It's hard enough to find time to get the Chew Crew together as it is. Thankfully we managed to do it one last time before everyone went into quarantine. Sol de Mexico was on everyone's radar and it turned out to be a great place for a group to meet up.

MELLZAH'S REVIEW

Sol de Mexico beckons from the corner of Hewitt and Broadway, its vibrant color-blocked building cheering downtown. The menu is on the large side: several pages of options means that there's room for both classic favorites and something that's bound to become a new favorite. But one of the advantages of dining with the Chew Crew is the ability to strategize our orders to cover the menu, eating brazenly from one another's plates (it was another time, alas), and aside from unanimous agreement about the necessity of ordering pork wings, I didn't feel I had enough time to fully parse the menu myself, much less confer with the Crew.

The longer the menu, the greater the risk of the feeling I've come to understand as the restaurant version of l'esprit de l'escalier: the sudden knowledge that I have ordered the wrong thing precisely as my server walks away. Which isn't to say that there are any wrong choices at Sol de Mexico unless you have a seafood allergy and a taste for camarones.

That said, on a tighter menu, there may not have been room for something like pork wings or the California nachos I ordered on a subsequent visit: a fried chicken burrito cut into slices and topped with nacho fixings. (Please note that it is a chicken burrito that has been fried, and not a burrito filled with fried chicken in case your brain went there, too.)

The pork wings, mini deep fried pork shanks, are ideal for sharing-there's the essential caveperson appeal of holding my food by the bone, of course, deep frying lends the shank both crisp and tender textures, and the spice of the accompanying house-made mushroom sauce is the perfect complement, cutting through some of the richness, readying the tastebuds for the next bite. (A margarita fills the same role culinarily if you need a reason to indulge. Tangy, not sweet.)

For my main course, I ordered the "create your own combo" plate with a chicken tostada and chalupa, which is exactly the point of my egregious and pretentious French--when faced with a plethora of options, I chose two that were essentially the same with one tortilla a little more folded than the other. Heaped high with shredded lettuce, fresh chopped tomatoes, cheese, and green onions, I didn't mind that I had a giant plate full of crispy deliciousness but do I wish I had maybe swapped one of those for a tamale? Yes. Le sigh.

On my subsequent visit, I ordered what can only be described as a small buffet of food because I live in the now and understand that every meal of leftover Sol de Mexico is a meal I don't have to cook and am willing to play that game. Indeed, I was delighted to be able to order a margarita to go, something that up until very recently was illegal in this state and thus is kind of thrilling to a nerd like me.

In addition to the aforementioned nachos made of deep fried burrito, I also ordered a fajita burrito with carne asada, enchiladas suizas, and a Jalisco herradura burrito, smothered in green sauce and shredded cheese and heralded by a rare fire icon on the menu.

Sol de Mexico also included a proportional amount of chips and salsa for the 4+ people they must have assumed were consuming this feast, which I am absolutely not complaining about because they are the ideal vehicle with which to scoop refried beans into my mouth at 9 p.m. For all the appeal of all of the entrees (and they were appealing, the carrots and mushrooms in the fajita burrito were an especially welcome touch), it's those beans that would lure me from across the house. 

The Everett margarita tasted like freedom. Freedom and spicy mango.

ERIKA'S REVIEW

When you review restaurants, people tend to think you enjoy a certain kind of place. They tend to send you recommendations for the gilded lily, $15 grilled cheese kind of places. People think I want burritos made out of cotton candy, and chicken wings doused in gold, when really, all I want is a plate of really great food.

The problem is, people are also expecting me to recommend those kinds of places. People want something they’ve never heard of before, rather than well-done versions of the standards. Luckily, no matter what you’re looking for in Everett, Sol De Mexico can help both of us out.

A thrill-seeker? I wholeheartedly recommend the pork wings, which were fantastically meaty deep-fried pieces of braised pork accompanied by a mild buffalo-mushroom dipping sauce. It sounds like the definition of gilded lily, but is actually earthy, buttery, tangy, and only the slightest bit spicy. 

A fan of the classics? My chile relleno-chalupa combo was the platonic ideal. A huge platter of crispy and fried, the batter and flour tortilla stood up to the melted cheese and shredded chicken that filled them. The vegetables on the plate were cold and crunchy, the beans velvety, and the rice cooked perfectly. I couldn’t have asked for more, both literally and figuratively.

Interested in a bit of both? I could point you toward the margarita menu, stacked with classics like Cadillac or strawberry, but also filled with options like Jamaica, cucumber, and passion fruit. Though the flavored drinks were tempting, I had to land on the Perfect margarita. How can you choose anything else with a name like that? It was, as advertised, perfect. Strong, but not enough to make you wince, with extra in a glass cocktail shaker, reminiscent of a milkshake tin but even better, because there’s tequila in it. A light rim of salt on half of the glass, so any sips taken on that edge weren’t overly seasoned.

It’s hard to find a lily that’s only half-gilded, but Sol De Mexico can be everything for everybody. Whether you’re after consistent, hearty portions or a place to impress those looking for the next trend (or even just a bangin’ margarita), it doesn’t disappoint.

CHRISTOPHER'S REVIEW

They say all publicity is good publicity, and I'd been looking forward to seeing what Sol de Mexico had to offer ever since I started seeing chatter all over Facebook that was, to put it bluntly, annoying. The building got a multicolor exterior paint job months ago, and people started complaining about it before it was even finished. To me, the bold colors outside were meant to convey strong flavors and friendly service they'd want to be known for.

And I wasn't wrong. I was first to arrive and was outside taking pictures when one of the servers popped out and said, "Hey! Let me be in a picture!" While Mellzah and I chatted waiting for Erika to arrive, another stepped outside to ask if we wanted to come in to wait. Once we were all there, they led us to a huge, comfortable booth near the bar.

There were two things I wanted to see on the menu and both wishes were granted: items I'd never seen or heard of before, and lots of seafood. We narrowed the appetizer options down to two unique options; Pork wings and California nachos, a plate of nachos made from sliced fried burritos.

Pork wings won out, and we all loved the huge slabs of tender, flavorful meat that sliced easily off the bone with just a butterknife. You could eat the whole plate with no sauce at all, but the sauce it comes with is good enough to eat on its own. It has so much flavor without needing to rely on excess heat, and the mushroom chunks it's filled with provide perfect umami and texture.

The bacon-wrapped prawns I ordered for my main course were tasty and crunchy, and there were enough on the plate that I gave everyone else one without a second thought. Their sauce was similar to the appetizer sauce, but smokier. As with the first sauce, none was left behind. The rice was good, but we all agreed that the refried beans were better: smooth, cheesy, and amazing. 

I washed lunch down with a zombie, and theirs is a much better version of an old happy hour favorite I used to drink often in the early 2000s. If you've never had one, it's a rum and juice-based drink, and theirs doesn't taste at all like it was made with juice from a frozen concentrate, which is a quick way to ruin a cocktail. 

It's great to see a restaurant in that space after it was empty for so long, and I'll happily return to Sol de Mexico once it's possible to start working my way through their huge menu.

Call Sol de Mexico to order for pickup or get delivery via DoorDash. Follow them on Facebook for the latest specials.

SOL DE MEXICO
2019 HEWITT AVE
425-374-2871

Erika, Christopher and Mellzah formed the Chew Crew in 2019 after realizing they could try more dishes in more restaurants by joining forces. They triple-dip in and around Everett as often as possible.