El Borrego de Oro, way down South Congress, serves some of the best simple regional Mexican food in Austin. Half of the lunch patrons are usually dining alone, eyes closed, absorbing every molecule of the tastes and smells on their enormous plates. It’s these sorts of unpretentious, downmarket places at which you’ll often have the best meal (from a pure food perspective), even if the surroundings are merely perfunctory, with basic tables and chairs and little else.

Sure, there are the Tex-Mex classics—crispy tacos, cheesy enchiladas—but that’s not what El Borrego is about. “Borrego” means “lamb,” and that’s where you should start—whether with a caldo (soup) or the full plate, both of which burst with chunks of slightly dry but rich, deeply flavored lamb. Inside the homemade corn tortillas, perhaps with a smear of near-perfect beans, a dabble of rice, and a bit of salsa, the lamb is magnificent. No less formidable is El Borrego’s mole, striking a remarkable balance between spicy and sweet. The dry-roasted chiles emerge from deep within the sauce, endowing the chicken with noble flavor. Even the flour tortillas, although not made in-house, are just what they should be. While some execution of meats has been spottier than it has been in years past, El Borrego de Oro remains one of our favorites in town.