Oklahoma Mexican - who'da thunk?

Another fun filled day on the road finds me in Elk City, Oklahoma tonight. Nice little spot, more than the usual interstate exit, including a pretty sizeable portion of old Route 66. There's even a Route 66 museum here, which I'll think about checking out on the return trip. In the meantime, a nice easy night, decent, clean motel, and as a bonus, a Mexican restaurant attached to the motel! Now with that sort of temptation, how could I resist? So, I checked in, stretched out my back a bit, then wandered down to Mama Tona's for dinner. Now to be honest, I did check out "Yelp", and the reviews were good, so I wasn't flying as blind as I could have been.

Big place, Mama Tona's. Clean, very clean. Stainless steel half walls separate tables into different sections. Kitchen partially open to diners to view, and it is also very clean. Hey, look, a tortilla press, sort of like at "On The Border"; nice touch, home made flour and corn tortillas! Hostess leads me to a table, asks what I'd like to drink; Dos Equis Amber, and served with a tall, very frosty mug, and also brings a tall glass of ice water. So far so good.
Waitress brings over chips, salsa, AND queso dip, along with a tortilla holder filled with fresh, soft, warm corn tortillas.

Sorry for the somewhat fuzzy photo; apparently the phone camera lens was a little dirty. Didn't discover that until after dinner. Anyway, good chips, good salsa, although a bit too mild. The queso, home made, but not great. Someone didn't cook the roux long enough before they added in the cheese, it had a pretty strong taste like raw flour. Not awful, but not what you'd want to eat a lot of. The beer? Cold, and perfect.
Pretty diverse menu, lots of familiar items, but missing some of the usuals. No Pollo Con Arrozo, and no 'chicken, shrimp, steak' special. Almost got the shredded beef Chimichanga, but last minute went for shrimp rancheros. Put the order in, and sat back. After a few minutes, first up was this:

Big plate of refried beans and Mexican rice. And very good Mexican rice, nicely seasoned, and with corn, peas, and diced carrot in with the rice. Refried beans, nice and creamy, not at all pasty, topped with just a touch of cheese. And both served nice and hot. And then, out came the main.

Served sizzling on a fajita platter, ten nice sized shrimp, sautee'd with green bell peppers, onions, tomatos, and fresh jalapeno slices. On the side, fresh warm flour tortillas. Very generous portion, add in the rice and beans and it was a very filling meal, and quite tasty as well! The shrimp were perfectly cooked, the onions were done well, some were quite soft and carmelized, some still had a bit of crunch; bell peppers were fine, as were the tomato pieces. The fresh jalapeno had quite a kick, it's always hotter than the pickled ones you find in a lot of places. I packed all of the ingredients into flour tortillas and ate them fajita style, and was very happy. Added a touch of salt and pepper, as the only thing missing was a little bit of seasoning, which seems to be missing from most places when they do fajita style food. Sizzling the ingredients and getting a little browning is a good idea, but you HAVE to give them a little help - salt, pepper, garlic powder, like I'd use on my fajitas.
Finished all the shrimp and a good amount of the veggies, and that was it, full.
So I had a really nice meal, in a clean, friendly place, all for a final price of $14.30. Talk about a bargain!
Complaints? Just one. The place was too darn cold! Turn down (or up) the A/C!
And tomorrow night, it'll be something cool in Gallup NM, possibly a popular 'burger joint on old Route 66.
As they used to say, 'stay tuned for more'!