[My ongoing series for 2016 continues ... with the TWENTY-NINTH of FIFTY tastes of FLORIDA (coming to you on sequential Thursdays. All. Year. Long.)!]
Establishment: Taquería Doña Raquél
Location: Pompano Beach
Meal: Dinner
Drink: (a few) Tecate
pale lager beer
Appetizer: Choriqueso
melted cheese dip with Mexican chorizo
Main: (Tres) Gorditas
cornmeal pocket, with sour cream and cheese and meat -- one chicken, one grilled steak and one pork rinds
Side(s): Chips and Salsas (one hot, one hotter)
Dessert: n/a
Server: Milca
Website: not applicable
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Taqueria-Do%C3%B1a-Raquel-121075597933818/
Here's the hard truth. I'm not a fan of Mexican food. I said it before that it's mostly all in my head ... and something about textures and food running together and too many dishes with beans. That being said, I know that life is such that I'm going to be eating this type of cuisine every now and then, and I can't always order fajitas (my go to) or tacos (my second go to) or just eat a whole meal of guac and chips (I haven't done it yet ... but I have thought about it). I think it's important to keep that in mind when reading how tonight's score came about:AMBIANCE: 8/10 (the whole plaza seems connected [with a restaurant, a convenience store, a meat store, etc.] and it's fun to feel like you are in Mexico when you step on the parking lot, especially with the authentic music playing ... there's a lot to be said for an open kitchen format where you see everything being made just beyond your table [although the boy making it looked to be about 12] ... a point lost for for being a bit too bright and another one docked for TV screens that were pimped out as ads that barely moved [the same real estate guy on the screen stared at me the whole meal])FOOD: 7/10 (the details I shared in the intro notwithstanding, I particular enjoyed that the salsas were clearly homemade and very spicy with homemade chips, that the appetizer lived up to its warning that it was extra sticky and I have no doubt that my main meal was authentic with crispy gordita shells ... but a point lost for not being able to tell which one was which by sight, another lost for being packed full of the extras moreso than the meat and a final point taken off because although it was a nice touch to serve the strawberry candies with the bill, the candies tasted as if they were as old as Mexico itself)SERVICE: 8/10 (this is difficult ... because our waitress *wanted* to take our order and we put her off for more beers and chips and conversation and then when we were finally ready, a party table had slipped in and was taking up all of her time ... but I still have to dock a point for there not being any solution for that issue other than us raising our hands over and over again until we could get her attention, and a second point for feeling a little rushed as they were doing closing prep and we were still chowing down)BACON: 6/10 (chorizo is like bacon [kind of?] and so are pork rinds [ish?])BONUS: 9/10 (+3 for the best huevo rancheros and beans that someone at our table who really really enjoys Mexicans said he had had recently, +3 for the authenticity of it all that left me with tingly lips on the ride home and +3 for the bathtub Jesus in the parking lot [see photo below])
TroyScore: 38 out of 50 -- aka 76, a solid C
[My ongoing series for 2016 continues ... with the SEVENTEENTH of FIFTY tastes of FLORIDA (coming to you on sequential Thursdays. All. Year. Long.)!]
Establishment: Tequila Sunrise Mexican Grill
Location: Oakland Park
Meal: Dinner
Drink: Frozen Tequila Sunrise Margarita with salted rim
Appetizer: Chips and Salsa (and Guac)
Main: Chicken And Steak Fajita
sauteed onions, green and red bell peppers, mushrooms and tomatoes with chicken and steak
Side(s): Tortillas, Cheese, Sour Cream and Pico de Gallo
Dessert: Fried Ice Cream
Server: Ali
Website: http://tequilasunrise.us/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TequilaSunriseMexicanGrill/
Funny thing ... up until the afternoon of the day our party ate here (actually on cuatro de Mayo ... knowing full well that the post would show up on cinco), we were planning to eat at a different place (which may yet show up as one of the fifty, so I won't jinx it by naming it yet) only to find out that the other place was closed on Wednesdays (the day we were all meeting and eating). And it's a good thing that happened, because this eating establishment ended up with one of the top three scores to date. Here's how it got to that number:AMBIANCE: 10/10 (one of the great things about the place is that it filled up quickly, and yet it never felt crowded with it's bar, tables around it, a separate dining room area AND outdoor seating ... and it had [almost] everything you'd expect to find as decorations [except a Mexican blanket, which was a topic of the conversation at one point and so we were hoping to locate one hanging from the rafters] ... FOOD: 10/10 (my go-to at Mexican restaurants is the fajitas [what can I say? I'm addicted to the sizzle] and the combo was well seasoned and extra tasty and there was enough to go around to fill FIVE tortillas ... then came the dessert, which I shared with the other three in our group [although they were restricted to just one spoonful apiece] ... I don't think a single person in our group left a morsel on their plates, which says a lot)SERVICE: 10/10 (there's nothing but good things to say about the young woman who played the role of server ... seventeen weeks in to this series, and she's in the running for one of the best of the year so far ... she came across like she *wanted* to be there and that she *enjoyed* her job ... with a smile every step of the way, she hung back at the beginning to allow our party time to reconnect, was right on top of every step of the order taking process, stopped back just often enough during the meal, and chatted personally with our group for a few minutes at the beginning and the end of the experience without any sense of rushing)BACON: 5/10 (this is the second Mexican restaurant in this series, and I'll say here what I said for the last one: "it's a tricky category, as traditional authentic Mexican food is more about the fresh ingredients ... and although the menu includes many references to pork and carnitas and such, the reality is that I didn't see a single reference to bacon on the menu ... out of sensitivity to the culture and because of the high scores in all the other categories, I'll put a few points on the board") BONUS: 10/10 (+3 again for the hospitality the server showed, +3 for having big-sized booths that comfortably fit four adults, +3 for the alcohol and +1 for being a place to which we will most definitely return)
TroyScore: 45 out of 50 -- aka 90, a low A (one of only three As given to date ...)
[My ongoing series for 2016 continues ... with the TENTH of FIFTY tastes of FLORIDA (coming to you on sequential Thursdays. All. Year. Long.)!]
Establishment: Jalisco Restaurant
Location: Ft Lauderdale
Meal: Late Dinner (we actually closed the place at 10pm)
Drink: Coca-Cola
Appetizer: Chicken Soup
Delightful delicious homemade soup loaded with chunks of tender chicken floating in a savory, simmering broth with rice. Some say it is magical!
Main: Sizzling Fajitas (Steak and Chicken combo)
Marinated chunk skirt or chicken breast are grilled with fresh bell peppers, onions, tomatoes, green peppers and spices, then presented sizzling at your table with sour cream, Mexican relish, cheese, and hot tortillas to be combined and eaten like a taco
Side(s): Guac to go with the warm chips and salsa (one each of hot and not) and the above fajita accessories
Dessert: n/a
Server: Linda
Website: not applicable
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jalisco-Retaurante/100860013292824
There's a lot to be said about an unassuming place that simply puts out good food ... and that's exactly how it felt when my sister and her eldest son joined me for a late dinner after his swim meet this past weekend at this restaurant. Full disclosure -- I'm not the biggest fan of Mexican food ... mostly because I get in my own head about the textures and don't like how everything blends together on one plate. However, that didn't matter here because of the great variety of choices ... which allowed me to get a dish that didn't have a pool of beans (not that there's anything wrong with them). I almost got a dish called the "crazy Mexican", but didn't feel comfortable saying that out loud ... just like I almost got an authentic pineapple soda, but chose coca cola in the end. And, in a worst case scenario, I *could* have ordered the Hamburgeusa, which was in the "gringo" section of the menu! But I didn't ... and my evaluation is below:
AMBIANCE: 8/10 (it's much bigger than it looks from the outside, with a cute cantina bar and walls filled with the stereotypical things one would expect like sombreros and panchos and the like ... plus the staff all reinforce the concept in that they likely may not know a lot of English ... a point is being deducted though because there were workers in the foyer while we were eating [you can see them in the photo below] taking advantage of close-to-closing time to work on some kind of project and another one lost because the TVs weren't working at the time)
FOOD: 8/10 (there was plenty of it -- one of those plates where halfway through the meal you felt like you hadn't yet made a dent in what you had eaten and every bit of it was tasty ... that said, a point is lost for the excess cilantro in the chicken noodle soup [that was otherwise "delightful and delicious" just as the menu description promised] and another point lost because no one gave a warning about how spicy the "Mexican relish" was that was in the mix as a taco-add)
SERVICE: 10/10 (hot food [sizzling hot!] that was delivered quickly from a menu that was designed for the nonSpanish speaker ... and although our meal bumped into their closing time, there wasn't a single bit of pressure to "eat and get out")
BACON: 5/10 (it's a tricky category, as traditional authentic Mexican food is more about the fresh ingredients ... and although the menu includes many references to pork and carnitas and such, the reality is that I didn't see a single reference to bacon on the menu ... out of sensitivity to the culture and because of the high scores in all the other categories, I'll put a few points on the board)
BONUS: 10/10 (+3 because I scared the server by asking her her name at the end of the meal [I did NOT ask her her immigration status], +3 for having a menu description that included permission to "lick the plate" on an item, +3 because it's so close to where I live and +1 because it is a place to which we will definitely return]
TroyScore: 41 out of 50 -- aka 82, a low B (B as in bacon, which would have raised the score on my scale)
