrageously great Empanada.)

(Update March 2012 - I stopped by Arcelia's this past fall and while there were people inside the restaurant, they were not open.  According to their web site, they say they are opening soon.  I understand that some of the building renovations they had to do took a little longer than planned, primarily due to the fact that the Lafayette Square area house that Arcelia's is housed in is part of a historical district and needed to adhere to strict renovation guidelines.)

(Update June 2013 - During a recent trip to St. Louis, I found that Arcelia's had opened again in the Soulard area on S. 12th Street. (see map).  The new Arcelia's is owned and operated by Arcelia's daughter, Marta Ramirez, and uses the same recipes as the original Arcelia's in Lafayette Square.)

Comments

[Tim Lake]

Oh, boy! Arcelia's rocks! I miss that place. Why do you keep writing about places that I'd love to go back to?

[Phil M]

Empanadas, man! My mom and aunt have made the sweet breakfast empanadas and the meat filled empanadas for years. Where have you been all this time? Iowa?

[Warren]

I don't think Arcelia's is as good as when she was alive. She died about 4 or 5 years ago. You should have tried it when she was still running the place.