By Greg Anderson
Hola amigos! This week I thought I’d head south of the border for some grub–all the way to South Sioux City, Nebraska.

Anyone who has been to South Sioux will probably tell you it has a Latino vibe. So in search of some authentic Mexican cuisine, I went across the green bridge onto Dakota Avenue and stopped at the first Mexican restaurant I saw, which happened to be La Fiesta.

The place is a weird mix of sports bar and Mexican kitsch. The bar side has several widescreens showing American football. The restaurant side is more of what you’d expect to find in a Mexican restaurant–bright colors, sombreros, and rainbow-colored ponchos. The lighting is dim, but everything is very clean. Some ethnic restaurants can have a “gross” feeling, but La Fiesta doesn’t have that at all.

We sat down and our waiter didn’t seem particularly interested in us–which was odd, since we were the only ones there. His answers to our questions were always brief and a bit off-putting. When we asked him for recommendations, he just sort of shrugged his shoulders and said he didn’t know. He did, however, bring us our chips and salsa in a timely manner, which is more important to me than a smile.

I ended up ordering a torta, which is basically a Mexican-style sandwich. I got excited because the menu said it was a Cuban torta, and how often can you get Cuban food in this area? I was sorely disappointed. I’ve had some fantastic tortas in my life, and this definitely was not. The sandwich was as big as my head, but that doesn’t matter if you don’t really want to eat any of it. The torta was supposed to have bacon, shredded pork and deli-sliced ham on it, but the ham ended up overpowering the entire sandwich. A good torta should have lots of vegetables, but this one had only had wilted lettuce and a few tomatoes. The cheese was also just plain American cheese, so I ended up with a glorified ham-and-cheese sandwich. There was also a “mystery” sauce on it that may have been a mix of mayonnaise and sour cream—but therein is the mystery.

My friend got a Mexican-style breakfast, which was decent. It was scrambled eggs in a tortilla with salsa. I’d give the restaurant credit, but scrambled eggs are hard to screw up. It was something I could easily make at home. My other friends ordered tacos that fell into the “meh” category. The ground beef was really bland and could have definitely used more spice.

Even though the food and service weren’t great, the prices and atmosphere were decent. You can get a whole dinner for around six dollars, and when you compare that to the twelve or fifteen you’d drop at Applebee’s or Olive Garden, it’s a steal.

Would I go there again? Probably not. Was I happy I tried something new? Absolutely. This weekend, go south of the Iowa border, roll down to Dakota Avenue and try something different. (Oct. 1)