The Eagle has Landed!!!

Under food:



El Aguila Restaurant
Main Avenue and Monroe Street
Passaic, NJ
(862) 591-1863


The Ultimate Fun Club is pleased to share with our loyal readers this awesomest Mexican joint in the heart of Passaic, NJ. It is so smokin' new that it is barely mentioned in the online directories! This place is seriously good, and UFC agrees this is the best Mexican we have had (outside of Mexico/San Diego, that is).

"Aguila" is the Spanish word for eagle. The Passaic area in general has a large influx of Central and South American immigrants and it seems that a lot of the restaurants that cater to this population have a mish-mash of cuisines on their menus. El Aguila, however, definitely is Mexican solamente. We were particularly impressed at how confident and solid their menu was. I suspect that this may be an overseas branch of a Mexican fast food chain, but could not find anything online to confirm this.



This complex includes a supermarket, a small bakery section and a fast food-style restaurant. We were too hungry to check out the supermarket.

The menu is quite overwhelming to us, as we did not recognize a lot of the items, apart from "tacos", "platillos" and "empanadas." We took our time ordering.

Fresh squeezed juices at the counter. The pina was popular, so we got it.



Hot food counter. You can point to these when ordering your platter, which comes with rice and beans. On this day, the chicken soup looked really good. The most striking thing we saw were goat skulls atop a platter.

Behind the counter, the workers were busily chopping meat and assembling tacos, burritos and hot plates.

While deciding, we also checked out their tortilla-making machine that was cranking them out as fast as it can. A steady stream of customers were picking up bags of tortillas.

Another section that we overlooked before ordering was their tortas and grill section. They make nice toasty sandwiches to order, with tomatoes and avocados. Defintiely a must try on our next visit.

In the end, we opted for a fried fish platter for me, and a platillos del dia and a carnitas burrito for DJKung. We were told that he could pick among the hot items on display, so he ordered the mole poblano chicken. Alas, churros were not available after 11am! After paying, we got a numbered receipt, and they call your number out.

Note the size of the fried red snapper (fried to order). It must be at least two pounds. I was only able to finish one side (the other side made great fried fish fried rice the next day). The fish was fresh, and was cheap considering its size. The rice was delicately seasoned, though a tad oily. The beans were divine; definitely from scratch, and definitely how refried beans should taste like. Everything tasted brighter with the chili sauce and pickles that you can add from the condiment section.




Too bad the picture for this mole poblano platter came out blurry. We were too hungry since we'd gone hiking that morning. DJKung proclaimed it "the best mole" he had ever had outside of Mexico. The sauce was dark, smoky and luxuriant (luxurious?)---great for sopping up with some tortillas. Fresh tortillas are waaaaay lighter and tastier than the supermarket version!

DJKung, too, was only able to eat half of his plate. Once we got home, the furs declared the rice and chicken as "simply divine." The carnitas burrito were savored later in the evening and still tasted fresh. It was a very generous portion as well.

Based on this visit, it is easy to forsee that this will be a favorite for a long time to come. We have to make it there for breakfast one of these days and get the churros.

El Aguila is also open 24 hours, which will be a great option on those late empty-refrigirator nights. This joint is cash-only.