Superior Grill

Restaurant Review

Anecdotes & Analysis

The Superior is a small regional chain of Mexican restaurants with that dusty-cantina-on-the-old-highway design motif, which is starting to get as old as it looks. It rambles through the former quarters of the old Que Sera on St. Charles Avenue, and inherited the pleasant environment (lots of windows and oak trees) and difficult parking of that place. The food here will be very familiar to you even if you only go to chain Mexican places. That very little would be the grilled frog’s legs and the cabrito, which have been on the menu at times in the past, but were never available when I ordered. The rest of it is cheese, cheese, cheese, starting with the cheese-and-spinach dip and proceeding through all manner of quesadillas and enchiladas. The specialty of the house is fajitas. Because they do it in a completely different way from what we’re used to, it comes out pretty good. The beef is sliced thin and grilled with a good flavor of onions and lemon. The pile of grilled onions and peppers that usually accompany fajitas--as well as the superheated metal plate on which it’s usually served--are much more restrained. You wind up with a pretty good slab of carne asada, then. As is usually the case in chains, the service staff is well orchestrated and very friendly, although asking for advice about the food will not bring you much enlightenment. The Superior represents a tiny step up in our Mexican options, but that cuisine is still not something we do well in New Orleans.

Backstory

The Superior is a small regional chain of Mexican restaurants with that dusty-cantina-on-the-old-highway design motif, which is starting to get as old as it looks. It rambles through the former quarters of the old Que Sera on St. Charles Avenue, and inherited the pleasant environment (lots of windows and oak trees) and difficult parking of that place. The food here will be very familiar to you even if you only go to chain Mexican places. That very little would be the grilled frog’s legs and the cabrito, which have been on the menu at times in the past, but were never available when I ordered. The rest of it is cheese, cheese, cheese, starting with the cheese-and-spinach dip and proceeding through all manner of quesadillas and enchiladas. The specialty of the house is fajitas. Because they do it in a completely different way from what we’re used to, it comes out pretty good. The beef is sliced thin and grilled with a good flavor of onions and lemon. The pile of grilled onions and peppers that usually accompany fajitas--as well as the superheated metal plate on which it’s usually served--are much more restrained. You wind up with a pretty good slab of carne asada, then. As is usually the case in chains, the service staff is well orchestrated and very friendly, although asking for advice about the food will not bring you much enlightenment. The Superior represents a tiny step up in our Mexican options, but that cuisine is still not something we do well in New Orleans.