Taking It To The Bank

The Bank of Mexican Food in Temecula is the site of a former bank from the early 20th century. Built in 1913, or there abouts, of solid concrete, 18" thick walls, possessing all the charm of something really,really old by California standards, it is also the site of the first bank robbery in Riverside County.

This place has some more recent history as well, being the site of a fist fight between patrons that resulted in death a couple years ago. I guess that's what happens what beered-up assholes decide the off duty cop is a easy target.

For years I've heard of the great('best in town' say some) Mexican food served here, but since I avoid crowds and rowdy bar patrons, I never bothered to venture in for a bite.
Curiosity won the day today, so I gave this place a fair shot.

Walking through the door, seeing several empty tables, and still having to wait a few minutes to be seated got the whole experience off to a less than favorable start.
Longer still was the wait before somebody saw fit to bring me a menu.

Three times they tried to foist upon me a bowl of chips and salsa (which I have no use for). Hey, how 'bout a menu?
Finally, I got a menu.
A fast look, then I folded up the menu and pushed it aside.
Several more minutes before somebody came around to take my order: three chile rellenos, a la carte.
Still no drink, because nobody yet offered me one. No glass of water,either.Finally, an offer, and then several minutes later, a Diet Coke.
Yeah....

The wait time from order to food arrival wasn't bad. At least they got that part down. But still no flatware. I had to wait for that,too.

Enough flogging of the staff. To their credit, whenever someone did happen across my table, they seemed genuinely happy to see me. Maybe they were just surprised.

Time to trash the food.

Chile relleno generally have an enchilada-type sauce poured over them. Not here.
It looked more like a chunky stew of chopped tomatoes, onions, bell pepper and some ground up black flakes of indiscernible origin. This chunky stew of glop came out of can. It was obvious. And tasted like it.

Beneath the manufactured glop, somewhere, were my chile relleno. I had to dig for them.
The egg batter coating had a fluffy, soufle-like, baked texture. Not the fried texture, with just a whisp of crispy around the edges, that is typical.
The cheese was bland and flat, with a texture of plasticity, as opposed to the slight stringiness one would expect from freshly melted cheese.

I strongly suspect these rellenos were previously frozen, as opposed to freshly made.
And then maybe reheated in a microwave, before somebody opened the can and poured chunky tomato-vegetable stew over them?

Overall: bland. The sauce should compliment the relleno, but in this case it just overpowered it. And not even in a good way. Shock and Aweful, cantina style.

Next time, I'll go to Rosa's Cantina across the street. It's much better. And I can safely say that without ever having been to Rosa's Cantina before.