The four-plus-mile stretch of Havana Street between Dartmouth and Sixth Avenue in Aurora is home to the most diverse array of international cuisine available in the metro area. From restaurants and markets to take-and-go shops and stands, food lovers of nearly any ethnicity or interest can find a place that will remind them of home or open new culinary doors. In Eat Up Havana, Westword contributor Antony Bruno will visit them all, one by one, week by week.
Previous stops:
- Old Town Hot Pot
- Leezakaya
- Chutney Indian Cuisine
- El Tequileno
- Milkroll
- Shin Myung Gwan Korean BBQ
- Watan Restaurant & Bakery
Next up: Las Fajitas
It’s pretty easy to understand the enduring appeal of the fajita.
For starters, it’s a safe, approachable dish for those unfamiliar with the intricacies of Mexican food (ok…Tex-Mex). All the ingredients are pretty much right there on the plate for you to see, and the deconstructed nature of it allows diners to customize as they prefer.
It’s so simple even a Chili’s diner can grok it without interpretation.
But perhaps more importantly, fajitas know how to make an entrance. Who among us hasn’t been engaged in discussion at a Mexican restaurant only to stop mid-sentence to acknowledge the passing of a sizzling platter of meat? It’s a smack to the senses — the sizzle for the ears, the plume of steam for the eyes, the savory aroma of seared meat for the nose.
So when confronted with a three-page menu of choices when it’s your turn to order, it’s understandable to take the easy way out and just blurt “fajitas” and hope nobody notices.
At Havana Street’s Las Fajitas, that order comes with no shame because fajitas are front-and center. Amid the many pages of classic Tex-Mex options made available, the restaurant wears its fajita pride on its sleeves. Not only is the local chain named after the iconic dish, it boldly declares its fajitas the best in the city right there on the menu, on signs in the restaurant and on its website.
So if you’re venturing into Las Fajitas for the first time, ordering fajita is less a cop out and more of a destination.
Las Fajitas opened on Havana Street in 2005 and was founded by Alberto Granados, an immigrant from Jerécuaro, Mexico in the state of Guanajuato. He’s since opened three more locations, in Aurora, Littleton and Castle Pines. All feature the fajitas as the signature dish.
Fajita History
Like many iconic dishes that have evolved from regional specialty to mainstream staple, the exact history of the fajita is difficult to pin down, but it seems pretty well accepted that the dish originated in West Texas sometime in the 1930s by Mexican ranch hands known as vaqueros.
As part of their pay, these cowboys would receive strips of beef trimmings left over from the butchering process, which they’d grill over an open flame as the foundation of their diet. They called them “fajitas,” which translates to “little belts.”
Soon, fajitas became a popular food stall item at Texas rodeos, then on to restaurants in the Rio Grande Valley and even as far as Houston. But it was a German chef working at the Hyatt in Austin who reportedly added the hook of serving fajitas on a sizzling platter, and the rest is Tex-Mex history.
What You’re Eating
When you advertise yourself as having the best fajita in town, so much so that it’s literally your name, you better deliver the goods. And while it’s hard to say whether Las Fajitas is in fact the absolute best, diners ordering the restaurant’s namesake dish won’t walk away disappointed.
The fajitas here come in many options, including steak, al pastor (pork and pineapple), carnitas, vegetarian, chicken or shrimp. For those who can’t choose, there are also combos with two to three choices of meat for one, or a larger option to share.
Truth be told, even the single portion could reasonably feed two people, and at over $20 a plate (with the combos for two running over $40), taking advantage of the self-assembly nature of fajitas is a smart budget move.
Just be warned: the combo platter comes out with the meat in one big pile, not in separate sections per type of meat. So if you’re hoping to keep your fajita to just one protein, you’re gonna have to do a little picking and digging to keep things separate.
Each order comes with plenty of tortillas (choice of corn or flour) and a heaping plate of accoutrements: tomatoes, cheese, sour cream, guacamole and pico de gallo, served with a smoky paprika Spanish rice and refried beans
Frankly, using too many toppings distracts from the fajita meat itself, which Las Fajitas clearly takes seriously. The key to a good fajita is searing off the thin slices of meat quickly at high heat so as to create just the right amount of char without drying it out. This is something Las Fajitas has gotten down to a science.
The steak has a crunchy sear yet remains tender and easy to eat. The al pastor offers juicy slices of pork with small cubes of pineapple, adding a nice sweet pop without being overly cloy or fruity. The hardest to pull off are thin slices of chicken breast, which just beg to toughen up over the heat, yet Las Fajitas manages to retain enough moisture (just don’t let it sit too long).
Pro tip: dig down a bit to the bottom of the flash-grilled mound of meat, where all the juices have accumulated and concentrated, making it the best part of the meal — charred bits of meat and grease (the good kind), all soaked up by grilled strips of onion and bell pepper.
This all continues to cook at the table, because the fajita plates here are no-joke hot. Even the limes left on the cast iron plate come off nearly too hot to touch. The wooden trays the skillets are set upon are charred from years of continuous use.
All are indications that Las Fajitas has fully embraced what made fajitas initially popular — satisfaction. It’s not an accommodation for picky or nervous eaters. It’s not an overly showy statement using oil-and-juice “sizzle sauce.” It’s a legitimate effort to reclaim the fajita’s original glory.