23 down, 1395 left

 

Mi Chulas
Plano, Texas



Another chain. It didn't look that impressive, but it had more than Tex Mex, including some taco dishes, so we went. One of their specialties was ribs and they only served it on Saturday night. Luckily for my son, it was a Saturday night. I had a mojito. No where even close to my husband's talent. He makes the best mojitos on the planet. Cultivated by years of practice with the right mixture of rum, muddled mint, lime and soda. The chips were light and salty. There were two salsas--one roasted and one with enough of a kick that I downed my mojito in 2 gulps.

Hubby and split the two different fish taco platters. One was fried sole battered in chip crumbs (of course they didn't advertise it as chip crumbs--who would order that?) But it was chip crumbs. The sole was a bit fishy and well.. a bit too fried. Not great. The mahi mahi was great. Perfectly grilled, spiced and served with a mexican slaw sauce that was delicious. Guac was OK, but after Cantina Laredo earlier in the week, it paled in comparison.

1396--I know I'll never make it, yet am determined to continue the adventure

Cantina Laredo
Frisco, TX

Another restaurant that I've wanted to go to for a while. It is a chain with a number of locations in the area, as well as out of state. It bills itself as gourmet and the experience was true to the advertising. One of the things that impressed me from the website, is that the menu is specific to the location--it's not one menu for all locations. I knew it would be pricey, so waited for a special occasion to go. My mom and aunt were in town for a few days and I treated them and my son. We had tableside guac, which is always the way to go. You can't get any fresher than that. I'm not much for queso dip but everyone else liked it. I had a coupon for a free casa 'rita (meaning house margarita). I was expecting rot gut tequila for a freebie, but the margarita had fresh-squeezed lime juice and the tequila was not overpowering. Since it didn't give me a head or belly ache, I can only assume that it was the good stuff.

My son ordered steak fajitas--good quality beef, not overdone, generous portions. He gave it the thumbs up. My aunt ordered the artichoke and avocado enchiladas. Avocado isn't always great when hot, yet the enchiladas were surprisingly good. I special ordered spinach & mushroom  enchiladas with mole sauce. It wasn't the best mole sauce ever, but it had a rich flavor. And they had black beans as well as pinto beans.

The desserts were also quite good--a mango tres leche dessert that melted in your mouth and flan. Again not the best flan ever, but good.

I noticed there was cerviche on the menu and tortilla soup. With a free margarita every month, I will definitely go back and check out some other menu items.

1397--seems like hardly a dent

Week? Who's counting anymore
Gloria's
Oakcliff

 

I've been hearing about Gloria's for a while. When my gal pal artist friend Jackie came into town, I picked her up at the Belmont Hotel and we headed over to the Bishop Arts District. We sat outside on the patio. Mojitos are $5 all day on Sun-Thurs--what a deal. I figured they would be crappy, given the price, but my mojito had the perfect blend of sweet and tart with lots of mint. Guac and queso were fresh. I had the cerviche trio--A sample of orange roughy ceviche, scallop ceviche and shrimp cocktail and my friend had spinach enchiladas with green tomatillo sauce and monterey jack cheese. The roughy and scallop cerviche were slightly spiced with fresh jalapeno, and cured in lime juice. Fresh and delicious. The shrimp cocktail cerviche's sauce was too heavy and tangy--it masked the flavor of the shrimp and didn't complement the other two fish. The spinach enchiladas (which are standard fare at most places) were good and the tomatillo sauce provided a nice alternative to the usual sour cream sauce that is served.

1398

April 8, 2012

my mimosa did not look or taste nearly this appetizing

Blue Mesa Grill
Plano, Texas

I've already been to Blue Mesa for dinner, so figured it would be cheating to count it again. But I had to go back for brunch, since it is known as the best brunch in the area. Blue Mesa has a good marketing program for their "chilihead" members. (Of course I had to sign up to be a chili head and get free stuff). Last month they sent me a  coupon for a free meyer lemon tart, which I never used. They also gifted me with FREE brunch for my birthday, which I was determined to use. I picked the worst day of the year to go--Easter. Although Mother's Day might be worse. It was packed and the hostess had no idea how long the wait would be for 6 people. She told me it could be 2 hours or more. I told my husband that it would be only 1 hour. It was loud, crowded and the staff seemed incredibly stressed out. A lot of folks must have left, because we got our table exactly at the 1 hr. mark. The mimosas lacked verve--no sparkle or taste, but they were free flowing. Despite the long lines waiting at the buffet lines (I felt like herded cattle) and loud cacophony of voices, the food was pretty good. I stayed away from the American fare and stuck with Mexican. My huevos rancheros was cooked to order. It was a bit too runny, but their signature smoked salsa added flavor. I enjoyed the cheese enchiladas wrapped with blue corn tortillas and the make your own taco bar. Their pre-made guac didn't even come close to the guac we had when we had tableside service. The rasberry bread pudding was good but the flan was too sweet and I didn't taste any essence of blood orange. My timing was off, because the two times I went to the buffet, I always felt like I was scraping the bottom of the pan, which detracted from the overall "oooh" factor. In fact, I felt like I was eating someone else's left overs. If I went back, I would ensure that it was not during a rush or holiday.

1398--slow going

I've been traveling a lot and have been very negligent in my mexican food eating and reviewing. In fact, I can't remember exactly when I went to Salsa Tex Mex. It could have been 5-6 weeks ago.

Salsa Tex Mex
Plano, Texas

I would have passed on this small no-name restaurant hidden in another generic strip mall, if it weren't for a friend's recommendation. I erroneously figured that if a proprietor couldn't come up with a more original name than Salsa Tex Mex, the menu would most likely suffer from the same lack of invention. I won't go as far as to say that Salsa Tex Mex is the dumbest name EVER.  Chi Chi's (which I was always told means big boobs) gets that distinction, but Salsa Tex Mex doesn't inspire great imagination. However the food was surprisingly good. The guac was fresh without too much lemon or spices. My son ordered the carne asada. It wasn't rare enough for him, but it was well seasoned and tender (which seems to be a rarity at Mexican restaurants). I ordered the spinach enchiladas with spicy tomatillo sauce. It was not overly cheesy or spicy.  For dessert, we split a flan, which was so creamy, it melted in your mouth. Not too eggy (I hate it when it tastes like custard) or too sweet, this flan was so good that we ordered another one to take home. It didn't even make it to the fridge. The service was quick and the prices very reasonable. The menu was diverse and there were other dishes that I would have liked to try such as the fish tacos and cerviche tostados. Also the tortilla soup looked good. Finally a neighborhood place I would happily return to!

March 20, 2012
Diggs Taco Shop
Dallas, Texas

Located across the street from SMU, this taco eatery is a popular university haunt. A new friend/SMU faculty member took me there for lunch. I had the mahi mahi tacos which were fresh, perfectly cooked and well seasoned. The cilantro rice was also quite good. The guac was fine--I'm just a bit spoiled after all my tableside guac experiences.  My friend had a taco salad and I was impressed with the field greens, rather than the standard iceberg or romaine lettuce. The homemade iced tea was a delicious fruit flavor and I drank 3 large glasses. Counter service was quick and efficient and given the amount of traffic, the place was surprisingly clean.

Knocked Off 3--Down to 1400

I hope someone appreciates all my sacrifice and dedication towards this goal. I've suffered more bad Mexican food than anyone should have to in a lifetime. In the past two weeks, I've had two rather horrendous meals and one that was great.

February 16, 2012
Tino's Too (Never trust a restaurant that doesn't have a website)
Plano, Texas

The BEST thing about my meal was the NEGRO MODELO. Had to have two in rapid succession. I bought 2 groupons for this restaurant, not bothering to read the fine print. $20 for $40 of food. Fine print--can't use for alcohol and only one  Groupon per table/per visit. I will now "GIFT" my other groupon to someone who is not as picky as I am.

I thought that a family-owned restaurant "Serving the Plano Community Since 1976" was a good sign. An even better sign was this review by Dr. Joe F. found on urban spoon. My favorite Mexican food place in Collin County.  The service is excellent and very friendly. The food is very good.  Also, their salsa is very, very good.  They give it to you with generous amounts as well as keeping the chips flowing.

This could not be further from the truth. My salsa looked anemic. The tomatoes did not even resemble red. They weren't green either. The salsa was a light orange color and tasted like unripe, watery, oniony blah. Chips were heavy.

Guac--So much lemon that the avocado taste was lost. Also it arrived so chilled that my first bite immediately caused a brain freeze. Ok--that's an exaggeration, but it did make my crown ache. Hint to sous chef--sub-arctic temperatures kill the avocado taste.

I ordered a ceviche and cup of tortilla soup. After I removed the huge chunks of carrots and celery (clearly the sous-chef is too lazy to chop the veggies into edible bites), I had about 2 bites of broth and chicken left in my cup. The broth was bland, almost tasteless. No spices, no richness. My ceviche resembled tabouleh. It did not taste like any ceviche that I had ever had, but thanks to the generous amount of lime, it was edible.

My son ordered a quesadilla. The teenaged bottomless pit couldn't even eat half of it, pronouncing the cheese rubbery and the flour tortilla hard. He's going to give up his role as my food review partner if we  don't have a good meal soon.

Service--the waiter was efficient, but not friendly. He didn't ask me how I liked or didn't like my meal. He didn't ask if I wanted dessert. He didn't thank me.

February 13, 2012

Taco Diner

West Village, Dallas, Texas

This is part of a larger restaurant group that owns Mi Cocina. No surprise that it was fabulous. The two times I dined at Mi Cocina have been among the best of my food experiences.

It didn't hurt that I had AMAZING company for dinner including one of my best artist friends and two visiting New York artists. When they heard about my food blog, they were very interested in how I rated the guac. While we didn't have tableside prepared guac, the PRE-prepared guac was fresh and lightly spiced with onions, lime and cilantro. The salsa was deliciously smoked.

I ordered the fish tacos. I couldn't quite identify the marinade, but the fish was tender and full of flavor. Small dishes of cilantro, onions and salsa are served as toppings. One 

friend ordered veggie tacos. She proclaimed that all the veggies were fresh and lightly spiced/salted as she requested. My other friend ordered chicken enchiladas with tomatillo sauce and he gave the thumbs up as well. Service was fast, if not overly friendly. 

February 4, 2012

Posados

Frisco, Texas

The best part of this meal was the friendly, if overly earnest and attentive waiter. The chain boasts numerous locations throughout Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas. They have three in the Dallas area. My meal was loaded with lard. I felt like I had a rock in my stomach after eating only half of my meal.

When I inquired about the possibility of spinach enchiladas, the young waiter asked the manager to come over and speak to me about my dietary restrictions. He wanted me to know that the beans were cooked with pork and that there was even some meat or broth in the rice. I thanked him for his concern and instead of bolting for the door, I told him that I was no longer a food nazi and would happily have the spinach ench dinner with rice and beans. 

Yuck salsa served with yuck heavy chips. Bland guac, not recently made. The ranchero sauce was rather bland and there was too much cheese and not enough spinach in my ench's. My son's black bean and cheese burrito was bland and had a yuck cheeze-whiz type of queso on top. Note to sous-chefs--actually cheese does not come in bright orange. 

I completely overtipped, even though the waiter tried to get me to drink a half-price margarita made with HOUSE BRAND TEQUILA. I felt so bad for the young waiter, who was clearly new and had no other customers. 

1418--1403 Left to Go!

 La Hacienda Ranch
Frisco, Tx

This is the perfect restaurant for anyone who likes Cowboy kitsch, smelling like a mesquite fire (for at least 2 days) and eating dead cows. The host/hostesses all wear black cowboy hats, white snap cowboy shirts, jeans, boots and belt buckles. Here's the thing. I'm not sure that they know they are cowboy kitsch. That is part of the fun. They take it seriously.

My friend gave me her punch card which allowed my son and I to have a free entree. She recommended the tortilla soup and said they had the best fajitas around. The service was very friendly and attentive. We had tableside guac with perfectly ripened avocados. Delish. Also smoked salsa was a nice alternative to the regular fare.

Son got a heaping plate of fajitas. Lots of tender beef. He gave it the big thumbs up and left stuffed. Surprising for a guy who is usually a bottomless pit.

I got the tortilla soup. The broth was very rich--different from most chicken broth. I could have sworn that it was a combo beef/chicken broth, but the server swore that it was just the spices that made the taste. Unlike most other tortilla soups, there were chunks of veggies--carrots, celery, peppers. Not too much cheese and lots of broth.

Monday night is 1/2 price skinny margaritas and while I normally don't imbibe (with tequila that is), I tried one and it was tasty without knocking my socks off.

The smoky smell might be a turn-on for some, but after an hour, I felt kind of nauseous and now need to wash all of my clothes, since the smell permeated everything. Kind of reminded me of ChiChi's Mexican Restaurant. No matter how many times I washed my uniform, it always smelled.

The restaurant really caters to cow eaters, so not much in veggie fare. But those of you who like to ride kiddy horses (you know the kind where you put in a quarter and the horse moves back and forth a few times?), the restaurant has 4 of those.

One bit of trivia--the owner is best known for the 1st frozen margarita machine in 1971.

notice the faux-cowhide table cloths

this was a study/lounge area. not sure who the mural subject is. 

another kitschy mural with a bison head staring at all the patrons

notice the fake hieroglyphic/symbol couch pattern

the huge grizzly was in the lobby. freaked me right out