I love Mexican food. The stuff is damn near part of my soul, and I’m 100% sure the refried beans will be the main culprit for eventual complete artery clogging.

Growing up and living most of my adult life in Houston, almost every Friday night was spent going to one of the many neighborhood Mexican food restaurants for margaritas, nachos, and sizzling beef fajitas. It’s just what you did.

I say all of this because one of our dear family friends flew in from Los Angeles last Friday night and was craving Mexican food. After a recent move for yours truly, Heights Taco & Tamale Co. is now within a 5-minute drive, so I thought it was a perfect opportunity to show off one of Little Rock’s more popular restaurants, while also staying in the neighborhood and getting in our Mexican food fix.

Granted, it was 6:30 p.m., and I know on a crazy night the wait can be long at HTT, but we were fortunate to get a table right away. The patio area was completely full, but it looked like the inside was at about 80% capacity. We were all starving, so we immediately ordered cheese dip, three tamales, and some frozen mojitos. All three things tasted fantastic and came out in a timely manner. It’s hard to imagine getting a frozen cocktail more perfect than that fresh, minty mojito, and the dip was so good that my youngest daughter gave her middle finger to etiquette and then proceeded to use it to scrape cheese from the skillet.

Cheese Dip

The Delta-style tamales at HTT, although entirely too small, are the most delicious rendition I’ve come across in Central Arkansas. Nothing about the taste dissuaded me from that opinion last Friday night.

For my entrée, I ordered the Fajita Nacho Skillet with Rib-eye. I’ve always appreciated the restaurant’s impeccable plating and that includes serving nachos topped with a massive amount of cheese in a skillet. The steak was tender and plentiful but the true delight was the smoky bacon refried beans. The key to these nachos is getting a chip with a little of everything on it… cheese, steak, beans, guac, tomato, and sour cream.

Service throughout the dinner was excellent, and although HTT gets too loud, which, admittedly, annoys the hell out of me the older I get, it’s still a wonderful atmosphere to enjoy great food and drink with friends on a Friday night.

And that’s something I can get used to … in Little Rock.

Frozen Mojito