Mr. Maestas Serves Up the Best Mexican Food in Holbrook, AZ

Mr. Maestas, Holbrook, AZ

Traveling through northern Arizona on our way to Denver, Colorado, we stopped for lunch in Holbrook, AZ at Mr. Maestas, on Navajo Blvd., just south of I-40, east of Winslow.

The sign on the trailer out front said "Best Food in Town"; who were we to argue?

The small place is full of antique items, like old tricycles, pictures and a couple of cribs (that I bet were never up for recall. I should have bought one for future grandchild uses).

The place boasts Mexican food, which I normally love, but since we still had three or four hours of driving ahead, I didn't want to offend my co-pilot or risk being caught out in the middle of nowhere with no place to go...

I had the BLT, which was as good as any I had before. The fries were thicker cut than a regular fast food place and nice and crunchy. The menu offered what I call "throw back" sodas: Cream styles with flavors like Strawberry, Cherry, and Peach. Old time root beer and teas were also offered. I chose a Cherry-Cream, which was cold and a nice change from my usual.

My co-pilot had the chimichangas, also a change from what she would normally order, which surprised me, especially when the waitress put the large fried burrito covered in a thick red stewed salsa down in front of her, I thought for sure we'd be stopping for fast food soon down the road.

But by golly, she liked it and ate the whole thing! Stuffed with tender chunks of pork, mixed in with the salsa that had covered the burrito, she said it was surprisingly good. Along with her old time root beer, she was a happy diner.

Our waitress was a fun, older woman, who made us laugh and obviously enjoyed what she was doing. While taking our ticket up the to counter to pay, we browsed through the collection of petrified rocks and chose one to take home with us. She offered us a receipt for the rock if we were going to be going into the petrified rock forest, because if you got caught with the rock and no receipt, you would be in "big trouble". I thought it was good of her to point that out to us.

Over all, while it wasn't the best food I'd ever had, if it's the best food in town, then it's pretty good. BLT, chimichangas, 2 bottled sodas a piece of petrified wood plus a $5 tip = $45

Would I stop in again? Yes.