Eats Beat: Come out of the haze and into Jimadores

Jimadores Mexican Cuisine’s new second location in North Richland Hills is as good as the first, giving the Acosta family Tex-Mex bookends along the Airport Freeway.

The only problem: a hazy neighbor.

A cigar bar adjacent to the new Jimadores on Bedford-Euless Road emits smoke that wafts next door. But a property manager at 35-year-old Crossroads Centre promises better filtration.

Meanwhile, there is no problem with the Tex-Mex cooking at Jimadores, a Bedford restaurant and “tequila factory” that has become an insiders’ favorite for its vast menu and reasonable prices.

If you’re tired of $27 or $30 steak or fish dinners in other restaurants, some of the best bargains are the grilled dishes in Tex-Mex restaurants.

Example: Jimadores blackened salmon chilaquiles Azteca, a generous blackened salmon fillet topped with spinach served with serrano-pineapple sauce and poblano sauce ($15.99).

The most expensive dishes on the menu are an $18 rib-eye with garlic shrimp and a $17.99 glazed salmon with lobster-brandy sauce and chipotle mashed potatoes.

Jimadores’ menu has enchiladas and tacos, but also salmon, tilapia and signature chicken dishes such as a “pollo Xochitl,” a pan-fried chicken breast over spinach with tequila-cream sauce.

The menu also includes five salads, with lunches from $7 to $12.

Nothing in a Tex-Mex restaurant should be smoky but the fajitas and salsa, and Jimadores’ salsa has a deep, smoky flavor. It’s served warm, as is the black bean dip.

It’s open daily for lunch and dinner, and for American or Tex-Mex breakfast weekends; 8216 Bedford-Euless Road, 817-770-4922, jimadoresmexican.com.

The original is open the same hours at 3314 Harwood Road, 817-354-5300, jimadores.com.

Taco Heads parks

The new year brought new tacos.

Taco Heads is in a preliminary opening with a limited menu at 1812 Montgomery St., on the corner at Harley Avenue.

Taco Heads’ patio and some walkways remain under construction, but park in back and find the north door for cocktails, beers, Avoca or South Carolina’s Black Tap Coffee and a simple menu of Sarah Castillo’s tacos on corn or flour tortillas.

Taco Heads is known for its sauces, and the green sauce is as good as in the food-truck location.

Regular hours begin this weekend: breakfast, lunch and dinner daily, with hours until midnight Thursday through Saturday; 817-615-9899, facebook.com/TacoHeads.

Revolver reloads

Revolver Taco Lounge swung a new six-month lease and promises an a la carte taco menu and faster service.

Workers in the homestyle Michoacan taqueria start making the tortillas when you order a taco. That’s not moving quickly enough, so owner Gino Rojas will streamline Revolver and move more complicated dishes, such as chiles en nogada, to his other restaurant, Campestre Chula Vista.

Revolver also will restore lunch hours; 2822 W. Seventh St., 817-820-0122, revolvertacolounge.com.

This story was originally published January 5, 2016 at 10:49 AM with the headline "Eats Beat: Come out of the haze and into Jimadores."