748 Troy Street
Dayton Ohio 45404
937.220.9600
website
La Michoacana is a small chain of Latin American grocery stores focused mostly in Columbus, with a Dayton location as well. While the overwhelming majority of each location is mostly devoted to ingredients and cultural trinkets for the Latin populations, there is a small little restaurant inside the stores as well, each of which has a full menu. And they’re practically invisible from the outside, because each location doesn’t really advertise. You will miss this place if you don’t know where to find it. But the food here is really great, and very much worth the experience.
The restaurants offer a full in-house menu of primarily Tex-Mex and pure Mexican food items, including some really great surprises. Some of the things I like:
- Beef tongue tacos: One of the special kind of tacos that are offered here, the beef tongue is soft but very juicy, and it’s nicely minced and served in tacos with cilantro, onions and lime in a way that very much lets the meat speak for itself. Seared perfectly. So wonderful.
- Torta: This is one of the kinds of sub sandwiches that are offered, served in a flatbread and stuffed with a ton of meat of your choosing. Like carnitas. The meat is just a little fatty, but all of the veggies inside the sandwich make the sandwich perfect. Half of one will fill you up, so get one to split.
- Enchiladas: The enchiladas are served in a corn tortilla with chicken and a bit of cheese inside and with a choice of sauce — verde (green) is the spicy one, don’t let it trick you! rojo (red) still has a warm heat, though.
The restaurant is most popular in the lunch hour, and the location seems to be especially popular within the neighborhood and with the local Latin population. There’s not a ton of advertising for any of the locations, so I don’t expect the word is out about that food.
The food here isn’t expensive, though it can take a bit longer to get the food to you, especially if you come a bit late in the lunch hour. There can also be a language barrier at times but the staff is very kind. All in all, this place is the definition of a hole in the wall. While it’s not a spot you are likely to have known about beforehand, it’s also going to be a place you aren’t going to want to forget. Make a point to give it a try. Keep an open mind. You just might be very impressed.
Recommendations
- The spot looks like a grocery store from the outside, but you’ll see the food once you come in!
- There can be a language barrier, but it’s not too much.
- Beef tongue tacos are the best. I know this part of Ohio doesn’t necessarily embrace that kind of food, but it’s very much worth a first try.
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