Mid-Michigan Dining

• 2501 E. Michigan Avenue
• Lansing, MI 48912
• No Known Phone Number
• No Known Website
• Menu (sorta)

El Oasis Mexican stand on East Michigan Avenue in Lansing.

After a long day at work and only a few hours of sleep, I was on the hunt for something to eat quickly so I could get to bed as soon as possible.  The first thing that popped in my head was Mexican.  I’ve been wanting to try a new place in Holt located in Brower’s Hardware.  When I got there, there was a sign on the cash register that the owner had to make an emergency run to the hospital for a family member and they were not open.  I then drove back out to Jolly Road to try Julie Joe’s for a second time.  Note on the door that they were closed for Easter (this was Saturday, not Easter Sunday).  The last place I could think of where I could get Mexican food quickly was El Oasis on Michigan Avenue.  The thing that really sucks is that if I had just picked that first, I wouldn’t have had to drive all the way back out there.

El Oasis is a cart that set up shop in a parking lot on the corner of East Michigan and North Francis Avenues.  They have another location inside Tony’s Party Store on Cedar Street (review HERE)which we tried last summer and had some problems with.  They got our order totally wrong and J ended up with ground beef, which she doesn’t eat, on her tacquitos and I ended up with her chicken on my tacos.  We had to trade dishes and I’m not a fan of avocado, sour cream, or raw tomatoes, so, needless to say, we weren’t very impressed.

Whenever anyone talks about Mexican in Lansing, El Oasis is always mentioned, so I wanted to give them a second shot.  J was out of town, so I didn’t have to try to talk her into it.  I pulled up to the stand just before 3:00 on a Saturday afternoon.  I was the only one there, so when I hopped out of my truck, they were already ready to take my order.  I didn’t really know what I wanted, so I glanced at the menu posted on the side of the cart.  Fortunately for people like me, they have really detailed descriptions of their food.

An enchilada plate from El Oasis on E. Michgian Avenue in Lansing.

I ended up ordering the beef enchilada meal.  It comes with either just a salad or with a side of steak.  I just got the salad which cost me six bucks.  Since I was the only one there, I could kind of stand in the window and watch them make my food which consisted of five beef filled flour tortillas that was then covered in a tomato sauce.  The salad was just a small handful of shredded lettuce topped with avocado, tomatoes and scallions. 

It took about five minutes or so for my order to come up.  Once it did, I hopped back in my car and headed home.  The smell was too much.  I kept wanting to reach in and start eating, but you can’t eat enchilada’s in the car. 

When I finally did get to dig in, the thing that really jumped out was how fresh the tortillas were.  They fell apart when I stuck my fork in.   The whole meal was delicious.  This was a vast improvement over our last trip to El Oasis.  I’ve never had tortillas as good as the ones I got from this little cart.

El Oasis redeemed itself as far as I’m concerned.  The meal was great.  It was quick and it was fairly cheap.  I was able to get a good meal in me before going to bed for a 15 hour marathon sleep-a-thon.