Ever since The News-Herald reviewed Momocho -- a modern-Mexican restaurant in Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood -- I’ve been dying to try it.

But Momocho is small. And very, very popular.

I once walked in with a friend on a Saturday night and was told the wait would be about an hour and a half, if memory serves. Having worked out shortly before we’d headed west for the night, my friend was in no mood for that kind of wait. I’d blame my not eating there that night on her, but the packed placed didn’t seem an ideal place to kill an hour and a half of our lives. So it was a no-go.

When another friend recently suggested we try El Carnicero in Lakewood, Momocho’s newer — and bigger — sister restaurant, I was decidedly on board, even though I knew I would have trouble sticking to my low-carb diet for the night. (You gotta have priorities, people.)

We met for some “mod Mex,” as they call it, around 7 on a recent Saturday night, and when I’d arrived in the fairly spacious eatery, I found Erin at the back bar, where she’d procured us a couple of seats. (This was already going better than my Momocho attempt.)

Read more on Assistant Managing Editor Mark Meszoros' review: Dining Out: Momocho sister restaurant El Carnicero serves interesting modern Mexican cuisine.