I did not discover until shortly before the scheduled closing of the restaurant's N.W. 63rd St. location in May 2005 that Laredo's is actually the reincarnation of the old El Charrito restaurant on Paseo Drive. El Charrito, which operated until about the 1970's, was the pioneer, and the best Tex-Mex restaurant in Oklahoma City. It later branched out to several locations, and the menu at El Charrito became the basis on which the El Chico chain was built. El Chico was never quite as good as El Charrito, though, and a new generation of the Alvarado family continues to serve the original family recipes at Laredo's that were made famous by El Charrito.

When I was young my favorite dish at El Charrito was the Plato de Jalisco, a plate containing a cheese taco, tamal, rice, and beans. Today the Cheese Taco is still my favorite item here--the soft cheese seems to have a better flavor than the cheese used in the enchilada.

The Tamales are still good, but compared to some I had in San Antonio recently, the ones here do not taste as fresh and have much more of a "lard" aftertaste.

Enchiladas are about as good as anywhere in Oklahoma that serves Tex-Mex food, but not as enjoyable to me as the ones served in El Paso or New Mexico. Tex-Mex enchiladas, such as the ones served here, are known for having a high cheese content with ground beef "chili" on top. Having grown up eating the Alvarado family's food, though, this is the way I had always known enchiladas, and I still have an appreciation for them even though I have discovered others that I think are more true to the Mexican tradition.

The salsa is quite enjoyable--it's not up to my "heat index" standard but the flavor is quite good and it is much spicier than most of the salsas served in OKC.

In fact, I think just about everything served here is pretty good--it's not quite like the Tex-Mex you can find in San Antonio or Austin, but it continues to be one of the better versions in Oklahoma City, as it was when I was growing up.

Laredo's building on NW 63rd Street was bought out for a redevelopment, and they have now opened the new restaurant at 5111 N. Classen Boulevard, renamed Casa De Los Milagros (but I understand that it still serves the same food that used to be found at Laredo's).