Tejano BBQ

Aight, so there's about 18 new Mexican restaurants in St-Henri. OK, no, that's a lie. I believe there are 3. Still. One of my main goals in life right now is to go to all of them. So last week, I decided I should start with the furthest one (and slowly make my way up!). 

Tejano BBQ Burrito is Black Strap BBQ's baby. Basically, all the meat comes from Black Strap, which, let's say it, is pretty darn tootin' awesome. It is also quite tiny, even smaller than the latter, with about 8 seats on two counters. EIGHT. I think they've exaggerated there. We, as a group, we're taking up more than half the restaurant.

Anyhoot, the premise of this micro restaurant is that you get there, you order and you get the f*ck out! Ha, I kid, I kid. No. There's a counter kinda cafeteria (not to say Subway---cringe) style right in front of you when you enter. Basically, you choose out of a salad, a burrito or a large burrito. Thank my lucky ass stars I had the 'small' burrito. It was larger than my head, man! You choose what you want as a base (black beans, fried beans, Spanish rice), you choose yo meat (smoked chicken, chorizo spiced pulled pork, cumin spiced beef), and then you choose out of 200 veggie type thangs (guacamole is a dollar extra but well worth it, pico de gallo, radishes, marinated onions, hot peppers, green peppers, cheddar, lettuce, corn, etc...)

I had the smaller burrito (which, lets face it, was on the larger side of things) with beans and rice as a base, with Pico di gallo, corn, onions, peppers, guacamole and some lime on top (you NEED the lime on top!). All o' this for 10 bucks. Mmmmya, I think it's safe to say it's a good deal. I had the pulled pork oooof course.

Mmmkay, so the pork was unfortunately a tad dry, or a bit more than a tad. The guacamole was well worth the extra dollar: smooth and tasty... yum! The rice was really tasty and well seasoned but the beans were a bit on the harder side of things. Meh. The onions were oh-so-good, but you know me and onions :) The lime obviously did it's job and brought out all the flavors which was wonderful. I could have eaten it without the corn though and in the end that burrito was way too big, really. And totally falling apart. All over. Everywhere. After this tragedy happened, I was just eating the ingredients off of the bread.

Two of my friends that came along had different things off of the menu: Lea had the bowl and Sabster had the veggie burrito. Lea was REALLY pleased with her chicken (I tasted it; much juicier than my pork) and rest of bowl but Sabster was even less pleased than me about her veggie burrito. She found that there weren't enough veggie options to put in there. 

Service was at the counter. Kinda like Subway. Damn it, why do I always have to go back to Subway. Anyway, they were really nice, explained our options, told us what they preferred and asked how hungry we were and suggested either the burrito, the bowl or the huge mother freakin' burrito. All in all, very courteous and knowledgeable.

And now, the scores!

Food: an average of 7

Service: 8.5

I think I'll try the other Mexicano restaurants before I go to this one again but it's not totally off my list :) 

Agave

One of my friend's ex just opened this new Mexican restaurant and guess what? I happen to love me some Mexican food. Oh and guess what else...I know some friends who do too. True story. So, this is how, on a very, VERY cold last Sunday, Val, Lea and I decided to head to Laurier Ouest and go to Agave.

We entered and it was completely empty except for one table, but soon enough after that, we were the only ones in there. Duh, it's freaking -30 outside. Sheesh. Anyhoot, we were warmly welcomed by the waitress and chose our table (again, duh). The restaurant itself has high ceilings, about 50 seats and cute hanging lamps. There was something missing though... I don't know...maybe the ceilings were too high? Anyhoot. Music was ok when we got in and then it was happenin'. Maybe it's all the margaritas we drank. Wink wink.

The waitress explained the menu and told us what she liked the most and what was most popular. We shared three entrées (pigs).

But first, ooooobviously we needed drinks.

I had meself a nice little margarita (oh, and then another...hum...cough...gotta warm up on those cold winter nights :) ). It was perfect. Hit the spot. So good, lime-y and refreshing. Excellent. You want a good margarita, you go to Agave. As Nike says, Just Do It.

Ceviche: good flavors and nice little pieces for my tiny mouth. At first I wasn't too sure but after the first bite, it hit me; this was good. The onions and the tomatoes brought in extra freshness and the lime made everything that much better. All in all, a hit. Oh and it was a huge portion too! Well worth that 10$.

Cocktail de camarones: shrimp, onions, and avocado in tomato and lime juice. This was nice. Very fruity, and well seasoned. Just perfect, really. It actually tasted as if there were strawberries or pineapple in there. Again, huge portion!

Mango guacamole. Wait. Mango? YES! Guacamole? YES! What do you do? Put 'em together man! The guac was soft and tasty and the mango obviously added some fruitiness but also a nice texture. 

Oh I almost forgot! With our entrées, we also had tortillas (what, were we supposed to eat those with our hands? You crazy!) and salsa roja AND salsa verde! My mouth was pretty much on fire. But damn did it ever bring me back to Mexico (ok, I've never been, but it's pretty much like I have).

For the main course, I chose tacos el pastor: pork marinaded in pepper and pineapple. This was totally me. I love sweet and savory dishes and this didn't disappoint. The rice (on the left...) was on point, and I know my rice, the pork was really tender and oh-so-tasty, the guacamole was amazing, the pico de gallo was refreshing and went perfectly with the pineapple, the frijoles (black bean puree) was even better than the one my Mexican friend makes (do NOT tell him). Let's just say I was pleased. We were all pleased. AND oh so very full by the end. So full that when the waitress came to ask us if we wanted desert, we looked at her with 'oh-please-don't-tell-us-you-have-deserts' faces.

No desert, but a tequila shot? Sure. Ah, I remember my tequila shootin' days. Or... I guess I don't ( I DO remember saying something like 'no more tequila for Marie' many times during parties...while drinking it). But this one was good. I believe it was tequila anejo, which tasted waaaaaaaayyyy better than what I used to drink! Leave it to a restaurant named Agave to have good tequila :)

The service was great throughout the meal. It IS true that we were the only ones in there, but still. Water service was good, she gave us suggestions, she asked if everything was good. I guess if there's one thing I can say it's that at some point it took a tad too long to get food. But a: that's not technically her fault and b: there was only one dude in the kitchen.

And now, the scores!

Service: 8.5

Food: 9

This is certainly one of my new favourite Mexican resto in town, so watch out, I'll be back. Margarita anyone?

ps: and to make things even better... they have a we-are-a-new-restaurant 15% discount. dsamn!