The Problem With Authenticity

Two of my favorite spots to eat, Enzo and El Rayo, suffer from authenticity. Specifically, El Rayo, which offers terrific tacos at very reasonable prices, serves only Mexican beer. Mexican beer spawned tequila and the drug trade before finding its niche as an alternative to Montezuma's Revenge inducing water. El Rayo's beer list is exclusively Mexican, and the best of the lot--Sol (Sol is the beer Corona would be if Corona had any flavor)--is a bad beer. At El Rayo recently I was forced to drink tequila, with Sebago Lake water back. The tequila flight coupled with a flight of tacos made for a nice dining/drinking experience, though. Nonetheless, the tacos begged for a strong local beer, HSA or Full Throttle would complement perfectly.

Enzo is the new bar attached to Otto, the Congress Street pizzeria. The bar features Otto's delicious pizza, a lot of wine, and a grand total of three beer. One of the beer choices is Morreti, the best of Italy's mass produced beers. Italian beer is why Italians drink wine. It's awful. The other two options are the mediocre Gritty Vacationland and the slightly above average Harpoon IPA. My pizza slice was delicious: basil and tomato topping on a perfectly prepared crust. As for my beverage choice, I picked authenticity and did what an Italian would do: I drank the house red. A nice combination.