First Look: Mentiiras Offers Little Cravings To Go in Bishop Arts

Luis Martinez got accepted by Columbia University in New York to attend its film school in 2020, but COVID derailed this as it did so many other things for so many people. Undaunted, Martinez instead studies film at UNT but has recently taken a semester off in order to open a little spot in Bishop Arts selling what his Instagram site calls antojitos, literally “little cravings.”

He christened his new place Mentiiras, which is a play on the word for “lies” in Spanish, because he says that in Mexican culture often someone will buy a cup of elotes (or another street snack) and ask if anyone else wants to buy some and be told no, only for that person to then help themselves to half of your treat.

We’ve run into the same thing when ordering a side of french fries: No one else will order them, instead opting for the healthier salad option, only for them to proceed to steal away half of the fries one by one before the following little drama inevitably plays itself out:

“Do you want me to get you your own order?”

“No, no… I don’t really want any,” followed by their greedy little fingers swiping yet another fry.

So, we get it and applaud Martinez’s creativity in this regard. That creativity might come in handy in his future film career.

The menu offers elotes, nachos, burritos and several fruit-based beverages such as fresas con crema, which is what really brought us to Mentiiras in the first place after seeing them on social media.

The fresas con crema was prepared with yogurt and more strawberries than one would think could fit in the cup topped with whipped cream and a maraschino cherry. It was really good but it was also a lot; a smaller size (call it “medium,” even) would have been a nice option, but this was a holdover from Valentine’s Day so we were glad to have it.

The elotes can have a Cheeto or Taki topping for an additional buck and come in either medium or large size if you want the corn in a cup as opposed to the ear. We have a pet peeve about size-naming strategies employed by most places, where you often find “large, Mega, and Super Duper Colossal” instead of small, medium and large, but the medium elotes here for $4.50 was really big. Martinez begins the process by slicing off the kernels from a roasted ear of corn and adding the requisite mayo, sour cream, lime juice, cilantro, garlic and chili powder, then topping it all off with some cotija cheese. He has some salsa that you can add yourself as well. We did. It was wonderful.

Finally, we tried one of his sausage, egg, cheese and pepper burritos. This was a smallish bite that hit the spot, complete with some salsa rojo on the side. A bean, egg and potato version was also available.

Martinez has been working hard by himself seven days a week for about 12 hours a day since he opened Feb. 6; clearly, this is a labor of love. His filmmaking career may be temporarily on hold, but this most recent production seems to be hitting all the marks. He’s clearly an auteur in control of his culinary direction. Film school will have to wait, thankfully for us.

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418 N. Tyler St.; Monday – Friday, 7:30 a.m. – 6 p.m.; Saturday – Sunday, 7:30 a.m. – 7:30 pm.