Located at
405 East Dixie Drive in Asheboro, Don Julio offers Mexican cuisine from 11 a.m.
to 9:30 (10:30 Fridays and Saturdays) daily. There’s a full bar, and lunch
specials are available.
We ended
up at Don Julio after an Easter zoo visit because it was open and supposedly
offered elote. Housed in a strip mall, it doesn’t look like much from the
outside. Inside is another story. There’s some well-appointed wall art, a
surprising amount of space, and a comfortably casual vibe.
Don Julio’s
menu helps it stand apart from the multitude of Mexican eateries in the area.
It includes not only elote but several items not widely available elsewhere such
as potato shrimp enchiladas and mango ribs. Of course, you can find the usual
suspects (burritos, tacos, quesadillas, etc.) here as well. From vegetarian
options to seafood dishes to a molcajete (sizzling meat bowl), Don Julio has
something for everyone.
My wife
and I split an elote starter and went with a vegetable quesadilla and a seafood
stuffed poblano, respectively. The food came out astonishingly fast, and it
looked and smelled great. While the poblano dish featured a sauce that was
milder than expected, the pepper itself delivered a bit of heat, and the shrimp
were large and well-cooked. The quesadilla paired well with a smoky chipotle sauce,
and the elote satisfied a craving. The chips and salsa may have been fairly
pedestrian, but everything else was quite good.
In
addition to the aforementioned speedy service, Don Elote boasts surprisingly
reasonable prices. The lunch specials are a steal, but even seafood entrees won’t
run higher than mid-teens.
Don Julio’s
location makes it easy to overlook, but its food, value, and service are too
good to pass up. It’s a great option for a post-zoo lunch.
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