huevos rancheros

to thank brian for being such an awesome roommate i decided to make him breakfast today. i told him he had his choice of omelettes, scrambled eggs with chicken mango sausage, or huevos rancheros. he chose huevos rancheros so that is what he got.

i had never made huevos rancheros before so i used a combination of the mark bittman and smitten kitchen recipes. mainly i used mark bittman's method but i embellished them a la smitten kitchen by using black beans instead of refried and adding in some fresh salsa and some guacamole.

i won't make you wait to ogle the deliciousness

for the salsa i used herdez salsa taquera which is one of my absolute favorite jarred salsas. i can make my own salsa but i am lazy and herdez is good and cheap. you can find it at pretty much any of the stores around here. if you feel like a more tomatoey salsa, go for the herdez salsa casera. i am a big fan of herdez in general.

as for the beans i got a can of black beans and threw them into some onions and garlic and thyme which i had been cooking until the onions got soft. then i softened them up a bit and added a bay leaf and some lime juice and salt and pepper. they simmered for a while.

then i just put it all together the way mark bittman says and they came out delicious and we put the fresh salsa and guacamole on top. i don't have a specific recipe for fresh salsa but it is really easy, you just chop up some tomatoes (i had some delicious ones from my uncle's garden and the farmer's market) and a hot pepper (from my garden this time) and some onion and garlic and cilantro and then mix it all together with some lime juice, a little white vinegar, and plenty of salt.

this is approximately what your fresh salsa should look like

you may as well make these huevos rancheros yourself because the only place you are going to find any that are even close to this good around here are at tucker's and they are only going to give you a tiny little speck of their fresh salsa. actually i am maybe lying, i bet take the cake does huevos rancheros that are even better than this. i don't know that for sure but it just seems likely.

taqueria mercado downtown

as everyone and their cousin knows by now judging by a) the internet buzz and b) the crowds, taqueria mercado has opened a location downtown in the old javier's spot. i am a loyal taqueria mercado fan but rarely get the chance to eat there since it's all the way out in fairfield. although lately i have been eating there a lot because for various reasons i have had to be in fairfield way more than anyone should ever have to be in fairfield, unless you live in fairfield i guess.

enough about fairfield. taqueria mercado kicks ass. yes readers, you are going to have to cut them a little slack right now. they just opened and were not prepared for the mobs of people that would be descending upon them. especially the bitchy mobs who are pissed that javier is no longer around to serve them their precious antioxidant salad with fat free southwest ranch dressing on the side. sorry whiners, this is real mexican food and yes there is fat in it. not that i didn't like javier's (sorry javier if you are reading this but you know what i am saying).

you also have to order the right things to get the full delicious experience. do not waste your money or stomach space on anything involving a side of rice and beans. just get some tacos or a burrito or some goat soup or whatever. my personal recommendation is to get just straight up carnitas tacos. carnitas is the best meat and the tacos are delicious (yummy homemade corn tortillas + cilantro + onion + lime). the guacamole is also delicious. portions are big and you get free chips and salsa, and the chips are hot and crisp out of the fryer.

we had to wait a while to get the server's attention (actually i had to flag them down) and rickell ended up leaving because her food didn't come with the rest of ours and she didn't have time to keep waiting. i saw other tables where people sat for a while waiting for service and then left without ordering, and then there was one table where the people got their food, took one bite, and then stormed out. we saw quite a bit of eye rolling, foot stomping, and chin thrusting from anxiety ridden high maintenance downtown lunchers on a very. tight. schedule. i think it's fair to say that taqueria mercado is not the right place for those people.

however, once i got my food, i was not disappointed. it is the same quality as the fairfield location that i love so much. if you like authentic mexican food, this is the place to get it downtown. yes, the service is slow and clumsy right now but i think there is no way they could have imagined they would be so busy right when they opened, and i think they also were totally unprepared for the downtown lunch mob scene. service in fairfield is always fast and accurate so i expect the same will be true downtown.

this place is good and i think they are going to work out the issues. and even if they don't, then at least they will scare off the high maintenance crowd so there's less of a wait for the rest of us.

...crickets chirping...

sorry for the blog silence, oh dedicated readers. i am in the process of moving right now, and work is insane, and i am training for a half marathon. all of that leaves me with little to no time to blog. however, i am of course still eating. here are a few mini reports of foods i have eaten lately:

senor roy's taco patrol: disappointing. i got really excited about this one but found the tacos to be really bland and the service to be slow and inconsistent (they messed up my order twice, the first time by giving it to someone else who walked away with it, while i was standing there waiting). the tacos are filled with mostly rice (which is supposed to be cilantro-lime rice but tastes like just overcooked plain rice) and the meats are bland (i tried all three). the salsas are used too sparingly and there was not a corn tortilla in sight. i had asked for corn but got flour tortillas and since i had waited so long for my order i was too hungry to ask them to fix it. i will give them another shot since i only went once but they need to get it together, especially with other promising taco options looming on the horizon downtown (including taco truck azul and taqueria mercado, which is setting up shop in the old javier's space).

lunch on main: interesting sandwich combinations, but it's overpriced for what it is. it's like $6-7 for a sandwich, drink and chips not included. and the meats are just boring boar's head. i feel like they need to step it up a little in order to make it downtown.

taco casa: ok, the furthest thing ever from authentic mexican but damn that taco salad is addictive. you guys are going to laugh at me for even liking this but i love it. it is just shredded iceberg covered with ground beef seasoned with taco seasoning from a packet, pinto beans, tomatoes, shredded cheese, and a shit ton of ranch dressing. all of this is served with old el paso style taco sauce and cheap tortilla chips from a bag. i don't know what it is about this (well yes i do... it is the insane amount of ranch sauce) but i could not stop eating it. plus the guys who work there are really nice. absolutely in no way even remotely real mexican food, but i am craving it even as i type this.

bouchard's on main: surprisingly good. the menu does not look particularly inspired but they really use good ingredients and prepare the food well. i got a mediterranean wrap that had delicious, zesty greek dressing and fresh, ripe vegetables. i have also tasted the cuban and it is really good (although not particularly authentic) and comes with a really addictive cumin-lime dipping sauce. yum.

balboa's: totally disappointing. this place has the atmosphere of a chain hotel lobby and the waitstaff expresses their annoyance at having to stop gossiping in order to serve you in a very obvious way. on top of that, the food is a total waste of time. i have never had a more poorly prepared nathan's hot dog (on a stale bun) and the fries were cold and chewy. my friend ordered ravioli which was a small portion of gummy, overcooked squares drowning in bland sauce and it was $12. i heard the pizzas were better but there is absolutely no reason to eat here since you can get much better everything for cheaper pretty much anywhere else, and without the attitude.

cafe de wheels: readers, it lives up to the hype. thus far i have tried their burger (big, flavorful, cooked to a perfect medium as requested, and interesting with a caramelized onion marmalade and melty cheese) and their cuban (about as close to authentic as you can get around here), as well as the sweet potato fries and i have loved everything. the price is right and they seem to love what they do. eat there as soon as you can.

habits cafe: i have eaten there before but last night i just tried the ostrich burger for the first time. it was... ok. not amazing. it was just whatever. i would eat it again but would rather go somewhere else. i don't know why people love this so much, except maybe people who don't eat beef i guess. also their appetizers are insanely overpriced. we ordered bruschetta, which was four small pieces of french bread with tomatoes on top for $4.95, and chicken fingers, which was five medium sized fingers with celery (and no ranch dip) for $7.25. it was good in terms of flavor and ingredient quality but come on, $1.25 for a little slice of bread with some tomatoes and garlic on top?

el toro mexican restaurant: i was told by the girl who cuts my hair that this is the best mexican food in cincinnati. she usually has pretty good food taste so i gave it a shot despite hearing bad things from other people. it was disappointing. now to be fair, she is a vegetarian and i can see how vegetarians would like this place. they have lots of menu options, the portions are big, and you can request the smoky and spicy house salsa to give your food some flavor. i ordered the chicken fajitas which were the special that night and found them to be pretty bland and dry as hell. also, it's not particularly cheap. i guess it is better than don pablo's or something like that but i would not go back.

all right, that is all i have time for right now. soon enough i will write about my fish fry experiences so please remain at the edge of your seats.

tuna taco nirvana

i have a lot of different things that i make with varying degrees of success, but the one thing that i am really amazing at making is tuna tacos. what i do is make grilled tuna, put it on some corn tortillas, throw on some salsa and red cabbage slaw and maybe guacamole, and then die of happiness.

here is my recipe for grilled tuna (scroll down). you can also find my guacamole recipe there too. for the corn tortillas, what you want to do is heat up a skillet really hot and put them in for about 1 minute per side to soften them up and cook the corn a bit. don't just eat them out of the bag, they will depress you. cooking them makes all the difference. you could also throw them on the grill with the tuna if you want.

a belated photo of the tacos

here is my red cabbage slaw recipe. this changes every time i make it. for example, today i added pomelo and shredded carrots and i used all lime juice (no lemon) and a little seasoned rice wine vinegar. other fun substitutions/additions are using orange juice or lemonade, adding raisins or chopped dried apricots or fresh pineapple or whatever you think sounds good.

so you just grill the tuna, heat up the tortillas, and then put a little salsa on the tortillas (today i went for herdez salsa taquera) and then the tuna and then the slaw. they are amazingly delicious. i like them so much that i hardly ever make them for other people. i feel like if you eat my tuna tacos then everything else i make for you will be disappointing. i make them for myself all the time though, especially on random days like today when the opportunity to grill unexpectedly falls out of the sky and lands in my lap. sorry i don't have a picture, i ate them too quickly and forgot until it was too late.

general latino food shout out

polly campbell wrote an awesome article in today's enquirer about all the great places to get latino food in the cincinnati area. you guys should check it out. and don't forget the cincy cinco festival this sunday on fountain square (the article was written to coincide with that). i went last year and there was a ridiculous number of delicious foods available, and i think fountain square will be a much better location than riverbend. and on sunday parking is free on the street downtown. cheap + delicious, i can't argue with that.

boca chica

boca chica was one of the major food highlights of my three years in new york. my friend mary ellen first introduced me to it during my first couple of months in the city and i became an instant regular. every time i go back, i have to eat there.

so what exactly is this miraculous place? boca chica is a small, perpetually crowded latin american restaurant in the east village. the nytimes describes it much more succinctly than i ever could:

Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, Mexico, Cuba and the Dominican Republic are just some of the countries whose cuisines are juxtaposed on the enticing menu of this little pan-Latin restaurant. Top choices include camarones chipotle, shrimp in a tomato, chili and cilantro sauce; crisp, tangy chicharrones de pollo, the classic Dominican dish of chicken pieces marinated in lime, soy and spices; and sweet plantains stuffed with ground beef picadillo. Service is sometimes slow when the boisterous dining room is filled.

i just love this damn place. we always go on a saturday night at like 8 pm so that means we always have to wait at least an hour. but we just bum around at the bar and sip the best mojitos of my life and we do not have a care in the world. (tip: go for the mojitos and avoid the caipirinhas like the plague). we always want to try the sangria but that would mean wasting precious mojito-allocated stomach space, so we never do.

the atmosphere

once you are finally seated, they hook you up right away with long, crispy plantain chips and a black bean dip that is infused with crack. i am serious. i do not understand what is in this dip (and trust me, i have tried countless times at home to figure it out to no avail), but it is utterly addictive. it is the best fucking black bean dip you have ever eaten.

as you are fighting with your tablemates for the last scrapings of dip, you peruse the menu. you start to wonder if maybe you had one too many mojitos because... can this place really be that cheap? or are you just blurry eyed and fuzzy brained after all that rum? no, my friend, you are seeing things correctly... all the entrees, and i mean every single one, including specials, are under $20. and, in fact, most of them are under $15. and we ain't talking a la carte here. no, every entree comes with rice, a cabbage/lime/tomato/onion slaw, and either black beans or mashed yams. i challenge you to clean your plate.

the food

because i love it sooooo much, i almost always get the moqueca de peixe, a rich coconut cream and curry based stew with chunks of fish, huge shrimp, peppers, onions, and general deliciousness. it is the shit. i am not normally a one dish kind of girl at most restaurants... i like to sample all the things on the menu. however, this dish is so insanely good that i can almost never pass it up.

i have tried other things in the past and they have all been amazing. one of my particular favorites, which fortunately comes in appetizer form as well (which means i can have my beef and eat it too), are the piniones. these are sweet maduros formed somehow into a round shape and stuffed with juicy, spicy, very well seasoned ground beef. it's a sweet-and-salty lover's dream. soooo good. i always make people let me try what they order there, and i am convinced that you truly cannot go wrong.

the atmosphere is fun and busy. it's darkly lit, with colored christmas lights, exposed brick walls, mirrors decorated with a listing of the specials of the day, and fun mexican loteria paintings. the place is always jam packed like i said, so it is kind of loud, but after a couple mojitos it won't bother you. one thing: they will ask you to leave if there's a wait and you're lingering at your table. but with such amazing food at such low prices, you don't even mind.

more levi and bristol, and more flight delays

ok, i am truly never flying again. i have been sitting here in the st. louis airport for 4 hours now trying to fly out. apparently hurricane ike is wreaking havoc on cincinnati and we are not being allowed to leave. children around me are screaming and i was forced to pay $7.95 for internet in order to avoid strangling them. i think that is money well spent.

i am trying to calculate the sheer number of hours i have spent waiting for airplanes in the past year and the number is mind boggling. i actually cannot wrap my head around it. seriously, if you have any sense of self preservation, do not fly with me. your flight will be delayed longer than you thought humanly possible. and then longer than that.

the good thing about sitting in airports for ungodly numbers of hours is that it gives you a lot of time to observe other people and realize that actually you do not really have it that bad after all in life. i do not have a beer belly. i do not wear a fanny pack. i do not have children, let alone children who scream and throw things and kick and bite. i pack lightly.

in other news, i read this article just now and got some hot bristol and levi gossip:

I COULD live with the small, but growing misgivings I’ve been feeling — until I saw in the coverage of the Republican National Convention that Bristol Palin’s intended, Levi Johnston, had “Bristol” tattooed on his ring finger.

Suddenly, I had a bit too much in common with a high school senior who a week before had declared himself a redneck on his MySpace page, threatened to pummel anyone who messed with him and said he was “in a relationship but didn’t want children.”

Now, with the mother of his pregnant girlfriend running for vice president, he had cut his mullet, shaved his peach fuzz, swapped his hockey sweater for a rep tie and an American flag pin, and manifested his love with a ring tattoo.

ok, awesome. i need to find this kid's myspace page. i really want to start sending him secret love notes to see if i can get him to stray from his wife to be, but i am thinking that is probably a) illegal (isn't 17 underage?) and b) not really a good idea in real life since my brain is pretty addled by airport fumes at this point.

this is a food blog after all so here is a photo of me and kathleen enjoying dinner at one of the tasty mexican restaurants on cherokee street in st. louis

one final unrelated thought: last night, kathleen and i went out to see a movie at a theater 3 blocks from her house. on our walk back, we were stopped by the sound of gunshots and a mob of screaming, crying people who immediately started running towards us. we went back to the theater and waited a half hour. things calmed down and no one was dead. we returned to her apartment unharmed.

still, someone was shooting a gun within 2 blocks of me. i am starting to see a pattern here... every time i travel, literally every time without fail, something ridiculous happens. the tally so far in my life: gunshots, multi-day flight delays, a tornado, dengue fever, a crazy cab driver pseudo abduction, a broken nose, lost plane tickets, an array of disgusting stomach ailments, a flood which led to a drowned taxi, heat exhaustion, a suicide on a train, etc, etc, etc. the list goes on and on.

my question... is this a sign that i'm supposed to give up traveling? or is this just my life? the thing is, i always end up fine (knock on wood) so i have never been traumatized seriously enough to make me afraid. am i being stupid? let's be honest though, even if i'm being stupid, it's not going to stop me from taking many more crazy trips in the future...

mexico recap

ok, so vacation did not go as planned. but it did go as expected... or at least as i should have expected. i left cincinnati on monday (8/4) and ended up getting in 4 hours late to chicago because of weather. the weather in chicago was so bad that tons of flights were canceled and i could not get on another flight to mexico until... (drumroll)... thursday.

they offered to send me back to cincinnati but i figured why not live it up since i have a bunch of friends in chicago who i could stay with. well that seemed like a good plan until i could not get my suitcase. no one knew where it was or whether i would ever see it again. i didn't even have a damn pair of underwear on me. i spent all day tuesday on the phone haggling with united officials who told me i could get my suitcase at the airport, and then haggling in person with the people at the airport who told me i could not have it because of "9/11 security restrictions."

argentinian princess + chilean wine + chicago sunset = almost mexico

after a full day of arguing, i gave up. i threw down $100 of vacation money on clothes and toiletries at target. then i tried to use my cell phone, which was dead after all the suitcase haggling, and couldn't charge it because my charger was in my suitcase. verizon no longer sells my charger, so i had to get a new phone.

after all that i needed some cheap wine to drown my sorrows. walk to 7-11, pick up a bottle of $5 barefoot pinot grigio, and on the walk back to sarah's apartment we get stuck in a TORNADO. i am not making this up.

the next night i went out with friends and then spent most of the rest of the time doing laundry and watching cable at sarah's place. 3 days later and i am back en route to mexico. my suitcase is miraculously reunited with me at benito juarez international airport. it didn't show up on the conveyor belt so i began running around like a chicken with my head cut off. "donde esta mi maleta?!?!?!" i screamed to every mexican in an airport uniform. finally a man walked up to me. "usted es elizabeth?" he asked. "si," i replied. this angel sent from heaven then handed me my bag. i clutched onto him and sobbed the tears of pure unadulterated joy. "te amo! te amo!" i howled. he ran screaming, probably scarred for life at the thought of americans.

a long cab ride later and i finally arrive at myra's hotel and it is pouring out. i immediately turn on the tv, nap, and shower. my first day in mexico spent much like my last days in the US between all the cable and laying around.

actual menu from one of the few restaurants i ate at in mexico city... check out the translation of burritos

on friday i head out for some sightseeing with some friends of myra's. i spend a good 3-4 hours that day in cabs because mexico city is so damn trafficky. we go to bed early and then get on a 6 hour bus ride to oaxaca on saturday when i realize i am coming down with a cold. not to be thwarted by something silly like my health, i demand to myra that we go out dancing that night. after a good 2 hours of wandering around, we end up back at our hotel at midnight because all the bars are either lame or have lines around the block.

myra attempts to restrain herself from making sweet sweet love to a tlayuda, which is an awesome oaxacan street food consisting of a crispy wheat tortilla piled with yummy deliciousness including cheese, dried pork, avocado, beans, onions, and hot sauce

the next two days i'm pretty exhausted with a cold/sinus infection. it's cold and rainy and we see some sights. we went to some museums, shopped, ate, drank chocolate, and hit up monte alban (zapotec ruins near oaxaca). on tuesday morning myra leaves to go back to the US.

i decide i'm going to head to the beach after finding a van that can get me there in 6 hours (all the buses took 8-9 hours). the van ride was one of the strangest of my life... 6 straight hours of winding roads through steep mountains while random mexican men pressed up against me in a van try to hit on me. all the while i'm in a delirious, lightheaded stupor from my cold. it's raining. we stop at a restaurant in the mountains and i wonder if i am going to die here.

this was about 3 minutes before myra ripped my heart out and threw it into a vat of flames

i arrive in pochutla, the town which is the jumping off point for a bunch of oaxacan coast beaches, on "el dia de la taxista." yes friends, this is a national holiday for taxi drivers. that means they do not pick you up. that means you are stuck in pochutla because there are no buses or anything. i stand around in jeans and a sweater in the sweltering heat for a good hour until i find a random car to pick me up and take me to puerto angel.

i arrive in my hotel in puerto angel to mean owners, a broken fan, a nasty bug and lizard infested shared bathroom, a hard bed, and lumpy pillows. also, it starts raining. i spend the evening sitting on the patio of my hotel composing emails in my head to friends about how horrible my vacation is while drinking cans of tecate i bought at the corner store for 70 cents each.

the next morning i set off to find a new hotel. success! i found a really cute (also cheap) place with hammocks, flowers, interesting foreign guests, comfy beds, and really nice owners. i hang out until the wee hours drinking tequila and eating dried grasshoppers with a bunch of crazy germans and french people.

the next day i am off to some tiny secluded beautiful local beaches with the french people. all goes well until about 4 pm when i start shitting like my life depends on it. literally my ass is like a leaky faucet. maybe those grasshoppers were not such a good idea after all...? i spend the rest of the night laying around moaning and bolting back and forth between my bed and the toilet. fortunately at this hotel i had my own bathroom. i start popping 2 year old antibiotics left over from a trip to thailand in 2006 in an attempt to stop up the rushing flood of liquid which is pouring out my ass.

this is what i was doing when i should have been laying on the beach

on friday i was too scared to leave my hotel because of the shits. i laid around in a hammock for most of the day. it rained anyway. after a while both the sky and my ass cleared up and i headed to the beach for a bit, then it was an early bed night since i had to get up early for my bus the next day. i had to get a bus on the way back because i needed a mode of transportation with a toilet.

gratuitous deserted beach shot

the bus ride ended up taking 10.5 hours. it was hell. i watched both legends of the fall and marie antoinette in dubbed spanish. the little girl next to me ate all my chips. i only used the bathroom once.

i made it back into oaxaca at about 7 pm and only had time to pick up some souvenirs really quick and then eat a yummy dinner while every single guy who walked by the restaurant tried to hit on me (i was sitting in the window). i tried to go to bed early but only got about 2 hours of sleep because i was freaking out about sleeping through my alarm (set for 4 am).

gratuitous mexican sunset shot

i get to the airport at 5:15 and it's not open yet. i wait outside and finally get on my flight. i'm sitting next to the world's most annoying american ("is that there a mixed baby? ahhh loooooove mixed babies!!!") who then begins throwing up during the flight. nasty. my second flight (mexico city to washington) goes pretty smoothly. then on my third flight we are sitting on the runway forever. the flight attendant announces that the truck driving our luggage "accidentally went to a different terminal" and "we are not sure which one" and "we are hoping we can find it." they do, in fact, find it, and i am once again back in cincinnati at 8 pm on sunday night.

throughout my whole vacation i kept thinking, "i can't wait to be home. this is exhausting." i walk in my front door and instantly become depressed. "i can't believe my vacation is over! i want to be back in mexico! why do i live in cincinnati??? what is the point of life???" yes, the grass really is always greener.

anyway so that is my vacation. if you can even call it that. i told my secretary the story yesterday and she laughed at me and said, "that is really the worst vacation i have ever heard of." i guess it is, but at least i have a good story...

cactus pear

ok so i have shit 3 times today already after my meal at cactus pear last night. and i could not sleep last night because i was so full and my stomach hurt so much. but the food was really good. i went with avani, krishna, and yagnesh and we went to the one in blue ash after golf class. it is really not authentic mexican by any stretch of the imagination, or even authentic southwestern, but it is good in its own way.

salsa = roasted and very tasty. the guacamole had crack in it. the margaritas were good but not strong enough (or maybe they were... i was driving). krishna and i ordered the chicken enchiladas which were very yummy with tomatillo salsa and lemon sour cream. the rice was flavorful but dry and the black beans were blah (i added lime and hot sauce to spice them up a little). avani and yagnesh both got jamaican jerk chicken fajitas which came with interesting veggies and a sweet-ish sauce. they liked it. the service was friendly, fast, and accomodating. i do think it is kind of overpriced for what you get. i mean $16 for fajitas? it's just some meat and tortillas.

we got to sit outside so that was nice. the thing that cracks me up about blue ash is that it is like super suburbia. we are sitting there on the patio among the office buildings and strip malls. and there was some nutty outdoor concert which seemed to have attracted the whole neighborhood, most of whom drove over in their SUVs with their dogs and kids. then they all went to get ice cream and went home to their subdivisions.

actually this is kind of stereotypical suburban life week for me. on monday i left work early and got my nails done for no other reason than i felt like it. i have never done that before. then i went to the mall and then target. last night was golf class and dinner in blue ash. tonight: who knows... maybe dinner at applebee's followed by a PTA meeting? or i could just stay in and manage my stock portfolio. now all i need is a flat screen and a riding mower and i'll be living the american dream!

cincy cinco festival

this weekend beth t. and i had a taco craving so we decided to hit up the cincy cinco festival. it sounded like it would be pretty cool. you can't go wrong with tacos and salsa music!

beth, tacos, y cerveza

as it turns out, the venue (riverbend) did not end up being that great. it was really hot, despite the actual temperature of high 60s, because of the pavement and lack of trees. but on top of that, it was really spread out and did not really feel like a cohesive festival. also, the majority of the space was taken up with weird booths which really were not entertaining (ie: kroger, various banks, planned parenthood). of course the point is to get services to the spanish speaking community, but it just wasn't really that fun.

feed me, seymour!

we did want to see some of the music. beth was especially excited about the mariachi band. well this turned out to be a man with a guitar, aka the world's smallest mariachi band. at various points, audience members and the reds mascot "gapper" (i had never heard of this thing before and it kind of freaked me out) got up on stage so he was not so lonely. it was funny, but also kind of weird.

tacos, my one true love in life

we did definitely satisfy our craving for tacos (and other tasty latin american food items including banana leaf tamales and churros) so that was good. major shout out to taqueria mercado, which has some of the best tacos in the cincinnati area.

the line just kept going at taqueria mercado's booth

however, since we spent $25 for tickets and parking alone, plus another $12 or so each for food and beer, i really feel like it was not worth the money or the drive. beth speculates that since there are now 3 festivals focused on the spanish speaking community, it might be too much and no one is really putting that much effort into each individual festival. i think that is a possibility.

once you go banana leaf, you never go back

i have now spent 2 consecutive weekends at coney island/riverbend for various festivals (last weekend was the flower show). both were kind of expensive and kind of boring, and both were overrun with booths of people selling crap and offering boring services. maybe festivals are just not my thing. anyway, at cincy cinco we did accomplish our food goals so that was good!

cicadas???

ok cincinnati, what the hell. first an earthquake, and now cicadas? i just found out about this today. none of my friends could stop talking about 2004, the summer of cicada hell. now according to everyone i have talked to, cicadas come back every 17 years. 2004 + 17 ≠ 2008. so i don't get what that is about.

in the summer of 2004 i was living in san jose, costa rica, far from cicadas. there they have much different insect problems. take the 3 inch long roaches living happily in my kitchen for example. gross. i spent a good part of my childhood in michigan so i missed them the last time too (my mom tells me the ground is too cold for cicadas there). so i have never experienced this particular cruel trick of nature.

all my friends could tell me was "six weeks of cicadas" and "you just crunch them with every step" and "use an umbrella." ok. are you kidding me. we have pesticides that can kill small children, yet there is nothing we can do to prevent this?

seriously, may is like the best month. am i supposed to spend it locked up in my house? i am assuming swarms of giant bugs are going to make things like dinner al fresco and walks in the park and picnics pretty much impossible.

i just now googled and found this article in the enquirer. i am scared:

Right now the baby bugs are about 4 inches below the earth's surface, waiting for the warm-up.

They'll burrow up through gardens, lawns, fields and forests, creating a loud, creepy-crawly blanket on trees, houses, patio furniture and just about every other stationary object for four to six weeks.

ok, what the hell! this is like something out of the bible or something. not that i have read it, but i am pretty sure there are tons of floods and plagues and infestations and shit like that in there. it's 2008 in a major metropolitan area. i do not understand how this can be happening!

in other news, book club met up for dinner tonight at nada. (the book was water for elephants by sara gruen). i wrote about it a few months ago here. i enjoyed the food more this time (i tried the guacamole, the ceviche, the pork/salsa verde cazuela, and drank a passionfruit caipirinha... all very tasty). in addition, i really enjoyed the excellent service, especially after all this jean robert nonsense. liberal foodie was there too and promised to blog about the meal, so i will just leave that up to her.

one thing i do want to say is that i think they have adjusted portion sizes a little (for example, you now get 3 tacos for around $13-15, instead of 2 for $7-9, which is more expensive but also a better meal size). i know that overall the price per taco has gone up, but i still like that you can now make a meal of it and not have to order something else. you are paying for the atmosphere and the service here, but at least you get what you pay for.

they haven't furnished or opened their patio yet, which is sad, but maybe that is a good thing... nobody is going to eat out there if the place is swarming in giant insects. disgusting.

la mexicana

it is really embarrassing to admit, but before today i had only eaten tacos from la mexicana once. and i lived in newport for 3 months! and i FUCKING LOVE TACOS. there is absolutely no excuse for this gustatory faux pas but there you have it. i am scum! anyway, all was forgiven today by la mexicana, my (and your) local source of the best tacos available in the cincinnati area.

my date with destiny began... well who knows when it all started, but work has been absolutely running me into the ground for about the past month, other than my brief southern california respite. so today i was at this meeting that was just hell. tempers were high, people freaked out, nothing was resolved, time was wasted, emotions were drained, and the next thing you know it i had a mad taco craving.

since i was in newport, i knew there was only one answer. i made a mad dash to la mexicana and got a pile of tacos. i decided to take them back to the office to share with my equally miserable friends at work. i got a selection of al pastor, carnitas, and carne asada. in my opinion, the best was the al pastor, but then again that is just my favorite in general. all of them were delicious.

la mexicana does tacos right, with corn tortillas, lime, cilantro, and onions. they do not fuck around with their salsa and they were nice enough to give me both the red and green (avocado, not tomatillo, although they have that too) varieties. the green avocado sauce is awesome. it is like a soupy spicy fresh yummy taste of heaven. the meats were all awesome. the tacos hit the spot and prevented me from killing myself or someone else, which is really a lot to ask from a taco actually. the tacos are a little expensive at $2.75 each, but for a taco that SAVES LIVES i really do not think that is too much to pay, do you?

you must make a beeline there immediately and drown yourself in taco heaven. they also have burritos and chiles rellenos and everything, and hardly anyone there speaks english, so you can't go wrong. you will not be disappointed i promise. you can thank me in tacos.

tacos por favor

i've also been taco hunting here in LA. i plan to go to the beach today but have spent a good hour or so on the internet researching the best tacos in santa monica. i think tacos por favor may be my spot!

on monday i had some disappointing tacos from grand central market (dry, topped w/ lettuce, bland). yesterday, emily and i had some pretty good tacos from this place down the street for her (my taco-dar was calling me to it). however, i still am seeking my transcendental LA taco experience. i am hoping tacos por favor is the answer...

chimichurri, visitors, cooking, and honey

becca sent me an awesome sounding chimichurri recipe which i will share with all of you. you can thank me (or her) in cash. boys, she's single. from becca:

I found a recipe for Chimichurri sauce...it was delicious. Although not as delicious as at that steak place :)

1 bunch parsley (about 1 cup firmly packed), chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3/4 cup olive or vegetable oil
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper

In blender or food processor, place all ingredients. Cover and blend on high speed until will blended. Cover and refrigerate 2 hours.

in other news, i have been very busy entertaining guests. heather was here 2 weekends ago and we mostly went to places i have already written about i think (song long, jean ro bistro, beth and jim's house... good luck getting reservations there).

heather at jean ro bistro... she showed that chicken who was boss

then this past weekend bryan was here. we mostly cooked but we did go to green papaya (a neighborhood thai place in hyde park/oakley which offers tasty and fresh food, a fun atmosphere, an excellent selection of seafood options, and quirky service... in other words a typically good cincinnati thai place) and honey (one of the best restaurants in cincinnati).

bryan gives honey thumbs up. he had the citrus glazed salmon special. it came with lobster ravioli and had yummy wasabi roe on top. mmmm...

my lamb was amazing... it came with lentils and string beans and had a delicious coffee sauce

with honey you just can't go wrong. the food (which changes seasonally) is awesome, the service is always attentive, knowledgeable, and friendly, the prices are totally reasonable, and the atmosphere is both sophisticated and low key. if you have not been, go there immediately.

anyway, as i said, we cooked most of our meals. bryan told me before he came that he wanted to cook which made me happy of course. plus he did all the dishes!

food lessons learned during bryan's visit:

• fresh pesto > frozen pesto (even when homemade)
  
• cooking chicken to the "recommended temperature" makes for a dried out piece of crap instead of a meal... salmonella here i come
  
• excellent guacamole becomes life-alteringly awesome when sun dried tomatoes are added
• the proper pinkish white sauce for fish tacos remains elusive (any recipe recommendations?)
• i am a kick ass griller (oh wait, i already knew that one)

here are the best recipes from the weekend:

the best guacamole ever

4 ripe but not rotten avocados (avocado ripeness is KEY to this recipe)
2 or 3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 to 1/2 sweet onion, chopped or minced (depending on your preference)
juice of 1 to 3 limes (again depending on your preference)
chopped fresh cilantro (enough to make it taste good which is about 1/8 to 1/3 of a bunch, depending on the size), washed, stems removed, and chopped
EITHER 1 or 2 chopped, seeded tomatoes OR about 4 oz. chopped sun dried tomatoes
plenty of salt

peel and pit the avocadoes (i usually do this by quartering the avocadoes, sticking my knife in the pit, pulling it out, and then pulling the skins off). put them in a bowl. squeeze some lime juice over them. add garlic and onion and salt and mash up. add cilantro and mix. then add tomatoes and mix. taste for salt and lime and add more if necessary. i rely very much on my taste when making this. serve with whatever or just eat it with a spoon. bryan called the sun dried tomato version "crack on steroids." mmmmm...

grilled tuna

i know this recipe seems silly but i include it for the grill novice who does not understand how simple and easy and within your reach excellent rare grilled tuna is. and if you don't want it rare, just cook it longer (but that is kind of missing the point in my opinion).

2 albacore tuna steaks
juice of 2 to 4 limes (and/or lemons)
4+ garlic cloves, minced
salt

mix the lime juice, garlic cloves, and salt. marinate the tuna for 5-10 min per side. turn the grill on high. once the grill is hot, either baste a little oil on the grill or drizzle it on the tuna steaks. grill the steaks for 2-3 min. per side. use a spatula to flip them so you don't break them apart. take them off the grill and let them rest under foil for about 15 min. slice against the grain. eat. die of happiness.

once you make this, which really is excellent just as it is, you can mess around with the marinade ingredients. you can try other citrus juices, or soy sauce/hoisin sauce/black bean sauce, or add some spices like chinese 5 spice powder or cayenne or ginger. the possibilities are endless!

what we did with our tuna was make it into tacos, but since we didn't love the pink sauce we made, it may have been better to eat the tuna on its own or in a salad.

happy eating!

nada

nada is a new "upscale" mexican restaurant here in cincinnati. it is exciting because it is in a good location downtown and will hopefully help with the "revitalization" that is going on down there. i don't know why i am putting all this in quotes. i am not trying to make fun of anything. i guess i just feel that mexican is best when not upscale and true revitalization is going to take a hell of a lot more than a couple new "trendy" restaurants. and trendy re: anything generally just makes me want to puke.

all of which is not meant to say that i don't like nada. i do. it is a really fun, visually interesting place. the color scheme is reds and yellows, with lots of woods and candles and things like that. you could go dressed up or in jeans and a t-shirt. the service was great - our server seemed to have tried everything we asked about on the menu, was very friendly, and checked up on us regularly. i would have liked for her to be a little more personal in giving advice about food though. she just kind of told us what the menu already did about items. however, she gave a great tip in telling us to order the pink grapefruit margarita, which was delicious and did not give me heartburn as margaritas often do. (yes, i am a grandma and carry tums around in my bag).

the food was good and definitely tried to be authentic but also creative. i would say they mostly succeeded. however, i have just had some truly amazing food from taco stands and carts in latin america and california, and it just was not as good as much of that food. but it is way more authentic than most other places around here (with the except of a few, hardly known to the average cincinnatian type hole in the wall places run by assorted latino immigrants).

i had the barbacoa tacos. the barbacoa was very good and tender and flavorful. the corn tortillas were authentic, but i have had better. the taco (in my opinion) had too much meat and not enough onions/cilantro/etc., but that is a personal thing. they did give a lime to squeeze. however, 2 tacos for $7 is just a silly price. i also ordered the mexican macaroni and cheese, because i read a review raving about it. it was actually really good except for the fact that it was so salty that after like 3 bites, i could not eat any more, and plus i was getting full from it.

i went with tom and linnae, and tom got the pork which was good and he really liked, and linnae got a salad with i forget exactly what and also the chicken taquitos. everyone was very happy with their food. nada does a good job of using fresh, quality ingredients in traditional yet updated ways, but i still feel like it is a little overpriced. at the same time, i really liked the atmosphere and it felt like a fun, interesting, but relaxed place that you could just hang out and have drinks for hours.

despite my qualms about the price, i really do think that it is a great addition to the cincinnati restaurant scene and if you have to pay a little more than you think might be worth it for just the food, you are getting friendly and informed service, a somewhat upscale yet fun atmosphere, great drinks, and food that is much better than most other "mexican" places in the area, and more creative and interesting than most other restaurants of any type in the area. so i think it is worth it and i hope nada is here to stay.

los portales tacos

los portales (25-08 broadway, astoria) is this tiny little place w/ a taco window in my neighborhood. i've been wanting to go ever since i read about it online. it was nice out today so i felt like wandering around and my stomach led me there. actually my stomach led me to a block away, got convinced i was going the wrong direction, and led me back up towards the subway stop. fortunately i decided to turn around again and there it was.

when i got there, there was a mob of teenage boys outside. i figure anything teenage boys eat has to be good, i mean if they are willing to forego pizza and doritos and whatever the fuck else teenage boys eat, it's probably worth it. i was already sold though based on the smells, who am i kidding.

anyway i got some amazing steak and pork tacos. my only complaint (if it is even fair to complain about such works of gustatory art) is that they came w/ parsley instead of cilantro. little boo. anyway i will let the pics speak for themselves:

best. shit. ever. i think i died and went to taco heaven. we already know there is a taco hell...

the red was really smoky and chipotle, but really flavorful too. the green was tangy and limey, less spicy but also delicious!

only one left :(

i think my obsession w/ tacos started when i was in guatemala. they actually don't really have tacos there, but that is when i came to know and love the corn tortilla, which i think is central to any truly exceptional taco. a year later, i found myself in a tiny little taco shack a few blocks from rosarito beach in mexico, and the taco sucked me in for good. steak tacos w/ cheese and green salsa and cilantro... mmmmmmm. tacolicious!