Mexican Archives - Page 3 of 4

In Canadian

Taco Time: Taco Tuesday for 99 cents

December 12, 2013

On Tuesdays, lines at the Taco Time in Pacific Centre gets quite long.

People want a quick and cheap lunch. I was doing some shopping at noon and needed a very very quick lunch before heading back to work. As I spent a large amount of money on clothes…I felt guilty, so a cheap lunch option was good to balance out my shopping.

Taco Tuesday! 99 cents for a soft or hard shelled taco. Tempting even though it’s not very good compared to all the other places Downtown.

I ordered 2 soft shell tacos and 2 hard shell tacos. It didn’t seem like a lot of food at the time, but after I ate all of this, I was crazy full.

Hard shell Taco has cheddar cheese, lettuce, and ground beef in the shell. I find they add a lot of salt and spices to the meat, so you will get thirsty.

Soft shell Taco has cheddar cheese, lettuce, and ground beef in the soft shell.

Both tacos are essentially the same, but I do prefer the hard taco for the added crunch.

Don’t forget the sauce! Mild sauce and then the spicy green one.

Don’t forget the Mexifries! Deep-fried tater tots! My childhood favourite.

Overall, nothing fancy and does the trick of filling up your empty stomach. For 99 cents, you can’t go wrong.

Website: http://www.tacotimecanada.com/

In Four Beakers

Bien Trucha: Mexican Food in Geneva, IL

October 5, 2013

We headed into the suburbs to Geneva for some yummy Mexican food at Bien Trucha. It was a long drive from the city, but this little suburb is quite nice with a river flowing right through it.

We went to Bien Trucha for dinner and came early since they don’t take reservations. The sister restaurant – A Toda Madre located next door does take reservations. The menus are slightly different.

Fresh chips and a refried bean dip (Complimentary) very fresh and really good. A nice start to the meal.

Fresona ($10) is made of strawberries, lime, sugar, orange liquor, and exotico blanco. really good and refreshing.

Mojito ($9) has fresh muddled mint, lime, brown sugar, rum, and a splash of soda.

Ceviche ($8) has tilapia, lime, extra virgin olive oil, serrano, tomato, and onion. I wasn’t a fan of the ceviche since I felt like it needed more acidity.

Crema de Chile Poblano ($5) has creamy roasted poblano, potato cubes and queso fresco. It was pretty spicy, but the flavours were great.

Esquites ($4) has grilled corn, epazote-butter, lemon-aioli, queso cotija, and chile piquin.It was really good and addictive! Highly recommended!

Pescado taco ($11) is crispy beer battered tilapia, red cabbage, onion, tomato, lime, and a chipotle-morita aioli. Quite delicious!

Pastor taco ($10) contains ancho-guajillo marinated pork, cilantro, onion, pineapple, and morita salsa. The pineapple was perfect to add juiciness and sweetness to the pork.

Bien Trucha ($10) has grilled skirt steak, chorizo, chihuahua, and roasted tomatillo salsa. No worries, there is not dog in this taco. Chihuahua is a type of cheese. I had to ask the server cause I thought it was funny. it was a delicious taco.

a la Diabla tacos ($11) has sauteed shrimp, butter-mojo de ajo, chipotle lime, and avocado slice. It came piping hot and with 4 pieces per order. It wasn’t too spicy and tasted great.

Flan was our dessert. It was pretty good as well. A nice ending to a great meal.

Overall, I really liked the restaurant. They have delicious taco and great drinks. A must go place for the summer. If you’re just a visitor in Chicago, it very very out of the way. Good thing I had my aunt and uncle to take me around the different suburbs.

We Rate Bien Trucha:

Address:
410 W State St
Geneva, IL

Website:
http://www.bientrucha.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=410+W+State+St+Geneva,+IL&t=m&hnear=410+W+State+St,+Geneva,+Illinois+60134,+United+States&z=16 “]

In Evanston

Taco Diablo: Mexican Food in Evanston

October 1, 2013

Taco Diablo is a Mexican restaurant in Evanston, Illinois. BaguetteGirl said I have to try some Mexican food before I left Chicago. The restaurant was quite cute and it was quite funny to see all the devil paintings. We came here before heading to the city to watch the Million Dollar Quartet.

Complimentary Tortilla Chips and salsa was pretty good. It came with so many chips in that basket. Really fresh and I wish I could have kept eating this, but I had to save room for tacos.

Taqueria Guacamole ($6.89) chunky avocado, tomato, onion, lime, and corn chips. SO yummy, but it is a bit expensive.

Tortilla Soup was amazing! It was so flavourful and I have not been able to find anything like it in Vancouver. The soup was more clear and just so damn good. Highly recommended.

Spicy Shrimp Taco and Vegetable Taco.

Taco plate ($11.89) comes with your choice of 3 tacos and sides.

It’s Carne Asada Tacos and Pork Carnitas taco. All the tacos we had were pretty good and a good size. Each taco has 2 layers of corn tortillas and has a good amount of meat in the centre.

The sides that came with the taco plate was – rice and black beans. We were so fully from everything else, so we barely touched this.

I like it spicy, so I had to use the Tabsco and the hot sauce.

For 2 people we definitely ate too much. I think we would have been good just splitting the soup and having the tacos.

We Rate Taco Diablo:

Address:
1029 Davis Street
Evanston, IL

Website:
http://tacodiabloevanston.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.google.ca/maps?q=1029+Davis+Street+Evanston,+IL&t=m&hnear=1029+Davis+St,+Evanston,+Cook,+Illinois+60201,+United+States&z=16″]

In Four Beakers

Sal y Limon: Marinated Perfection

June 8, 2013

My coworker told me about a fantastic place in Vancouver called Sal y Limon. They sell authentic mexican cuisine such as burritos, tacos, tortas, and other things too. They are located in a small plaza on Kingsway and Fraser close to Le Faux Bourgeois.

I came with my M and Scarface for dinner around 8:30pm, they close at 9pm, but with the nice weather and still tons of light in the sky, they stayed open longer.

The interior isn’t impressive, but what is impressive is their food. Don’t let the interior scare you. The prices are quite good and all items are under $10.

They have a good selection of sauces to go with your food. Anything from a little spicy to DIABLO. It was fun trying a few of them to see what spice level we could handle. My favorite was the avocado sauce. Yum!

Horchata ($2) is a traditional Mexican drink made of cinnamon, almonds, sesame seeds, rice and barley. It’s white, so it totally looks like milk. If you are here and see people with cups of white liquid, it’s their horchata. I really love their horchata! It’s good! It had a hint of coconut flavour too. It pairs nicely with the food.

Al Pastor taco ($2.25) and Cordero al Cilantro taco ($2.25). The taco has 2 layers of the corn tortilla and above it is the beautifully marinated meat with the cilantro and onions. It does look simple, but these tacos are awesome. Throw some of their hot sauces on it and let the flavours sing in your mouth. The only downside is that the meat can be a bit oily.

Al Pastor Burrito ($8.50) has marinated pork and pineapples with all the other ingredients inside. I’m not a picky eater, so I asked them to put everything in it. I didn’t taste any pineapples inside, but I didn’t mind since the burrito did taste amazing. It wasn’t as large as I would have imagined, but it was a good size for dinner.

Carne Asada Con Queso ($8.75) has cheese and grilled beef with all the other ingredients inside. When M took a bite, his face just began smiling because it’s been a while since he’s had a good burrito.

Overall, we did enjoy eating at Sal y Limon and would return for their burritos and tacos. They have a good selection of authentic Mexican drinks too! You can find Mexican Coca Cola!! That stuff is better than our regular coke since it’s sweetened with cane sugar.

We Rate Sal y Limon:

Address:
701 Kingsway, Unit #5
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://salylimon.ca/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=701+Kingsway,+Unit+%235+Vancouver,+BC&hnear=701+Kingsway+%235,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V5T+2R7&gl=ca&t=m&z=16 “]

In lunch

Patron Tacos & Cantina: Lunch Time

May 21, 2013

Patron Tacos & Cantina is located on Robson street at Cambie Street. The interior is like a Mexican restaurant with a sports bar. There are tons of TVs everywhere, so no matter which seat you have, you can be in the vicinity of a TV. It seems like it would be great to view games.

My coworkers and I came to have some lunch as we saw their lunch specials looked good.

They have a pretty cool chandelier too.

Complimentary Chips and Salsa arrived at the table. The chips were awesome and you could tell they were made in house. The salsa was a bit watery and lacked any spicy taste or heartiness. I like my salsa chunky.

Tortilla Soup came with the lunch combos. It’s deliciously cheesey with chunks of avocado and crunchy tortilla bits inside. You should probably get this soup if you’re here for lunch!

Tacos ($12) comes with 2 Tacos of your choice. My coworker chose the battered fish and the carnitas. It also comes with soup or salad. She felt a bit underwhelmed by this dish.

Tostadas was also part of one of the lunch items. It came with a side of rice and refried beans. I also chose the side of tortilla soup. The tortilla on the bottom of the tostadas was nice and crispy and all the items that layed on top were just delicious. The rice and the refried beans were ok.

Torta is like a sandwich made with a Mexican bun. It is served with a side of criss-cross fries. This will definitely bring you back to your childhood. On the inside, there is chipotle mayo, refried beans, cheese, tomato, lettuce, jalapeños, avocado, and onion. I’m not sure which torta he chose, but he said he enjoyed it and there was a lot of meat inside.

As we only have a hour lunch, the service here is quite slow and inefficient. A few simple things did take a long time like beer, soup and the bill.

We Rate Patron Tacos & Cantina:

Address:
265 Robson St.
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.patrontc.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=265+Robson+St.+Vancouver,+BC&hnear=265+Robson+St,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V6B+2A8&gl=ca&t=m&z=16 “]

In Hastings-Sunrise

Tacofino Commissary: Hello Churros

April 13, 2013

We went to Tacofino Commissary on a weekend to catch their brunch. Tacofino has come a long way since their days of running a food truck in Tofino, BC. I can remember having my first bite of Tacofino Cantina and Tacofino Blue. When I discovered they finally had a restaurant on Hastings, I had to go.

M, Scarface and I came just in time for brunch and were super excited. The restaurant was hard to spot as the outside doesn’t look very unique.

When you look at their ceiling, they have a really cool light installation. It’s a jumble of copper and lights with plants inside some of them. Pretty cool!

They also play records! It adds a nice touch since it matches the restaurant. Plus, it’s so rare to see people play records these days.

The back of the restaurant looked pretty cool. All the bottles lined up on the shelves looked very unique.

Tortilla Soup ($9) has bits of chicken, ancho chile, avocado, queso fresco, and slow cooked egg to top things off.

Burrito ($10) is filled with chorizo verde, egg, potato, and cheese. It’s grilled on the outside, topped with salsa and stabbed with a knife.

Inside, you can see all those ingredients. M liked the burrito!

Gringas ($11) contains pork al pastor, cheddar, kimchi, sunny side egg, and kimchi hollandaise. You eat this with a knife and fork or else it’ll be awkwardly messy. Scarface said it was really good.

Torta ($9) has grilled skirt steak, pickled vegetables, cilantro, egg, and black garlic mayo. The bun was soft and went well with the ingredients. When you bite into the sandwich, the egg pops, so it coats whole sandwich with the ooey gooey yolk that adds flavours. It can get messy, so make sure you aren’t eating it over your lap. I found the grilled skirt steak could have been a bit more tender since it was a little bit tough to chew through.

Banana Churros ($8) comes with 3 pieces and 2 sauces – dulce de leche and spicy chocolate. We loved this item! The sauces paired perfectly and the churros was so fresh! Highly Recommended!

Overall, the food is good but can be a bit pricey. There is still one item I’ll come back for and it’s their amazing banana churros! SO GOOD.

Word of Wisdom:

Free parking around the corner
Churros are amazing
Most items just under $10 for brunch

We Rate Tacofino Commissary:

Address:
2327 E Hastings St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.tacofinocommissary.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=2327+E+Hastings+St+Vancouver,+BC&hnear=2327+E+Hastings+St,+Vancouver,+British+Columbia+V5L+1V6&gl=ca&t=m&z=14 “]

In Four Beakers

La Casita: $5 Burritos and $3 Margaritas in Vancouver

December 17, 2012

La Casita is a Mexican Restaurant in Gastown. One day, M, cruzpresso and I were looking for a place to eat and stumbled upon La Casita and was curious how the food would be. If you come for the specials, you’re definitely getting a great deal!

Here are some of their weekday specials:

Monday: $3 Margaritas, $5 Burritos
Tuesday: $4.50 Beer, $2.50 Tacos
Complementary Chips+ Salsa, free refills and $8 – $10 lunch specials

Pretty good deals especially if you don’t want to spend too much on lunch. Sometimes eating in the Gastown area is expensive, but this is a good option for cheap yummy food. We usually come on Mondays since $5 burritos and $3 margaritas are a steal!

There is ample seating upstairs and a private space downstairs for events.

The bar has on display different kinda of liquor and there are cool masks at the top.

Mango Margarita ($3) they mix some mango purée and el Jimador tequila together with some ice. It’s strong, but a great deal for just $3.

Complementary Chips, green salsa and a medium salsa. It’s great to munch on while waiting for your meal.

Beef Burrito with melted cheese on top ($5 +$2.50) looks delectable and the addition of the cheese really makes a difference. The best flavour out of all the burrito options is definitely the beef!

Pepperoni + Egg Burrito ($5) looks so much smaller than the first burrito. Not sure what happened, but it seems like the baked cheese definitely make a big difference, or they have consistency issues.

Combo 5 ($17) comes with 1 Chorizo Quesadilla & 1 Beef Chimichanga with Rice, Beans, & Salad. M loved this! He would eat this type of food when he lived in Arizona, so it was like home to him. He enjoyed the variety of items in the combo. This combo is quite expensive for what you get.

1 quesadilla, 2 flautas, rice and salad ($15) this was one of their dinner specials on night. I liked this item because you can try a variety of items if you are new to Mexican cuisine.

Combo 2 ($11) comes with Tortilla Soup & 2 Flautas.

Flautas are crispy flute-shaped tacos, stuffed with potato and onion, topped with green salsa, cream & feta. They were surprisingly filling! I thought I would still be hungry after this, but I was so stuffed.

The tortilla soup is out of this world! It has chips, cheese, chile ancho, avocado, & lime. Such a great balance of flavour and the avocados were really fresh. I would definitely get this soup every time.

Overall, yummy food and the specials are definitely a great deal. Some items on the menu are quite expensive, but go on days where there are specials to save some money!

Words of Wisdom:

Free WiFi
Weekly Specials
Tortilla soup is a must!

We Rate La Casita:

Address:
101 West Cordova St.
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.lacasita.ca/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=101+West+Cordova+St.+Vancouver,+BC&hnear=101+W+Cordova+St,+Vancouver,+Greater+Vancouver+Regional+District,+British+Columbia+V6B+5A7&gl=ca&t=m&z=16 “]

In Downtown

Chipotle Vancouver: It’s Finally Open and We Ate Everything

December 13, 2012

My last taste of Chipotle Mexican Grill was the past Summer in New York. I have been left Chipotle-less for 6 months and when I got word that Chipotle was coming to Vancouver, I jumped for joy and so did my friends. We are a bit nuts, so once, we actually drove to Seattle just for Chipotle. When Chipotle invited me for a preview of the restaurant the night before the December 13th, 2012 opening, I had to say yes!

Chipotle Vancouver is the 6th location in Canada. After a successful launch in Toronto with 5 restaurants, it was time for them to come to Vancouver. Even though this is the first location in Downtown Vancouver, there are plans to expand to bring in more locations. There is no word on when or where, but expect more Chipotle locations in the near future.

All their ingredients are local and organic, so it is not 100% the same as the other Chipotle locations around the world.

The Vancouver location has huge windows so you can see everyone inside enjoying their meal.

They have some funky seating in the front.

The interior has lots of seating and each table is lit up with light overhead.

The high tables have bag hooks! BAG HOOKS! As a woman with a purse, it’s very important to have those since it’s kinda gross putting your bag on the floor. Or if you have shopping bags, it works wonders too.

You start by picking your type of item, then protein, and then all the filler to go inside. All basic items are $8.95. Guacamole is $2.21, which in my opinion is quite expansive…but it is real avocado.

Line up on the right side of the restaurant and work your way down the line as you create your perfect meal. The staff is very friendly and can help if you have questions.

Depending on your item, you can choose white rice or brown rice, then pinto or black beans.

The hard part is choosing the protein – chicken, steak, carnitas, or barbacoa.

Then you can add a variety of salsa from mild, medium, and hot. Throw on some sour cream, cheese, and lettuce. Remember, the guacamole is extra.

Depending on what you add-on after you build your burrito, it can cost you anywhere between $10 and $20. On the bright side they offer beer and margarita too. If you have kids, there is a kids menu too. I wish I was a kid sometimes.

The drink fountain is on the side.

If you are not in the mood for sugary pop, they have unsweetened tea. I keep thinking this is water, but it’s not.

Don’t forget your napkins, it will come in handy! There are also variations of Tabasco sauce for you to add a kick to your meal.

Chips ($1.20)

You can also add guac or salsa dips for a small charge.

Burrito ($8.95) cross-section looks like that. I couldn’t suggest you eat it like this unless you were sharing with a friend. It would definitely get messy.

M made his burrito without any vegetables, just rice, pinto beans, hot salsa, and steak. Sometimes it good to forget about the vegetables and ask for more rice, beans and salsa. You really can make your burrito anyway you like!

Soft Shell Tacos ($8.95) comes in 3 pieces. @Cruzpresso ordered his with all the same ingredients, but you can have different proteins in each taco if you preferred.

Hard Shell Taco ($8.95) comes in 3 pieces too. It’s a bit hard to eat if you are a messy eater. Remember to grab some napkins.

Salad ($8.95) has the lettuce underneath and all the toppings piled on top! The protein that came with this item was the steak. It’s chewy like a steak but it deliciously marinated.

Bowl ($8.95) + Guacamole ($2.21) I added carnitas meat and everything except the cheese into my bowl.

Thats what the inside of the bowl looks like. It was delicious and oh so filling.

Chicken Bowl ($8.95) minus the lettuce haha.

The chicken is hiding under all the ingredients. The chicken was quite tasty and flavourful.

We ate everything except for the kid’s meal or the vegetarian options. Burritos and bowls are quite popular! You can’t go wrong with any of the meats either. My person favorite item is the bowl with the barbacoa. It’s a good place to go if you are particular about your food. It’s very customizable to how you want it made.

If you are used to the Chipotle in the US, just know…the portions look smaller and you are paying about $2 more.

It’s great to have Chipotle in Vancouver, BC but it is quite similar to Red Burrito. In the end, the whole table agreed that Chipotle did taste better and they are dedicated to bring in good ingredients that are local, fresh, organic, and have no synthetic hormones.

Chipotle Mexican Grill is ready to start serving customers December 13th, 2012 at 11am!

We Rate Chipotle Mexican Grill:

Address:
818 Howe Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.chipotle.com/

[googlemap width=”620″ height=”480″ src=”https://maps.google.com/maps?q=818+Howe+Street+Vancouver,+BC&hl=en&sll=49.06967,-122.856669&sspn=0.519125,1.223602&hnear=818+Howe+St,+Vancouver,+Greater+Vancouver+Regional+District,+British+Columbia+V6Z+2S9,+Canada&t=m&z=16″]

In Back Bay

Casa Romero: Mexican Cuisine in Boston, MA

June 20, 2012

On our first night in Boston, we decided to go to Casa Romero in the Back Bay area. We heard they had some great authentic Mexican food. It took us a while to find this place because it was hidden in an alley of a residential area.

We didn’t make any reservations, but they were able to seat us right away. We got quite lucky because the restaurant was packed. The only issue that bothered us as we entered was the Host, he seemed a bit rude.

Since it was a nice day, we decided to eat outside in their patio.

Complementary tortilla chips and salsa come to the table. It’s freshly made and very delicious. You can also order a side of guacamole for $7.50.

Ceviche ($9) of Fresh Fish with Tomatoes, and Onions in a Citrus Marinated. It also have a lime and avocado on top. I enjoyed the tart taste that accompanied the dish, I just wish it had a bit more sourness to it. CanuckGirl thought this was a strange dish…so I had it all to myself!

Casa Romero’s Legendary Signature Dish – Puerco Adobado en Chipotle y Naranja ($25) has a tenderloin of Pork Marinated in Oranges and Smoked Chipotle Peppers. It also comes with a side of rice and beans. CanuckGirl loved it, but I wasn’t a big fan of the dish. It really comes down to personal preferences. The pork was nice and tender.

Overall, this restaurant was nice and pretty good ambiance for a date type of situation.

Words of Wisdom:

Make reservations to guarantee seats
A bit expensive for some dishes

We Rate Casa Romero:

Address:
30 Gloucester St
Boston, MA

Website:
http://www.casaromero.com/

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In Gastown

Chronic Taco Cantina: Introduction Of A New Menu

April 4, 2012

Foodology Disclaimer: I was invited to try out their new menu, but I tried to keep the review as unbiased as I could. The review does not guarantee 100% similar service you might normally get from this restaurant.

Chronic Taco Cantina is located in Gastown and has introduced a new menu to better cater to the people in the area. Their new menu has more variety of California-Style Mexican food as well as appetizers. They still serve their signature tacos and burritos.

I came with GastroFork, FoodPunk, PetitFoodie and CandiedZen to try it out.

There are tons of TVs on the walls so it’s easy to catch the game. Also they have some crazy artwork on their walls. Taco life anyone? They have also installed more booth seating!

Coke! The days when I go without tea or coffee, I go with coke!

Chips and Salsa (complementary) I liked the crunchy chips but I wish there was more salsa. The salsa was good and chunky but the container is a bit small to dip the chips into. I would suggest ordering a side of guacamole to go along with this.

Baja Ceviche ($7.49) has wahoo fish, lime, mango, pears & plantain chips. This is not your traditional ceviche, but I did enjoy the hints of fruity and acidic tastes. We did not have enough plantain chips to use with the ceviche, so we started using the chips.

Taco Platter ($8.49-$11.49) comes with your choice of two tacos and side of rice and beans. The price varies depending if you want soft or crispy shell, or vegetarian. I am not a big fan of rice or beans, so I thought they were alright.

You can choose from these tacos:

Carne Asada – marinated grilled steak
Pollo Asado – marinated grilled chicken
Carnitas – slow cooked pork
Al Pastor – spicy marinated pork with pineapple & onions
Fish – wahoo tecate beer battered or spicy baja style
Shrimp – tecate beer battered or grilled

There’s also other types of rice and beans that you can add. The tacos were quite large too.

The tacos that were really good were the beer battered fish and the shrimp.

Al Pastor Taco has the spicy marinated pork with pineapple & onion. It was indeed large and quite spicy. I usually can take spice, but I had to resort to grabbing a glass of water. The pork was nicely spiced and tender.

Carnitas Taco has slow cooked pork and comes with veggies, salsa and guacamole. The meat was a tad dry.

Jalapeno Poppers ($9.49) are breaded jalapeno peppers with cream cheese & a side of baja sauce. It’s a good item to order when watching the game when you need some finger food. Its a bit spicier than usual places, but I did enjoy the amount of heat.

Beer Battered Prawns ($9.49) are drunk prawns with baja sauce & cilantro sauce. I loved this appetizer! The prawns were of good size and tasted good. It had a crunchy exterior and the succulent prawn inside. YUM!

Flank Steak Fajitas ($15) comes on a sizzling hot plate with flank steak, peppers, and onions. There is also rice & pico de gallo that comes with it. You wrap them all up in a flour tortilla.

The steak tastes good when it comes right off the sizzling plate. If you wait too long, the meat isn’t as tender or flavourful.

This is a fun dish since you can do it yourself, but it is a bit expensive. In the end, we didn’t put it together since we were more interested in eating the meat.

Southwest Stuffed Peppers ($15) contains tofu, spinach, rice, jack cheese & mole.

It is a very unique dish and I’ve never had anything like it. You would expect it to be savory, but with the mole, it just tastes like sweet chocolate.

Deep Fried Ice Cream Sandwiches ($6) has 2 ice cream sandwiches battered and deep-fried with caramel drizzle. You definitely want to share this with another person.

The deep-fried ice cream sandwiches had a good fragrant cinnamon taste to it, which I enjoyed. On the downside, it wasn’t cold in the center as the ice cream just melted from the heat. It ended up more mushy than solid.

Churros Con Sorbete ($6) has fresh churros, cinnamon sugar, caramel sauce, and vanilla bean ice cream.

I like the pairing of the 2 items and the cinnamon and sugar is just heavenly. Unfortunately, I felt like the churro was a bit overcooked. It still had the nice crispy exterior and softer center.

Overall, don’t expect Chronic Taco Cantina to serve traditional Mexican food. It’s a bit different. The food is great to go with games and just chilling with friends. They have a very large interior, so they can accommodate large groups.

Words of Wisdom:

Decent eats
Around $10
Lots of space to watch the game
Beer battered anything is yummy
Burritos are huge!

We Rate Chronic Tacos Cantina:

Address:
102 Water Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:

http://www.chronictacos.ca/

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In Downtown

La Casita Botanas Dining Package Review

March 22, 2012

Foodology Disclaimer: VANEATS.ca approached me to try out their “LA CASITA BOTANAS” dining package and write a review about it. I got a complementary dining package for myself and I brought along Abbytizer to keep the review as unbiased as I could. The review does not guarantee 100% similar service you might normally get from this restaurant

Hello Internet! Abbytizer and I reviewed VANEATS latest dining package for “LA CASITA BOTANAS!”. The dining package consists of a 5-course sharing platter.

“Chipotle Prawn”, grilled in butter, garlic, & La Casita’s special chipotle sauce
“Chicken Wings”, served with mole sauce on a bed of rice
“Quesadillas”, handmade folded tortillas with melted cheese and Mexican chorizo sausage
“Cabbage Salad”, served with avocado
“Super Nachos”, beef & bean salsa, cheese & veggies on fresh corn tortilla chips

You can purchase the dining package at VANEATS.ca for only $18 between March 21st and May 21st, 2012:

The interior of the restaurant has a very distinct Mexican feel to it, with piñatas hanging from the ceiling, and luchador masks displayed at the bar. An old black & white Mexican movie played from the TV, while Mexican music played throughout the restaurant.

Tortilla chips with salsa and guacamole. Casita’s guacamole was superfine and has a slight kick to it that increase with every bite. The salsa is very fine, and doesn’t have big chunks of tomato that many people may be accustomed to with a salsa.

The sharing platter is quite big, with the Super Nachos in the center and each of the other four courses are placed on the corners of the large plate.

In this corner we have the “Chipotle Prawn”, grilled in butter, garlic, & Casita’s special chipotle sauce. Abbytizer describes it to be quite spicy with a nice smoky flavour to accompany the heat. She thought that the prawns were cooked perfectly as they were very tender and also slightly sweet. Overall, the dish balanced nicely between spicy, smoky and sweet notes of flavour.

“Chicken Wings”, served with mole sauce on a bed of rice. Abbytizer describes the wings as being very tasty. She said she would eat anything with the mole sauce. She also thought that the rice was flavourful. The only downside to this dish was that the wings were very small and there were only 5 wings. We would have loved larger wings and more of them!

“Quesadillas”, handmade folded tortillas with melted cheese and Mexican chorizo sausage. The sausage within the quesadilla looked like ground beef. The quesadilla is small and has a delicious taste to of it. One thing that Abbytizer and I both noted was that the sausage was quite dry and would have benefited from a sauce, perhaps, sour cream, salsa or mole, just to give it more moisture.

“Cabbage Salad”, served with avocado. This salad has sliced tomatoes, orange peppers, purple onions, and is seasoned with lime. I found this salad to be refreshing and quite enjoyable. Each bite of the salad had a delicious crunch to it. Abbytizer also like the salad and enjoyed the textural contrast between the crisp cabbage and the smooth, creaminess of the avocados.

“Super Nachos”, beef & bean salsa, cheese & veggies on fresh corn tortilla chips. These Super Nachos are very good. The refried beans had a great flavour and made the nachos taste delicious.

Horchata ($3.25) is a sweet drink traditionally made of rice, and is flavoured with cinnamon and sugar. Abbytizer loved it and said that it takes the heat of the spicy dishes. She described it to taste like a “liquefied churro”. If you like churros you’ll love this drink.

Casita Sundae ($6.50) Two churros in vanilla ice cream, topped with whipped cream and strawberry puree. I found the dessert to be delicious. The vanilla icecream and the strawberry puree blends perfectly with the cinnamon churoo. Abbytizer describes this dessert to be a sweet tooth’s dream. She enjoyed the crunchy churros and how the rich ice cream complemented it perfectly. The strawberry puree was a nice added flavour. It was a very good dessert, and Abbytizer would definitely have it again!

Overall, The “LA CASITA BOTANAS” dining package is worth its value, and all the dishes in the platter were muy delicioso. The platter is suitable for two to three and will get you satisfied. The platter is perfect for anyone who wants to try Mexican food and is curious to see what La Casita has to offer.

Words of Wisdom:

Free Wifi
Weekly Specials
Authentic Mexican Drinks

We Rate La Casita Botanas:

Address:
101 West Cordova St. Vancouver, BC V6B 1E1

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In Commercial Drive / Grandview

Bandidas Taqueria: Vegetarian Mexican Brunch

March 4, 2012

When AdventureTimeGirl was in town, I took her to Banditas Taqueria since it is a very popular vegetarian restaurant for bunch. We actually went twice in one weekend since she enjoyed it so much. The prices are quite fair and they just serve good vegetarian food.

Horchata is a traditional Mexican rice beverage. It’s refreshing, sweet, milky, nutty and has a nice cinnamon taste. M enjoyed it and I also stole a few sips from him.

2 Wolf and Goat Taco with Rice + Beans ($5.25 +$2.25) has fresh guacamole, purple cabbage, pinto beans, roasted salsa, cheese and cour cream. Delicious tacos and I really enjoy their guacamole and the purple cabbage. The beans and the rice were ok, but it was still a decent side since it fills you up.

Baked Breakfast Burrito ($7.50 + $2.25) has scrambled eggs, roasted salsa, pinto beans, sour cream and cheese in the whole wheat tortilla. The burrito was quite large and will really get you full. M enjoyed it!

Breakfast Burrito ($7.50) not baked, but it is still nice and large!

It’s packed with lots of eggs and beans! It’s a very hearty breakfast indeed.

Morgan Taylor ($8.50) is a new burrito they are serving at the restaurant. It has roasted potatoes, scrambled eggs, roasted salsa, cheese and sour cream. AdventureTimeGirl really enjoyed it and was the perfect size.

Baked Morgan Taylor ($8.50 +$2.25) is the same thing as above, but with the added sauce and cheese. M actually liked this more than the breakfast burrito because of the texture from the potatoes.

Becky’s Omelette ($11) is another new item on their menu. It has roasted red pepper sauce, spinach, caramelized onions, cheese, hash, beans and purple cabbage. ScarFace enjoyed it and didn’t mind too much that it was meatless.

Egg Muffins with Veggie Sausage ($8.5 + $2.25) has 2 cornbread muffin tops, topped with guacamole, cheese, fried eggs with a tangy tomatillo sauce. I also really loved this dish because of the crispy cornbread and the taste of the tomatillo sauce. Definitely recommended!

Lemmy ($11) is also a new dish. It’s a poblano baked with pinto beans, cheese and sauce. It is also topped off with 2 poached eggs. On the side there is tortillas, purple cabbage and hashbrowns. AdventureTimeGirl also enjoyed this dish.

All the dishes were quite good and the picky boys also enjoyed their meatless meals, so it was quite a success.

Words of Wisdom:

Breakfast items are good!
No reservations
All Vegetarian food
Service is mediocre
Good quality ingredients
Closest Skytrain: Commercial/Broadway stn

We rate Bandidas Taqueria:

Address:

2781 Commercial Drive
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.bandidastaqueria.com

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Vancouver

In Gastown

Chronic Tacos Cantina: Taco, Taco, Taco

February 23, 2012

Chronic Tacos opened up their third location in Gastown! Since I saw a Social Shopper deal, I quickly got it! I’ve been to another location and the food was good. This Chronic Taco location is much larger and has 2 floors.

The interior is bright red with lots of TV around to watch games.

Lots of seating, a few booth seating and the upstairs area. The chairs are like outdated banquet chairs. Not the most pretty furniture or tables, but it’s about the food right?

Pop ($1.99) normal stuff and comes with refills!

Chips and Salsa ($2.99) I liked the crunchy chips but I wish there was more salsa. The salsa was alright but it was very watery.

For the two tacos that were part of the Social Shopper deal, we got the Carnitas taco and Fish taco. These are a bit small and nothing like Taco Time. You may need 3 or 4 to get full.

Fish Taco ($3.79) has a small tortilla with cabbage, and salsa. It was good, but wasn’t super amazing.

Carnitas Taco ($3.49) has tender and juicy beef with guacamole and lettuce. It was ok too.

Carnitas Quesadilla ($9.49) has a good amount of cheese and carnitas meat inside. It also comes with a few sauces. Its has a much larger size than the tacos.

It was well made, but you definitely need to dip it into the sauce to get more flavour. I probably liked the quesadilla out of all the other items.

Overall, the food was alright, but not super amazing. In a way, it is like a cantina, where you just drink more and have a few little snacks. They do have the bar and the room for it. It’s good game food too. Since the space is pretty large too, service wasn’t super good. It was alright.

Words of Wisdom:

Decent Mexican eats
Around $10
Lots of space to watch the game
Anything with Carnitas is delicious

We Rate Chronic Tacos Cantina:

Address:
102 Water Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:

http://www.chronictacos.ca/

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In Fast Food

Chipotle Mexican Grill: Delicious Food Beyond the Border

February 14, 2012

Chipotle is a chain fast food restaurant in the United States, they have a few on the eastern side of Canada too. Since TaiwaneseGirl was raving about how she wanted it SO badly, we went to grab some lunch. We arrived 30 minutes too early, so we sat in the car and waited for them to open. Surprisingly, we were not the only ones waiting for their delicious Mexican food. There was already about 5 people in front of us as we went inside.

The inside was nice and large. You line up, build your item, pay and eat!

Lots of space and even though it is empty in this picture…it got full fast! People really love Chipotles for some reason.

You first choose from a burrito, bowl, taco or a salad. Then, you can choose what you want to put inside. They have so many options! Oh hey look… calories!

Steak Bowl + Guac ($6.35 +$1.80) may look plain but its amazing inside. It’s like a burrito but without the flour tortilla. TaiwaneseGirl put everything in here and asked for extras, thus her bowl became quite tall. She really liked it. Guac is extra, but its worth it!

Steak Bowl + Guac ($6.35 +$1.80) CanuckGirl got the same thing, but didn’t get as much toppings compared to TaiwaneseGirl.

Caritas Burrito + Guac ($6.35 +$1.80) was stuffed with so much filling, it was so hard for the lady to wrap up. It was a bit messy, but there’s a bowl for you in case it all falls apart. In the end, I just ripped it apart and ate it like a bowl. Delicious and I love the tenderness of the carnitas. Yum!

You can also get free water too. Just ask and you’ll get a cup.

Overall, we quite enjoyed this experience and later in the day…we bought a few takeout orders back to Canada. In a way, it was comparable to Red Burrito in Vancouver. Its best to get the bowl a takeout if you aren’t intending to eat it on the same day. Everything still tastes good.

Words of Wisdom:

Under $10
Delicious steak and caritas
Lots of free parking
Lots of seating
Children friendly with kids menu

We Rate Chipotle Mexican Grill:
Address:
4120 196th St SW
Lynnwood, WA 98036
Website:
http://www.chipotle.com

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In BBQ

Raging Bull Mesquite Grill Food Truck: Open for Breakfast and Lunch

January 3, 2012

A new food truck has popped up on Granville St & Dunsmuir St called Raging Bull Mesquite Grill.

They only use prime cut sirloin and organic chicken. Its smoked with mesquite wood. They are open quite early at 8am and sell breakfast!

Here is a look at their menu. They only have a few items available, but caters to vegetarians too. This is a first time I’ve seen a food cart offering breakfast.

Chicken Fajita Wrap ($7.50) has salsa, spanish rice, beans, corn, cheese, chipotle sauce rolled up in a soft tortilla shell.

The wrap was pretty large and had very unique flavours inside. I loved the grilled chicken, it had lots of mesquite flavour and it really was the star. Certain ingredients in the wrap were warm and then some other were really cold. The cold salsa annoyed me and made the wrap get colder faster.

Overall the wrap was alright with some good unique flavours!

Words of Wisdom:

Offers Breakfast
Under $10
Delicious mesquite smoked meats

We Rate Raging Bull Mesquite Grill:

Location:

Granville St & Dunsmuir St (Outside Shoppers Drug Mart)

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In Downtown

Tacofino Blue Food Truck: It’s all about the Burrito

November 9, 2011

I saw that there was another Tacofino truck near Burrard, but it had a different name “Tacofino Blue”. When I got there I just laughed because it was actually blue. I spent the whole morning trying to figure out how this one would be different than their other location. There is a big big difference between the two trucks – BURRITOS!

They still have a few tacos at this location, but you never know when they will be there or not. They don’t specialize in tacos here.

Their main menu has mostly Burritos. If you are feeling like Burritos, come here instead of their orange truck.

The burrito at first may seem a bit on the small side for about $10, but it has quite a bit of weight to it.

Chicken Burrito ($10) has slow cooked chicken with refried black beans, seasoned basmati rice, sour cream, chipotle mayo, salsa fresca and shredded cabbage rolled in a warm 12” flour tortilla. I really loved all the sauces and the flavours mixed together in this burrito. I was stuffed, so the $10 price tag was worth it.

Words of Wisdom:

Burrito are really filling
Tuna Ta Taco + Pork Gringa + Jarritos = Best meal!!
Really busy during lunch
Can get messy
Closest Skytrain: Burrard

We Rate Tacofino Blue:

Location: Burrard x Dunsmiur

Website: www.tacofino.com

Twitter: @TacoFinoCantina

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/TacoFino-Vancouver/157314964322202

In Commercial Drive / Grandview

Bandidas Taqueria: Vegetarian Tacos!

October 10, 2011

Bandidas Taqueria is a vegetarian Mexican joint on Commercial that sells some amazing vegetarian tacos. Since I have not seen Eva in a while, so some taco from Bandidas Taquria seemed fitting since she’s a vegetarian.

The interior is very rustic and has lots of tables.

The tables even have these cute little micro plants.

Horchata is a traditional Mexican rice beverage. It’s refreshing, sweet, milky, nutty and has a nice cinnamon taste.

Ronny Russell Taco has roasted yams and onions, fresh guacamole, black beans, green salsa, purple cabbage and toasted pumpkin seeds. You can turn the 2 tacos into an entrée for a little bit extra and you get rice and beans on the side. Eva usually gets this dish quite often, which means this must be good.

Fajitas ($12) has smoked tempeh, sautéed strips of poblano chilies, onions and red peppers. It is also served with rice, beans, cheese, roasted salsa, sour cream, red cabbage and corn tortillas. This was a pretty big plate of food.

I don’t usually eat vegetarian food, but this was so good! The flavours were amazing and the tempeh tasted very good. Tempeh is like a dense version of tofu.

Bandidas Taqeria did not disappoint at all! Good food, good location and good company!

Words of Wisdom:

No reservations
All Vegetarian food
Good quality ingredients
Closest Skytrain: Commercial/Broadway stn

We rate Bandidas Taqueria:

Address:

2781 Commercial Drive
Vancouver, BC

Website:
www.bandidastaqueria.com

In Mexican

Vallarta’s Mexican Restaurant: Burrito Packed Full of Shrimp

September 7, 2011

I came to Vallarta’s Mexican Restaurant a while ago and it’s a really great hole in the wall restaurant with huge delicious portions. They serve up authentic Mexican food which will tingle your taste buds. Last time they ran out of the Cameron Burrito, so I just had to have it this time.

I am a huge huge shrimp lover and anything with lots of shrimp… I must devour.

Their menu can seem a bit pricey at first, but the portions will surprise you once it arrives at the table.

Camaron Burrito ($12.99) has garlic seasoned prawns, rice, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers in a flour tortilla. It’s a good alternative to the other meaty dishes they have. The burrito is huge and you’ll be stuffed when you finish it… or you might be like me and get full half way. It can make for 2 meals.

This burrito had a lot of shrimp and I was surprised! There was probably over 10 pieces of shrimp. All the ingredients inside melded well together and you get good taste of the shrimp. One downside of this dish was the a few shrimp pieces had a bit of shell still on the shrimp. At least they aren’t bad quality shrimp.

Overall, I got my fill of shrimp. No matter if you get a meatless or meat dish, you will leave happy.

Words of Wisdom: