Mexican Night at Stateline Bar and Grill.

Back in 2016, I wrote about a much-loved local restaurant called R&F Restaurant, owned by Ray Arballo, and his mother, Fana.  On Wednesday nights, it was always packed due to it being Mexican Night.  With the Arballos’ Mexican heritage, they were able to put out the most outstanding Mexican food around.  Unfortunately, due to financial troubles, R&F closed down, and Mexican night was no more. 

Then we found out that the Arballos were now working at Stateline Bar and Grill, just east, on Highway 491, of the Utah-Colorado borderline.  Mexican night was back, it was on Friday night instead which leads me to the story of Stateline Bar and Grill’s Mexican Night.  While the Arballos no longer work at Stateline, they helped owner, Shelley Jean, and new chef, Julie, develop and upgrade the new Friday menu.

Which now leads me to tell you all about that Chef Julie, who had been at Stateline for two years, and is now also the general manager.  Julie, who is a jewel, and many folks call her Jules, is like a sister from another mother as we have so much in common with our culinary developments.  Her inspiration was her great grandmother and learned the concepts of home cooking from her.  She began her love for cooking at seven years old, and her parents were supportive and encouraged her.  Being self-taught, for the most part, she went from home chef to restaurant chef with the notion of, “make food with love and that puts the extra special ingredient into all the dishes.”

Chef Julie is a hoot, so very friendly, and enjoys sharing stories about developing new recipes, and the reactions from customers, local or just passing through.  She is proud of her achievements, and happily told us about Stateline’s winning points.  Sauces and dressings are made from scratch, except for Italian and bleu cheese.  If you enjoy country fried steak or deep-fried battered fish, it is also made from scratch and hand battered.  When it comes to sourcing, local businesses are relied on as much as possible, while other items come from food companies.

 

Alright, now to the focus of this article, Mexican Night.  When it comes to the chile peppers used, it is Hatch all the way, and they are roasted on premises.  Now this is an important point, onions, tomatoes and garlic are also roasted on premises, and you will appreciate this importance, since it intensifies the scent and flavors of the vegetables. With your dinner order, chips and salsa are served; the salsa is served warm, and not one ingredient overwhelms the others.  Here now, I will allow Roy to review the salsa, since he did eat three quarters of it before our meal was served.  Roy says, “At first, the mild heat hugs the tip of the tongue and makes its way gently to the back of the throat.  The minced vegetables allow for a larger scoop upon the chips which packs more flavorful munching in the mouth.”  Thank you dear for that descriptive review, and I bet everyone reading this is saying to themselves, “I got to get me some of that!”

 

Now to the main dishes, Roy tried the “Featured Special” which was Birria Tacos, two tacos (choice of hard or soft, flour or corn), stuffed with seasoned shredded beef and cheese.  A dipping sauce made from ancho chile gives this dish a type of “French dip” feature where the taco can be dipped for extra flavor.  Refried beans, rice, lettuce and chopped tomatoes on the side.  Poor Roy though had eaten so much salsa and chips, that he needed to take half of his meal home.  Ah, but letting it sit for several hours only brought the flavors together more, and intensified the eating experience after reheating.  That is a win, if anyone wonders how leftovers taste the next day; they taste great!

 

My meal was the Combo Plate, two enchiladas (I chose the shredded beef) topped with, what Stateline calls, “Christmas sauce”, and you guessed it, half red chile and half green chile sauces.  The taco (soft, flour tortilla was my choice) was stuffed with seasoned ground beef.  Refried beans, rice, lettuce, chopped tomatoes and it was all just right. 

 

 

Sopapillas also come with the meal, a puffy tortilla pillow that is so very yummy with drizzled honey over it.   By the way, a Taco Plate and Chimichanga are also on the menu; along with chicken or spicy pork as additional offerings in fillings.  However, always ask your server about the featured special, you do not want to miss out on something awesome, and different from the norm.

 

 

Also ordered, for take home, was a small bucket of Sweet Potato Fries; crispy and tender, and those became a perfect snack while watching a movie for Saturday date night.   This means, while Friday is Mexican night, the entire menu for Stateline is also offered.  Stateline is perfect for couples, families, friends or even coworkers looking for a nice night out together after work.  Not everyone might want Mexican, shocking, I know, but with the entire menu up for grabs, it is a win-win night for all.

 

Mary Cokenour

 

 

 

Stateline Bar and Grill

Address: 69576 US-491, Dove Creek, CO 81324

Phone: (970) 677-2649

 

Hours of Operation:

Thursday thru Sunday:  11am to 9pm

Closed: Monday thru Wednesday

 

Brunch Offered: Saturday and Sunday

 

 

A Well-Deserved Lunch at The Lunch Box.

With a to-do list of eight items, Roy and I were at work at 9am.  At work at our home that is.  The sky was dark, the wind steadily rising, and weather reports foretold rain and 40 F will be a nightly thing.  Also, seems that this year, our first snow will supposedly hit on October 1^st.  So, time to get off our butts, make minor repairs, and winterize.

By 2pm, we had almost all of the list ticked off; two plumbing issues need additional parts and honestly, we did not want to deal with it anymore this weekend.  I had promised Roy that, if we got 80 percent of the list done, we’d splurge and have lunch out.  Mission accomplished, and we headed out to Dove Creek.

Once again, The Lunch Box is a friendly, welcoming restaurant and what we appreciate most is that we are remembered, and our business is just as appreciated as we are personally.  I can count, on one hand, the number of restaurants that treat us like this also, and they will assuredly get our business time after time.

 

So, what was lunch this time?  I had the DC Club Sandwich which had roasted turkey and ham (real turkey and ham, not any of that cold cut crap from plastic packages), tomatoes, red onions, lettuce, Hatch green chile mayo (just a little heat on the tip of the tongue, and went very well with the other ingredients), and grilled sourdough bread.  When this monster was served, I almost fainted…how was I going to eat this!  The sandwich width was 3 and ½-inches thick.  I measured how wide I could open my mouth, and no matter how much I stretched, it was only 2-inches wide.  Pressing the sandwich down a bit, had to be careful that the innards wouldn’t come shooting out the sides of the bread.  This sandwich was amazing in size, taste and overall enjoyment; only could eat one half, so the rest was a leftover for dinner time.

As a side, I ordered the sweet potato fries; crispy on the outside, so very moist and fluffy on the inside. 

 

Roy ordered the Chili Cheese Burger with shoestring fries; house made chili using the pinto beans they purchase locally in Dove Creek.  The burger was smothered in the chili, chopped tomatoes and shredded cheese.  I tasted a sample and this would be perfect on a cold, snowy day to help warm up the body; heck, just having a bowl of that chili will do that too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Facebook, Joshua, the owner, had posted a photo of the house made biscuits, and I asked him to save me a couple.  Besides them, I ordered a cup of the Pork Green Chili to pair with the biscuits.

 

 

 

 

 

 

See, Saturday is also our weekly “date night”.  We put on a movie, dating anywhere from the 1930s to the 1980s.  To go with the movie, I usually cook up a pizza, or buffalo wings with hand-cut fries.  Sometimes we order take-out to give me a break from cooking.  Well tonight we’ll be enjoying the other half of the DC Club Sandwich, biscuits and Pork Green Chili.

Mary Cokenour