El Rayo Taqueria (Portland, Maine) has been an easy choice for a mid-week meal.  Location, simple parking, good beer, and a relaxing atmosphere are certainly part of that decision.  However, I go there to eat good food - and after this visit I might just have to stop.  Last week the food was borderline revolting.

It's pretty obvious by now, I have been keeping tabs on El Ray Taqueria from the start, and have to say that their gradual decline has reached the bottom - for me at least.     This past visit I was astounded to see how many things can go wrong with a burrito.

Before getting to the main dish, we started with some chips and guacamole.  The chips were stale and lacked crunch! The guacamole was boring, bland, and lazy.  Anyone can squash an avocado.  It lacked acid, a critical ingredient in not just taste, but also presentation.    Then came the burrito, if you could call it that.   This time it was a flavorless glob of ingredients on a greasy, thick, and vile tortilla.    I would have asked for them to make it again, perhaps I should have, but what was the point.   It took about 4 bites to get through the outer layers to finally begin tasting it, with at least 75% of the meal still rolled away I was slightly optimistic.  Two more bites and it was over - there was no point in eating more or finishing this one.

One thing I have not shared yet is that I am a hot-sauce connoisseur;  well, perhaps not, more like a hot-sauce junkie.  With a bottle standing on the table I hoped that salvation would come in the form of the red stuff.  I will not drench my food with sauces until I have had a taste:  from green chili sauces to capsaicin, all have touched my tongue with various levels of injury.  It's not just about the heat, but also flavor. I don't subscribe to Dave's Insanity Sauce,  even though I like the punishment on occasion.  Well, this time, the abhorrent compound El Rayo tried to pass as a hot-sauce was a combination of liquids and cayenne pepper.  On each visit I tasted the hot-sauce on the table and it was never the same; I cannot comprehend what they produced this time.

Finally came the corn.  Initially the idea of chipolte mayonaise on corn sounded strange but tasted interesting.  This time, after some experience, I it sounded fun but tasted reuplsive. The corn was overcooked and smothered (not in a good way) with fatty mayonaise that triggered the gag reflex.

What happened?  The tortillas at El Rayo Taqueria were my favorite until this point.  The attention to detail was lost long ago, with sloppy formations coming out of the kitchen. The hot sauce has gone through a perverted transformation.  Lastly, the flavors have been exorcised out of their food.     How great where the days where I could finish 4 beers before seeing my taco, but when it got there it was worth the wait?