Critic Questions El Burro’s Existence

Mexican restaurant and margarita cantina El Burro receives several visits from The Austin Chronicle critic Brandon Watson, and it does not go well. The concept comes from Vox Table owner Vincent Manguino and the rest of the team, so Watson expected a bit more finesse than what he experiences. Watson explains:

I don't know for a fact that the blood has drained out, but something has happened between Vincent Manguino opening VOX Table and El Burro. Where Joel Mozersky and Clayton & Little made a breathtakingly minimal interior for VOX, El Burro uses the reclaimed wood and tin signs of an overly pinned Pinterest board. Where VOX has chef Joe Anguiano confidently steering the course, El Burro is decidedly not chef-driven. Yes, it's like comparing apples to oranges, but the apple is a Honeycrisp and the orange is an overly pithy navel variety at the bottom of the pile.

Something happened.

He questions why El Burro exists when there are so many other fine examples of Mexican cuisine in Austin. He continues to ponder this as he samples the queso full of the “artificial tang and plastic texture of a Kraft single,” bland guacamole, the “blunted” flavors of the calabazitas, and queso fundido that “should have never made it past the kitchen.”

• Review: El Burro [AC]
• All Vox Table Coverage [EATX]
• All El Burro Coverage [EATX]