On a random weeknight last week, Sid kicked the kids and me out of the house.

“Go to McDonald’s or something,” she told me.

Sid wanted to clean the house and didn’t want dishes and pots/pans from dinner cluttering up the kitchen. So like any good husband would, I got the kids in the car and we left. However, we didn’t go to McDonald’s.

Instead, I took them across the street to a tiny Mexican restaurant called Fiesta Grande. It truly is our neighborhood Mexican joint where we enjoy delicious food, coziness, and consistency. But this time, we did things a little different. Perhaps it was because it was such a spur of the moment thing and/or because Sidney wasn’t with us, but we didn’t order Mexican food. Yes, we had the audacity to order off the American menu.

Sloan ordered chicken strips and fries, Beau chose the grilled cheese and fries, and I opted for the cheeseburger and fries. Here are three things I observed from our extremely non-adventurous ordering…

Last week I took Sloan and Beau to Fiesta Grande in the Spokane Valley for a quick dinner. We all ordered American dishes.

1. We received two sides for the price of one! All of our meals came with fries but we still got bottomless chips. I admit it was kind of weird to eat tortilla chips when I knew a cheeseburger and fries was on its way but I couldn’t pass them up because they are so good at Fiesta Grande.

2. It is much less expensive ordering American items. My cheeseburger was $11.95 which was $3 less than the cheapest one item combination dinner at Fiesta Grande. I went back and forth in my head on whether it makes sense for an ethnic restaurant to charge less or more for American items. On one side, I can understand charging less because it isn’t the restaurant’s specialty. On the other side, I think charging a little more would be appropriate because you are essentially ordering an item that doesn’t fit with the menu and probably takes additional considerations to stock/prepare.

3. Our server didn’t care what we ordered. Even though we went to a delicious Mexican restaurant with truly incredible food, our kind waiter didn’t raise an eye or make a sarcastic remark when we ordered American entrees and fries. And you know what? All the food was really good!

I once wrote a post about how a family Mexican restaurant can truly stand out. I think I now know the answer: offer a tasty and inexpensive American menu. And one more thing to add…Sidney didn’t go hungry because we brought her home a to-go order. Want to guess what she got? Chicken strips and fries 😂. Don’t Blink.