Cheap Eats - Muy cheap y muy cheerful

El Potro hits the Ameri-Mex nail on the head

“So I’m dying to ask you,” my friend Samantha says, leaning over a plate littered with the remains of a large burrito, “can I see that?” We’re spending another Saturday night at El Potro, as we have been apt to do nearly every week since we became good friends. Several weeks ago, over a pitcher of the Mexican-American restaurant’s juicy Texas margaritas, I nearly spilled the beans about my plans to elope. Now, weeks later and newly married, I’m catching up with her over tacos and basket after basket of freshly fried tortilla chips.

“Of course you can see it,” I respond, blushing. I wiggle off my diamond wedding band and pass it across the table. “That’s nice,” she says, looking the ring over, “but I was talking about those taquitos. Are you going to eat the last one?”

Horsing around: Convivial and sometimes downright loud on weekend nights, El Potro occupies a special cheap eats place in many Atlantans’ hearts. Owner Tomas Tirso greets regulars by name, sometimes good-naturedly scolding those who have let too many weeks elapse between visits. His love for horses translates into a decor featuring a number of equine statuettes as well as a large mural featuring a grinning Tomas corralling a pony. Almost all the tables are booths, lending the lively spot even more charm.

Take me to Vallarta: Authentic El Potro may not be, but with more than 20 $6 and under combination dinners and seemingly endless pitchers of tangy, potent Texas margaritas ($17), it is unbeatably fun and cheap.

Special #28 ($6.25) is a practice in guilty pleasures, with two massive burritos the size of fire logs filled with chicken or beef, rice and beans, and smothered in a goopy, creamy coat of white cheese sauce.

The Special Vallarta ($7.25), with a huge chicken or beef chimichanga and flauta, with dirty rice, refried beans, tomato, lettuce and guacamole, satisfies the fried-food craving we all fall prey to on occasion.

Like the chips and other fried items, the flauta and chimichanga are crunchy yet greaseless, stuffed with shredded chicken, and chicken, peppers and cheese, respectively.

Always a favorite: The Special Favorita ($6.25) combines more food than one might think humanly possible to consume in one sitting. An enormous burrito of beef tips, beans and cheese covered in a light piquillo sauce is accompanied by an equally sizable chicken enchilada napped in dark, earthy mole and a chalupa smothered in refried beans, cheese, shredded lettuce and guacamole.

It’s not just my friend who loves the taquitos ($6.25), especially when they come in pairs of chicken and beef, rolled tightly into appealingly crunchy batons on a plate heaped with surprisingly fresh guacamole and tomatoes. I’m mentally making space in my stomach for the last taquito when Samantha swipes it. “Oh, come on,” she says, “you’d better get used to this sharing thing.”

cynthia.wong@creativeloafing.com