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| - I love the concept of crowdsourcing, but in practice it has some flaws; namely, no filter often equals skewed and even poor input. Dinner last evening was a great example.
Yelpers haven't been entirely complementary towards this establishment, but the group we had been working with had suggested this place for dinner, and my friend was interested in the homemade tortillas, so with my Yelp apprehension in hand, off we went.
It was a beautiful February evening, and having just come from Colorado, how could I not sit on the patio. They had plenty of heaters to take the edge off of cool, but they weren't needed last night. I need to take a quick back step though. When we arrived, the street and the parking lot were full, and there was an additional pay lot across the street. I figured this place must be packed, but we risked it and were pleasantly surprised how much room there was! I was very happy we could get in, but did wonder if the place was full, how it could impact service.
We had a very pleasant waitress who answered all of our questions about the menu and ingredients. (My friend is allergic to tomatoes so Mexican can be a challenge). We also briefly discussed the silly Yelp complaints about having to pay for chips and salsa. Just because some places offer chips and salsa does not mean every Mexican restaurant must. More to the point, this place has complementary freshly made tortillas and chipotle butter. Last night they were spinach tortillas. I am not a flour tortillas guy as I find they often have a slight raw flour taste to them, and these were no exception. I was only able to eat like 6 of them (hey, that chipotle butter is great)!
I began with a Caesar salad. Not the quintessential Mexican starter, but they added jicama and red peppers. I didn't take a picture but unless you feel the need to really graze, the small salad was much larger than any dinner or side salad I have had before. The lettuce and other veggies were very fresh and crunchy as were the croutons.
It is interesting how much Yelp reviews can impact my menu selections. I like to put thought and time into my reviews, therefore I often find myself hesitating ordering something because of a Yelp comment. Last night I considered ordering the pork Verde, but because I had read a review that described it as watery any lacking pork, I crossed it off the short list and went with the red chili pork chop. Wow! If you are a pork fan at all, don't pass this up. It consisted of two grilled, bone-in chops (see the picture). They were done just how I like pork chops, juicy in the middle, a bit more done along the edges, and just a little suet to add the porky flavor. The red chili was very flavorful and had a bit of heat.
This is a good time to address spices and Mexican food, as several people felt the need to say the food here was not spicy, and even bland. "Hey World, Mexican food doesn't have to, (nor should it) burn the roof of your mouth. You are confusing it with Tex-Mex." Nuff said.
If I had any critique, besides the slightly raw-flower taste to some of the tortillas, would be the too subtle garlic in the potatoes. I know I risk the same critique as I leveled above, but I will rationalize it by saying that I think it is okay to take liberal advantage of a named dish element. Ok, indefensible.
Some odds and ends. 1) They split our ticket even though the menu says won't. 2) They gave my friend several chipotle butter cups to take home. 3) Every single wait person (4) I chatted with were friendly and engaging. In fact, they initiated the short conversations.
So five stars because the evening began with pleasant weather and ended with two very satisfied customers.
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