I am always looking for new restaurants in my section of New Jersey to eat and if they present an ethnic feel that makes the choice better. Well, recently I came across El Familiar, located at 1246 Route 166 in Toms River, New Jersey. They advertise their cuisine as Colombian and Mexican. Now, I am not a fan of all Mexican dishes, but I usually find something I like in all of the ones I have visited. Their were plenty of interesting dishes on their menu, including their choices of Mexican soda. While I had a delicious fruit punch flavored soda, I usually look for the Mexican coke because it is made with pure cane sugar and not the high fructose corn syrup or any of the sugar substitutes.
I am one of those weird people that actually like Liver & Onions and they had their version of this dish on their menu. This was a no-brainer for me. The Liver was very tasty and it was literally smothered in onions, which is the way I like it. It came with an interesting salad, which almost looked like cole slaw, but had its own distinctive flavor. The dish was also accompanied by rice and beans, traditional sides for Latin American dinners. It also came with a bread that tasted like it was made from corn meal, but not in the form of a corn muffin. It was more like a crunchy cookie. This morsel grew on me with each bite.
I definitely will be returning here at some point to try some of the other meals and maybe get a dessert next time. I was too full because none of the Liver was left for a take-home box. As a final note, the service was equally impressive also.
