Cabritos

We went out with some people from Jonathan's work to a Mexican place nearby.

Cabritos was pretty empty, even for a Monday. We were the only people in there when we arrived (around 7:30), and only two or three other tables ever arrived. Toward the end of the night, there was a sound-check of sorts, and the schedule showed that they have music there multiple times a week, so I guess it just must hvae been a particularly slow evening.

Half of the table got chimichangas, the other half got burritos, and I think there were 1 or 2 people who chose something different. The complimentary chips and salsa were decent - the chips were good, but the salsa was spicy and watery. We also all had a little of the restaurant's version of queso fundido, which is a melted cheese with sausage. It was good, and I think everyone would agree. The chimichanga was pretty good, and the guacamole was excellent. The issue I had was the price of the chimichanga for the portion... I was one of the first people finished with their meal, and I've met many a chimichanga that I couldn't dream of finishing. We would consider going back for the queso and for the guac, but I think we'd both try other items (we both went with the chimichangas).

Fiesta del Mar

...the search for good Mexican food continues. Andy suggested that we try Fiesta del Mar, which is a place that we drove by very frequently when we lived in Mountain View, but never stopped in to try. Jonathan went there once for lunch with Jim, but it was quite a while ago. So, for a Friday lunch, Jonathan, Andy, and I met there to give them a go!

I arrived first and was greeted very nicely. I was seated immediately and waters were brought to the table within a minute. Chips with three different salsas were placed, and I admired the decor of the restaurant while I waited for the boys. The chairs appeared to be hand-carved and painted to resemble various animals, which was neat. There were also dozens of wooden fish lining the wall - each painted with a different design. The salsas were each quite different - a mild, a spicy, and a chunky. I preferred the chunky, though we ate a bit of all of them.

I chose the chicken chimichanga (this time remembering to ask for double-rice-no-beans), which came with sour cream, guacamole, and fresh cheese on top. I was delighted to find the guacamole very flavorful and the cheese quite good as well. The meat wasn't marinated in anything special, but the chimichanga had a good flavor overall. The rice was plentiful and delicious - and although I was surprised to find small pieces of potato in it, they added a nice touch. I'm not sure if I finished quite half, but came close.

Jonathan went with the chicken burrito. He found the chicken to be really good, and it was quite cheesy. It did come with a red sauce that was weird and that he would substitute out next time.

Andy chose the fish burrito, which came with a creamy sauce. It looked wonderful, and Andy agreed that it was pretty good. He was busy bragging about how much he liked the refried beans, so I guess that's a good sign to those who enjoy them.

I was the only one to take home leftovers, and they were just as scrumptious that evening. Ladies and gentlemen, we have certainly found the frontrunner for Mexican food in this area! Next time I look forward to getting a seafood dish... after all, it's in their name!

Mexicali Grill

I think I've mentioned before that we've had a difficult time finding great Mexican food out here. A lot of people from back in Florida don't believe us, since you always hear about Hispanics in California. Well, our area is mostly Asian, with few Hispanics or Latinos, so we're inundated with Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, and Thai places, but the Mexican joints are few and far between. ...plus, the ones we've tried haven't been impressive.

So, we're trying to find someplace good. Kathy suggested we try Mexicali Grill, since she had been there before and considered it to be "okay." The three of us went for dinner on a weeknight, which meant prompt service as they were pretty empty.

Chips and salsa were brought out immediately, and we were asked if we'd like some guacamole as well. We said yes, figuring it would be a couple extra dollars, but a good Mexican place has to have guacamole so we needed to try it. It turned out to be pretty bland, and for a whopping $7.25, something none of us would ever order again.

I ordered the chicken chimichanga, which turned out to be about average. Nothing was strikingly memorable about it, and I forgot to ask for extra-rice-no-beans (see! told you it had been too long since we've had Mexican!), so we took the beans home and Jonathan ate them later that week. I should also point out that it was a tad pricey for the serving size... I almost never finish a chimichanga in one meal, and I finished this one without a problem.

Kathy went with a couple of vegetarian enchiladas and asked for a glass of hot water to drink (she was still a bit ill). The food was okay, but she didn't eat it quickly nor bring home the bit of leftover. The water was also extremely hot, so she wasn't able to drink it for quite some time after it arrived (which took considerably longer than necessary as well).

Jonathan went with the Chili Verde, which was sauteed pork in a special sauce. He asked for double-beans-no-rice, and enjoyed the meal, but wouldn't get it again. He had quite a bit leftover, so it served as a nice dinner a couple of nights later as well.

Overall, the place was pretty cool and we agreed that we'd have to try it for Happy Hour sometime, but I don't know that we'd be back for dinner.

Juan's Flying Burrito

We had dinner at Juan's Flying Burrito, which had a very interesting menu. The table started with chips and salsa, but I thought that the salsa was very bland so I only had a couple of chips. There were all sorts of items ordered around the table, and everyone seemed to truly enjoy their selections. I know that mine was fantastic: The Luau - a quesadilla made with grilled shrimp, smoked bacon, pineapple salsa, and cheese. I was a little nervous about choosing something so unique at a place named after its burrito... but it ended up being a superb selection. I really enjoyed every bite and would order it again. Jonathan got the Flying Enchiladas, which was shrimp, steak, and chicken grilled together and stuffed inside cheese enchiladas, topped with sour cream and guacamole. He thought they were good (especially the steak bites) and he'd get them again.

Freedom Burrito

We were at the store and got hungry for dinner so we looked around to see what else was in the plaza and felt like Mexican. There was also a Chinese place, a coffee shop, and a pizza place, so it's a pretty hopping little shopping center.

The menu is huge, but about a third of it is all the same with minor differences (like one with sour cream, one with sauce, etc.). We both had "Super Burritos" tho I had chicken fajitas on mine, and Jonathan had carne asadas. The pork was fabulous, but overall the flavor was about average. I specified "chicken fajitas" as opposed to "chicken" because the former was supposed to come with veggies... mine did not.

The portions were large for the price. The guacamole wasn't anything special, and the chips & salsa was an extra $2.50 (salsa was nothing special, but clearly made on the premises). The actual restaurant is kinda neat (nothing uber-original, but it is colorful). It's not a place we're dying to go back to, but it wasn't all bad.

Baja Fresh

We have seen a dozen Baja Fresh restaurants. We've seen them in several states (though not Florida, though they might be there). We once ascertained that they serve Mexican food. But we had never actually stopped to eat in one. We see one every time we venture into Mount Laurel to go to Costco, as there's one in the same shopping center. This time, we finally planned to go there for lunch.

The menu is a tad confusing at first, but then makes sense. I chose the chicken burrito ultimo, and Jonathan chose the pork carnitas quesadillas. We also shared an 8oz cheese fundito with chips. The appetizer/side was okay... the cheese sauce was pretty uneventful, even after we added some spicy salsa to give it some kick. The chips, however, were pretty good, so it worked out overall. Jonathan thought that the quesadillas were pretty average, with the exception of the cheese, which was very good. The guacamole they came with was also pretty decent. My burrito was very sloppily put together, although the tortilla was grilled, which was nice. The mixture of veggies, cheese, and sour cream was pretty bland, and the chicken wasn't memorable. Once I added some fundido cheese to the burrito, it added some character, but overall it was just kinda "eh."

Neither of us ate more than half of our respective entree, so we had leftovers the next night, which was nice. However, we weren't impressed as a whole, and probably wouldn't go back unless there weren't any other reasonable choices around. Apparently, though, some people must really like the place, since it was packed...

Buho's

It's HARD to find good Mexican in our area of Pennsylvania. In fact, it's rather difficult to find any Mexican that's non-chain AT ALL. So, when Kasey & Michele mentioned that they liked a Mexican place in downtown Lambertville (NJ) we met them for a weekend lunch.

We actually had a difficult time getting there, since we had a horrible rainstorm that lasted three days, and left downed trees and washed-out roads everywhere. At one point there was a tree blocking the entire road, so we had to backtrack and go another way. Good thing we took the Charger, it had much higher ground clearance than the Corolla!

The meters run from 1pm-9pm on Sundays in Lambertville, so it was also lucky that we picked up two quarters the night before from a parking lot, haha! It also turned out that we had walked by Buho's before, as it's right next to a puzzle and game store.

The place had it's ups and downs. We were almost the only people there, so we had quick service. I get the impression it's family-owned, and the English spoken by the employees was not the greatest. Actually, the place reminded me quite a bit of Salsa's, a Mexican restaurant in downtown Melbourne (FL). Which, if you didn't click to read my old review, means I didn't care for the place.

The rice had corn AND peas in it... a big "no" for me. The cheese was minimal, the sour cream was flavorless, and the lettuce was overdone. Oh, I had chicken flautas... corn tortillas baked with (dry) chicken inside, topped with sour cream, lettuce, and a small sprinkling of cheese. Even the guacamole was chunky and flavorless. Jonathan felt very much the same about his entree, pointing out that even the guacamole was plain. Kasey and Michele have been there probably a dozen times (and Kasey got the same thing as Jonathan), so they must just look for a different flavor than we do, LoL.

I will say this... they had an excellent queso fundito (an appetizer we all shared), and great salsa (3 kinds) and chips. The chips were homemade, warm, baked, and fresh. The queso was verrrry cheesy and had some great chorizo in it. However, it was overly greasy and I wouldn't get it again, especially for the price (although, I'm sure it's actually worth that amount in ingredients, LoL!).

Del Taco

For dinner one night in Denver, we tried out Del Taco, since we keep hearing how much better than Taco Bell it is. NOPE. It was one of the worst meals I’ve EVER eaten, and Jonathan didn’t care much for it, either. I had the classic chicken burrito, which was only lukewarm in a crappy tortilla. The fries were cold and rather soggy, plus they weren’t that well-done anyway. Jonathan had a beef burrito and a chicken soft taco… the taco was gross but the burrito was halfway-decent. Neither of us ever plans on going there again, LoL.

Mexican for Lunch: La Costena

After we visited La Bamba, we knew we'd have to try the burrito place next door for comparison. So, we tried out La Costena for lunch today. They hold the Guinness World Record for largest burrito. Unfortunately, I was not all that impressed. I got the marinated & grilled chicken, Mexican rice, cheese, sour cream, guacamole, and tomatoes in my 'regular burrito.' Jonathan got the same, only with carnitas (fried pork) instead of chicken, and he added salsa verde. We brought them home to eat, which was a good idea. I didn't care for the heaviness of the tortilla, so I opened mine up and ate it with a fork. The chicken was nothing special, and the burrito as a whole could have used more cilantro. The rice was pretty good. Jonathan loved the carnitas (I had a bite, they were indeed tasty), but agreed that the tortilla was a bit thick.

My main gripe about the place would be the confusion on ordering. It is not clear which toppings are free and which cost extra, and the various prices of the toppings are not obvious on the menu. I also didn't even see the "Super Values" at all. While our burritos started out at $4.99 each, the total was $15.05 after tax. I don't really plan on going back, and continue to be a bit disappointed with the Mexican food out here as a whole so far. If someone has a place to recommend, I'm all ears!

Mexican

Jonathan was working on a project at home today, so we were able to have lunch together.

We decided to have Mexican, and after both researching a bit, we landed on the same choice: Taqueria La Bamba. There are two in Mountain View, an original and a second one downtown. We chose to try out the original, and enjoyed it. Although parking was a bit rough (1:30pm on a Friday), service was very fast. I ordered a chicken burrito, Jonathan had the quesadilla suiza. The burrito included rice, shredded chicken, sour cream, cilantro, guacamole, and cheese (I opted for no beans). The tortilla itself was rather thick, but other than that it was pretty good. Jonathan's quesadilla was cheesy with plenty of steak, he said he'd definitely get it again. There were also a few other things on the menu we're dying to try (carnitas and pupusas).

Salsas

I just came from lunch at an establishment in Downtown Melbourne. I was with the usual Friday crowd, there were nine of us dining at Salsas, which is on New Haven, across the street from the Sun Shoppe, if you're familiar with the area. This is my first blog review of a restaurant, so here goes.

As the group is often coming from at least three different locations, we arrived as the group was receiving their drink orders. Perhaps we would have been a smidgen earlier if we had found closer parking, but there were still quite a few parallel spots lining the streets just a few blocks away. As we were clearly the largest party in the restaurant, we were in a separate room, which was just large enough to accommodate a table for eight (we just squeezed in an extra chair on one side). There were framed paintings on the walls, priced to sell. It was cozy and allowed us to speak freely without concern for those around us, and the only negative aspect of the room was the fact that the doors to the restrooms were behind us, so fellow diners kept walking through to use the restroom. While it did not bother us, those coming through seemed to feel like they were interrupting, with apologetic looks on their faces.

Waters came with lime, and the Coke and Sprite were also tasty. Chips and salsa came out quickly, but were not noteworthy. The chips were warm, but small. The salsa was a little watery for my tastes, but as a whole the table enjoyed them enough to plow through three baskets. Ordering was pretty simple, as long as you know how you like your Mexican cuisine. While the menu itself is fairly large (and includes tortas, a Mexican sandwich that is most delicious in cities like San Diego, in my opinion), the lunch special is pretty straightforward. The first five entrees are available with a soft drink for $8.99 (+tax). Each was ordered by someone at the table (with one person choosing a regular entree), but Enchiladas were my pick. "3 lightly friend corn tortillas filled with chicken breast and covered with green tomatillo Salsa or tomato Salsa, topped with whole cream, fresh white cheese and raw onion rings." You can pick a cheese filling instead of chicken, if you'd like. Served with rice and refried beans (although I just had double rice). They have various salsas, and in addition to choosing "red" or "green," you also choose the spiciness: mild, medium, spicy.

The rice had corn, peas, and carrots in it; not a mixture that I'm accustomed to at a Mexican restaurant. The chicken was dry, and the tortillas were soggy. The tomatillo salsa was delicious (I chose medium-to-spicy), and a good pick. There could have been more cheese, but in today's health-minded America, it was deliciously acceptable. The whole cream was a surprise, as sour cream is what one generally expects on enchiladas. It was pretty tasteless, especially considering the generous amount drizzled across the meal. Those who chose refried beans as a side were treated to extra cheese sprinkled on them, and tiny tortilla chips set upright to resemble sailboats.

Eight of us finished our meals, the one who did not had eaten a large breakfast just three hours prior. Considering the price to be a bit steep for the quantity and quality of the food, I will not be returning to Salsas. With the great variety of ethnic food we have in Melbourne (only meant to be half sarcastic; there are some delicious places to try foreign cuisine here!), there is no reason to resort to dining there in the future. While I was not a fan, there were a few around the table who thoroughly enjoyed their meals, but we were all left talking about how it will not join the general rotation of eateries (next week, a local fried chicken joint!).