Jenks Students: Camp Out at Campesinos!

BY Charlotte SutteeThe soft yellow lights illuminate a dry, 4 ft tall pottery fountain in the center of the room, and a pair of blue sombreros, spanish blankets raining from their rims, swallow the wall in bright colors. Monday after school, senior and salsa connoisseur Matthew Murrie and I arrive at Campesinos Mexican Restaurant on Jenks’ Main Street, nestled between D&C Laundry and Cacy’s Barbeque. As the last surviving Mexican Restaurant in downtown Jenks, it’s necessary to inspect its highschool friendliness, measured by: atmosphere, service, price, and food.The hostess dispassionately seats us at a table with a view-- a scenic view of an intricate and colorful Mexican landscape, painted on the top of our table and protected by a pane of glass. I admire the craftsmanship as she readies us with chips and salsa.“[The salsa] tastes real,” says Murrie, “but it’s moderate as far as spice goes. Fresh ingredients-- I can tell.”I can, too. Before we can finish the fresh appetizer, the server brings steaming steak fajitas, a beef taco, beef burrito, and, you guessed it: a beef enchilada with queso sauce. According to Murrie, the fajita meat looks like asian stir fry and tastes unconventional-- at first.“[The steak] is growing on me with the veggies,” says Murrie a few bites in.While Murrie chows down on some sweet-smelling fajitas, I try to figure out which of the three ground beef dishes is which; the white queso sauce bleeds onto the taco shell to make it soft like the other two tortilla-wrapped entrees. Besides the taco lettuce and corn tortilla, each has the same savory beefy flavor that every Mexican restaurant would benefit to mimic. However, the perfectly portioned, soft, earthy beans and tender rice wins the golden sombrero.“Best refried beans I ever had,” says Murrie, “coming from the guy who doesn’t like refried beans.”The server appears to have left the building while we grow anxious to order some dessert.“I feel like family, except they forget about me sometimes,” says Murrie with a chuckle.Any agitation evaporates when the tres leches cake finally reaches our table.“Dang,” says Murrie, thinking over his first bite. “It tastes like someone took a birthday cake with the perfect amount of frosting and dipped it in milk.”A vanilla sponge from heaven is what Campesinos should call it.Here came the checks: One enchilada, burrito, and taco for $8.68 and fajitas and cake for $16.81.Service: 2.5/5 sombrerosAtmosphere: 4/5 sombrerosPrice: 4/5 sombrerosFood: 4/5 sombrerosCampesinos Mexican Restaurant a fairly-decorated, affordable, scrumptious restaurant to enjoy with friends after school, if you don’t mind being deserted by your waiters.Their full address and number are below:393 E Main St, Jenks, OK 74037-4132+1 918-518-6450