El Coyote
178-27 Hillside Avenue, Jamaica

Cuisine: Mexican

Hours: 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., Sunday to Thursday, 9 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday.

Phone: 558-5931  

El Coyote, a bright, airy restaurant serving the lightest, crunchiest and freshest Mexican food ever tasted by this recent diner, is shattering several myths at once on Hillside Avenue at 179th Street.

There’s nothing not to like about El Coyote. 

The decor is simple but classy, colorful but inviting. 

Dark wood furniture sits on a red tile floor, and matching wall paneling lines the bottom half of pale yellow and melon-colored stucco walls. 

Mexican arts and crafts, like paintings, ceramics, textiles and carved masks, are tastefully spotlighted, and Mexican music ranging from indigenous folk music to contemporary pop plays in the background. 

Guests pass an intimate four-stool bar in the back of the room on their way to the back door, which leads to the restaurant’s free parking and outdoor dining patio.

El Coyote looks like an expensive restaurant, and the friendly uniformed staff act like they’re working in one. 

But much of the food here costs the same or is cheaper than fast food Mexican chains like Manhattan’s Burritoville, or the more dispersed Fresco Tortilla.

The fact that the restaurant is about four footsteps away from the 179th Street F train station entrance, and has breakfast and free delivery available, further cements its dual status as a great place to take a friend out for a nice dinner and grab lunch to go while at work the next day.

The food, like the restaurant, also has a split personality.

 It can be simple or exotic, dirt cheap or more like a typical neighborhood restaurant.

There are 19 lunch specials, all between $4.50 and $5.50 each, that include a manageable main dish served with rice, salad or soup.  The dishes include basic Mexican staples like quesadillas, burritos, and enchiladas, as well as more special choices like creamy linguini with shrimp, breaded beef steak and spare ribs.

There are 14 appetizers, all under $5.50. 

There are six soups, five salads, 20 (!) kinds of fajitas, and seven seafood choices. The most expensive dishes in the restaurant are $12 to $15.  There are also 29 different beverages, mostly special Mexican juices, not counting the beer, wine and liquor selections from the bar.

Anyone who’s still hungry after all those choices can choose from half a dozen deserts, then come in the next morning for one of the restaurant’s 14 breakfast choices, all under $4.50 each.

And how does all this food taste?

It would take many visits to find out, perhaps more than the inseam would allow. 

But everything on a recent visit was excellent. 

The best words to describe everything would be ‘bright,’ ‘light’ and ‘fresh.’  Hard bits of onion and tomato crunch under teeth expecting a dull paste. 

A light, lemony broth surprises a tongue expecting the heavy taste of chicken soup. Crunchy stems of lettuce give a nice texture to the tostada, a kind of hard open taco, and parsley and onion give the chicken burrito a minty, refreshing taste that neutralizes the normally somniferous effects of meat and beans.

Even paying the check – which on a recent visit was smaller than expected and came with a wrapped toothpick, a piece of candy, and a smile from Soledad, the waitress – is enjoyable.

The bottom line?  If you don’t like Mexican food or restaurants in general, go to El Coyote.  You just might find yourself questioning your beliefs.

— Shams Tarek