Foodie Tuesday: Barrio for lunch

Husband had the day off yesterday so he met me downtown for lunch. We popped in to Mission to check out the menu and see if it was even remotely in our price range. It wasn't. So off we went to the beautiful and exciting Nicollet Mall. We decided on Barrio because we've been curious about it for a while now but don't have the time or inclination to check it out in the dinner/evening hours. I'm never a fan of places so small and packed that you are forced to eat with someone else's armpit/ass/elbow in your face. It was only moderately busy during the lunch hour so we grabbed some seats by the open window in front.

Barrio is stuffed into a narrow space next to The Local. It has a bar with a wall of tequila on the left and an upstairs seating area in the back. The décor is dark, red, and going for an urban Latino thing.

The service was really excellent. The couldn't have been nicer. The staff all seemed happy and that always makes a world of difference in service and atmosphere. Husband and I both had the $10 lunch special, which includes chips, guacamole, salsa, and two tacos. The guacamole is handmade and left chunky. I couldn't place the flavor that it had but it was delicious, whatever it was. It was served in a big molcajete and topped with chopped tomatoes and sliced radish. The chips are thick and crunchy -- almost like pita chips -- and not at all greasy like some thicker chips can be. They give you three salsas -- verde, ancho, and habanero. The ancho chile salsa was sweet and mild. I didn't even attempt the habanero because I'm kind of a weenie about spicy stuff. My favorite by far was the verde because it was full of cilantro. The tacos that day were steak, onion, and chile. The tortillas were the traditional corn type. The steak was tender, juicy, and flavorful. Not at all what I expected on a Monday lunch shift.

The consensus was that we liked the food but the tacos were small. But that's about what you can expect from a downtown joint. $10 doesn't get you very far unless you're eating fast food.

Husband got to see Nicollet Mall at its finest: the trumpet guy in the alley, dueling guitar players, geriatric Lion's Club members milling about, and a drunk who had fallen over with his head in the street. Thankfully a nice man helped him at least get out of the path of oncoming buses. Downtown Minneapolis. Gotta love it.