Since we have been encouraged to update threads on GNR places periodically with news of good meals, I shall here announce that I recently enjoyed an excellent little repast with Amata of taquitos pasadita and quesadillas 'Raúl'... We were intending not to eat a full blown meal and splitting these two antojitos we were quite happy with the amount of food. Both dishes were really delicious, as always.

Antonius

I went last night with a friend to the 18th St. restaurant, and we were treated to an extra-warm welcome: in addition to the usual warm chips and salsa with pickled vegetables, our smiling waitress brought us each a cup of hot soup--tasty broth with a little chicken and vegetables--before we could even sit down.

We started with my favorite appetizer: frijoles con chorizo, then had enchiladas de queso and suiza with mole sauce (which was a little sweeter than I remembered). The flour tortillas were fresh and warm as always. My friend said that they were handmade; I don't know--she's made tortillas and I haven't. We didn't order anything to drink and got a piece of tres leches cake to go; our bill, with tax, was $20.02. And, as usual, we had to ask for the check, even though we had lingered over our meal (and couldn't finish the small sized frijoles con chorizo). I love this place and wish it were in my neighborhood.

the flour tortillas are definitely handmade/homemade.. too irregular to be machine made. The corn are clearly mass-produced, machine-made. The freebie at the beginning of the meal is pretty common at nuevo leon -- sometimes it's a really delicious taste of carne guisado or some other stew. A couple times it's been a little fried tortilla wrapped around queso panela, but our last visit was the same soup you got.

I too went to Nuevo Leon, actually sometime ago, and was dissapointed by the looks of the place, floors etc.
and my chorizo breakfast was somewhat dried up. I felt perhaps it was not what it was anymore. However now there actually a lot of choices for Mexican breakfast in Chicago.
One of my favorite though is in Waterford, Wisconsin, Marty's, a small town diner, actually the diner is now pretty big, owned by Mexicans. They serve both American and Mexican fare. Their Mexican breakfast and
lunches are quite good and it makes an interesting study to see local folk dining at a restaurant owned by Mexicans and how in smalltown USA such integration succeeds, especially when good food is served.

Santander wrote: Particularly egregious is the carne asada wherever it rears its chewy, old-tasting flank.

Wish I'd read this four-year-old post before making my first visit to Nuevo Leon last night.
"Shoe leather" was the term that came to mind. The sad thing was that I could taste flavorful, grass-fed beef within the near-jerkylike material.
Everything else was good, and the place was packed, which made this a real head-scratcher for me.
I was tempted to drive four miles north on Ashland to remind myself what good carne asada is.
Oh well.