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| - Smoke is on the top 25 (34) list of the best restaurants in the burgh and it shows. I joined a large group (7 of us) for dinner on a recent Saturday night. We called ahead and were able to get in within about half an hour. Yes, Smoke is on the main road in Homestead. Seems like an odd area but obviously, people still go there. It's a tiny little place so you have to really look to not pass it by. I started my meal with the aqua fresca for the day- watermelon. Yum. Every sip tasted like I was biting into a rip, juicy watermellon on a warm summer day. Speaking of warm, the ventilation is pretty poor. The majority of the table was quite toasty while I was comfortable due to sitting directly on top of the floor vent.
The table then shared some chips with queso. The chips were phenomenal.Obviously homemade. The queso didn't do much for me. I felt it as rather plain. It took quite a while to get our tacos. Upwards of 15 minutes. Tacos don't seem to be very time consuming to make . . . Anyway, when our order arrived, I eagerly chomped into my first choice, the chorizo. Chorizo sausage, beans and pico. Holy cow! The temperature in the room just shot up 10 degrees. Now, I am a fan of spice. But, in a moderate to high amount. Not in a "I'd like to burn my lips off today "amount. Despite the almost unbearable heat, I trucked through and finished the entire taco. Once you got past the heat, the flavors were incredible. Only one other person at the table ordered the chorizo and after seeing my reaction, she took some of the peppers off of the taco before she even attempted to eat it. Smart move since she felt that it was hot but in a pleasant way. Not sure if this was a quality control issue or if they really are THAT hot. If that is the case, it should definitely be shown on the menu.
My next selection was the chicken taco. Some of the others at the table felt that the chicken was a bit spicy. Seriously? Compared to the chorizo, it was a 2 on a scale of 1-10 where the chorizo was a 15. The avocado seriously cooled down any spice from the hot sauce on the taco. Hubs and I also shared the mac and cheese. I really don't see the appeal. It was creamy, smooth and tasty but it didn't blow my mind like other reviews suggested. When the meal was finished, the waitress gave us all one check. We asked to have it separated and she told us the would take care of it at the register. So, we took turn going up by couple to explain what we got. When all was said and done, they were a bit short but they let it go. I feel like that could have been much easier had we gotten seperate checks by couple.
Overall, I might head back to Smoke. My only hesitation comes from my issue with the chorizo taco. The heat was just too much for my body to handle and I ended up feeling sick for several hours. Yes, I know I ate it and I am to blame. But, if it was intended to be that spicy, it should be designated as such on the menu. If it was not supposed to be that spicy, then there is a quality control issue. Regardless, I now have a bad association which tainted my overall experience.
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