Evidently there's a whole subculture of people out there who love an early dinner. Now, I am not talking about people who have infants-- that's why we found ourselves at El Camino in Brunswick at 5:00-- we were meeting our friends who have a year-old baby. That makes sense-- the baby gets cranky after 6:30ish and it's time for her to go to bed, so of course our friends Cece and Jeff asked if we would mind an early meal.

No, I'm talking about the throngs of people who descended on El Camino at precisely the stroke of 5. We were there in the parking lot at about 5 minutes till, and were shocked hysterical by all of the people who showed up, waiting at the door for the restaurant to open. I have no idea why Otis and I both find this so funny.

Anyway, I realize this is beside the point when really you probably want to hear about the food, but it was seriously such a funny surprising thing I just can't get over it.

So, about El Camino.

The interior of the restaurant is really warm, painted southwestern colors with little colored lights everywhere. The tables are arrayed fairly close together, with booth seating on one side and chairs on the other. That was in our room, at least-- there were a few dining rooms in the sprawly-feeling space.

We started with drinks-- Otis enjoyed his margarita, I thought my 'limeade,' made with lime juice and coconut milk, was outstanding. It had just a touch of a salty flavor, and wasn't too sweet.

The food was quite tasty-- a reasonably delicious interpretation of Cali-Mex cuisine. Otis had tacos with chorizo and sweet potato; Cece had a salad with ancho-rubbed steak; I had a quesadilla with the same steak; and Jeff had the special enchiladas with chicken and a Mexi-BBQ sauce. (For those who are keeping track, Frieda, the baby, had beans and rice. She seemed to enjoy them.)

Everyone agreed that the food was good-- Jeff's enchilada, especially, was really yummy (he was nice enough to let me have a bite). My quesadilla was quite large, and nice and crispy on the outside without being greasy. The amount of cheese and meat was perfect, although the whole shebang was somewhat underseasoned. The most frustrating part of my meal, however, was that my dish came with literally a teaspoon each of crema and salsa. I would have asked for more, except the waitress never came back after she dropped our food, until it was time to clear our plates and give us the check.

This type of service is what I like to call hipster-indifferent. Like, "I am only working here because I am an artist, but really I am super duper hip, so if I feel like it I will be nice to you and maybe even get you stuff, but not because I'm obligated to you or anything." Seriously, if you're really to busy with the aforementioned throngs of early bird diners to stop for a split second and ask "how is everything?" you might want to consider a different line of work. The thing is, our waitress was friendly enough when she was around; she just didn't do her job.

I know I come off sounding fairly harsh about waitservice in a lot of my entries, but that's primarily because it was my business for quite a few years, and I've been there. I know what is required to serve a big section of hungry people who want, want, want. I know that sometimes you're just not in the mood, or you're hungover, or your mind is on how much you want to be somewhere--anywhere--else.

And you know what? I don't care. You don't have to be my best friend. You don't even have to smile. You just need to come by and ask my how my goddamned meal is and see if I want more salsa than the teaspoonful provided, or maybe another glass of limeade.

Whew! Now that I've gotten that off my chest, I feel much better.

Anyway, aside from the lame-ass service and slightly high prices (11 bucks for my quesadilla was a little bit on the high side, I thought), El Camino provided a delicious meal of a sort you really can't get anywhere else in Maine. I definitely recommend it. Just be prepared to leap out of your seat or trip the waitress or something if you want anything.