Eating Out in Baltimore: Holy Frijoles

Located on the funky, colorful street of independent shops and boutiques known as "the Avenue" in Baltimore's Hampden neighborhood, Holy Frijoles is a fun place to stop in for a quick, inexpensive lunch or dinner.

It features the usual Mexican dishes: tacos, burritos, chimichangas, and more, as well as a full bar. While the food may not be anything too unusual, for this California transplant, it's a welcome chance to get the good Mexican food that I miss so much.

Holy Frijoles is popular and usually busy. The small tables are often crowded, and the atmosphere is casual and unpretentious.

I'm a vegetarian, so it's a relief for me to know that most items on the menu here have a vegetarian version. Beans and other staples are vegetarian, and you can trust that your dish will not have meat in it unless it says it does on the menu. I do eat eggs and dairy, and so I have not investigated vegan options here, but they do have a burrito that contains grilled vegetables, and I suspect you can get it without cheese or sour cream.

Meat eaters, don't worry. This is not a vegetarian restaurant, and you will not be stuck with what many of you like to call "rabbit food." You can order meat on your dish, if you so desire.

On my recent visit, I had a taco salad with refried beans. Served in a large fried flour tortilla, it's a generous portion of romaine lettuce, beans, cheese, salsa, black olives, and guacamole. There was also way too much sour cream, most of which I removed. This is a tasty option and the price is good at $7.95. It can even be somewhat healthy, if you don't eat the entire enormous edible bowl, which is deep-fried, so it probably contains a lot of fat and calories.

Maybe I'm just cheap, but I still have a problem with restaurants where a full meal is going to cost more than $15 per person, or maybe $20 for a splurge. This isn't one of those. When I said it was inexpensive, I meant it. You really can eat here for a reasonable price.

Some people I know used to avoid this place due to the smoke in the bar, but thanks to a recent statewide ban on smoking in restaurants, the whole place is now smoke-free. Though I'm sure this is not a universally welcome change, it's fine by me, and may even mean that I will come here more often.

I did not order alcohol on my most recent visit, but my memory is that the margaritas at Holy Frijoles are refreshing, strong, and reasonably priced.

Location:

908 W 36th St
Baltimore, MD 21211
Phone: (410) 235-2326