Café Frida

I brought my Mexican, Gus, to yet another taco place last week. Whaaaaat? I like me some tacos! This time, it was Tacos Victor's neighbour, Café Frida. Yep, apparently, los tacos y los burritos stick together, with about 4 restos that serve up Mexican goodness in a two block radius.

This place is even tinier than the other one! To get to our table, we literally (and I do mean 'literally') had to hop over a couple sitting at the table next to ours! It was kind of awkward and I really hoped that I wouldn't need to go to the restroom during lunch!

It was such a cute, tiny restaurant! Very colourful! And by that, I mean EVERYTHING was colourful! The walls, the boards, the lovely garlands! It felt so warm, when it was so cold outside. Like a hot cup of cocoa! Ah, warmth. And Frida was everywhere. Seriously, I've never had so many unibrows look at me at the same time. To complete the ambiance, there was some nice Spanish music (I don't think we can say that the whole playlist was composed of Mexican music, so I'm going with Spanish!) playing. I loves me some good Spanish music, I tells ya! I absolutely HATE going to a restaurant where they decide to play the top 20 hits. Ugh.

Tacoooooos! Nopales, cochinita and chorizo! It was my first time trying nopales! Cactus! Whaaaaat! I mean, who can say they ate cactus? Except Mexicans. And perhaps South Americans? Oh, and of course, them desert dwellers. OK, so everyone has eaten cactus except for me! Damn it, I'm always the last one! Anyway, I HAD to have it. First off, I gots to say that the tortilla was perfect. JUST perfect. It was crispy yet still tender. The taco was quite tasty, a bit like I was eating a plant. Oh wait... :) I loved the onions in there that added a nice crunch. I gotta say that the cactus itself wasn't my fave. Shiz, I really wanted to like it. It just didn't talk to me, you know? I like it when cacti speak to me. Aaaand I've officially gone cray cray.

Moving on. Cochinita. Marinated pork with red onions. Pork? Yes. Marinated onions? Ya giiiirl! The pork was uber moist and just melted in my mouth. Mmmmm... melting meat. The onions were delightfully tangy and just fit so well with the pork. Let's face it, when do onions NOT fit? WHEN? Signed: biggest onion fan in the WORLD.

Last but not least, chorizo! Home made, of course! It was spicy and not dry at all (see how much I DON'T want to go overboard with the word 'moist'--which, for you newbies, I HATE!!!) It was very cheesy which is always yummy! Well, my lactose-intolerant stomach would say otherwise but let's ignore that for now. Gus was telling me how, in Mexico, only the cheap vendors would put potatoes in there to fill it up so that they don't have to use as much meat. AH-HAAAAAA!!! Gotcha!!! But seriously, there weren't that many so I definitely did not feel cheated but I also did not necessarily want the extra carbs.

Why not continue eating Mexican goodness? Quesadillaaaas! Ya baby! We had mushrooms sautéed with red onions, red peppers and frijoles. Gus looked really weirded out that there were frijoles (beans) in his quesadilla but did mention that he really liked it. But apparently, they're not supposed to put it in there. BUT it was really good. Dilemmas, dilemmas. It was cheesy goodness, that's what it was! We ate those two pieces in about 5 seconds, tops. That tortilla, again, was right on and the frijoles were perfect in there. They had the right consistency to kind of take up room without taking up too much, you know? You know? The peppers added some sweetness and the mushrooms were wonderful. Hey, simple CAN mean good. A bit o' lime on there and BAM! Awesomeness on a plate!

Pastel impossible. Whaaaaaat. The. F. Half flan, half chocolate cake, merged together. Again... WHAAAAT? How. Did. They. Do. Dis. It was sweet but not too sweet and as someone that is not the biggest flan fan (I mean, who is), it was the perfect dessert. Apparently it's a traditional dessert. Lucky them. Pffff. I wish WE had a cool dessert like this to call 'traditional'. I would just love to know HOW they stick em' together. Ah, the mysteries of life! I actually had never seen this before. Café Frida is now officially THE Mexican connection in MTL. Done.

Service was great. The waitress was all smiles and such a cutie. She spoke to Gus very quickly in Spanish while I tried to understand. Slowing down would have helped. Geez. I would have liked more water at some point but in her defense, we were very hard to get to! I even had to reach out and take plates from her hands because we were in such an awkward area!

And now, the scores!

Food: 8.5

Service: 8.5

Totes going back. Regresare por mas! You know, it was starting to look like a quest to find the best taco in town, but it's done. Iz over. Café Frida wins :)

Café Cantina

A couple weeks back, Val and I ate breakfast at Café Bloom. One of its neighbours is Café Cantina. So we obviously had to eat a late afternoon snack there. Duh. Two restaurants in one day? I say bring it!

This is another one of those places in a very bad spot: end of rue Centre, close to the tracks. I mean come on. Who in the holy hell goes there? Absolutely butt f*ck no one. Which is why it closes at 4 (YES, 4!) on weekdays! I don't even know how they make their money. I just don't.

Amazing thing for them is that they were voted last year as one of the best Mexican restos in MTL to warm up your [cold as hell] winter! (http://notable.ca/The-7-Best-Mexican-Restaurants-in-Montreal-to-Heat-Up-Your-Winter/).

The place itself is quite small, with about 20 seats on the ground floor and perhaps another 20 a couple steps higher.We were the only ones in there at 5 PM and we got a warm welcome but it was eerily quiet in there! Kinda good, kinda weird. We weren't looking for a full meal so we decided to share some guacamole (guac and I: a love story) and some quesadillas.

Simple, yet, delicioso! Wait a second, that ain't spanish at all! The guacamole was nice and soft and oh-so-DAMN-yummy. Oh and very limy-lemony, which is mucho importanto (here I go again!). The only thing that I would have added is a tad more salt. That's it. There was a lovely salsa roja (I got it!!! Spanish, finally!) that was quite spicy but never enough for me. Val kinda choked on the spiciness but I say BRING IT ON. These were devoured by us with homemade tortillas. Hello.

Cheesy quesadillas! This was a nice surprise. Very fresh, very tasty. The quesadillas were hot, crunchy and cheesy, but not too much... You know when you burn yourself because of an overload of melting cheese? Ya, it wasn't the case here. We had some salsa, guacamole and sour cream to put on top and basically bring us right smack to Mexicano heaven! Just the contrast of the cold sour cream and the hot cheese was awesome. We also had a little coarse coleslaw with, hold on to your hats, wait for it, cumin in it! Now THAT was a nice surprise! It brought Val aaaaall the way back to Morocco apparently. Who knew a Mexican dish could do that?

Service was good. Nothin' special. Our waitress was very quiet but very nice. Our food was there in 2.5 seconds. She answered all our questions and knew her shiz.

And now, the scores!

Food: 8.5
Service: 7.5

I'm fosho going back... just have to find a day that I'm not working passed FOUR! Sheesh.

 

El Sabor de Mexico

I moved to Pointe-St-Charles in November and hadn't really been able to fully discover the area until recently, when it started being all sunny and warm-ish. Last week, I decided to walk to Wellington in Verdun and take a tour! And oh boy was I ever satisfied with all the restaurants on that street!

Man, that street is full of restaurants! And most are quite inexpensive too!!! My kinda place :) As I was getting near the end of the 'fun part' of Wellington, I saw this cute little Mexican restaurant (new, since January). It looked so cute from the window (except for that huge OUVERT sign!), plus, the menu looked great. And by great, I mean table d'hôte for 11,99$! What what!

So you get in and it's very mexican looking. Is that a thing? All these lively colours and cute table cloths! I was loving it! The place itself is kind of small, about 30 seats and lunch time, there was only one waiter. It's a good thing the place was empty except for a couple, at around 2 PM. Looking at the menu, I was obviously seduced by the 11$ table d'hôte: soup or salad, main (quesadillas, fajitas...), and desert and coffee OR wine.

As a starter, I had the tortilla and tomato soup with some sour cream and crispy tortilla on top. The soup was very nicely flavored, the sour cream added just a touch of creaminess and the tortilla added some butteriness (I SWEAR, it's a word!) and  that crispiness that is always welcomed when you eat soup. The perfect bite was obviously a bit of everything!

Next, it was the chorizo and queso quesadillas. There was also some hot salsa (I like it hot!) and a little onion, and tomato salad with a bit of parsley. As Joey on Friends says in one episode: 'put em' together!'
Hahaha. But seriously, I just opened the quesadilla and added some salsa and some of the salad and it was marvellous! All the flavours were there. The salsa obviously added some spice and the salad and parsley toned it down a bit. The chorizo was nice and there was a lot of cheesy goodness! The only meh thing was that the chorizo was a tad greasy, actually going through the tortilla and onto the plate. Oh and I asked and they do not, I repeat, do NOT make their own tortillas. I was a tad disapointed.

Now, I thought I was going to have a desert, even if I wasn't necessarily still hungry for that but I was then told that, as 'stated' on the menu, it was either coffee and desert or wine. I thought it looked more like coffee OR wine AND desert. But anyhoot, I got a nice big glass of wine and seriously, where is alcohol included in the table d'hôte except maybe in Europe?

Service was great: the waiter came to greet me at the door and I chose my table, and from then on, he was ever so present because, well, there were only 3 clients in the place, including myself. I wasn't served water regularly which kind of annoys me but he answered my questions and came to ask me how I liked every course. I did see him look at his cell once, which I don't think is ok but at least it was only once :)

And now, the scores!

Food: 7.5
Service: 7.5

A great new find! If you happen to be walking on Wellington, dso it!!!

Chez Frida

Things you notice when you enter Chez Frida: first, a broken fridge with plastic wrap instead of a door AND second, instead of two little mexican women welcoming you, it's two asian women! Weird? Maybe a tad! But hey, if I can cook asian, they can cook mexican! Anyhoot, this place is tiny, with about 12 usable seats (apparently, according to the article on the wall, it can seat up to 30!). Fun fact: while you wait [a good 30 minutes] for your order, they give you some corn chips and salsa verde!

On the right, broken fridge

We ordered enchiladas de mole and chicken quesadillas. It was actually (and don't laugh at me!) my first time eating mole. I said DON'T laugh! :) You know what? Chocolate and onions: good! Chocolate and coriander: goo-hood! Would have loved it if it would have been spicier like it was
mentioned on the menu. Rice and salad came with both plates: the rice was surprisingly tasty and
mixed with salsa verde, it was even tastier. The salad, although very simple, had coriander in it which made it way better (note: I loves me some coriander). The bread in both the enchiladas and quesadillas was dry and the chicken in the quesadillas was dry as well. Come to think of it, the quesadillas did not taste like much: you had to dip them in either the sour cream or the salsa verde to get anything out of them.

And now, the score:

Food: 6 :( I was really hoping to give a better score here but the bread was dry, the quesadillas did not taste much and the mole could have been spicier.

An OK mexican eatery: it's cheap and will only set you back about 13$ including taxes and tip!

Cartel

A couple weeks ago, we were celebrating the fact that a friend of ours was back from Kuwait for 6 weeks (yay!) so we were heading to Voro. Turns out, it was all reserved with about a 45 minute wait. I don’t think so. So, we walked along Fairmount and found Cartel in the Mile End.

There weren’t many people in there so we were hesitant at first but still went in (actually, there were about 5 people). The place has a loungy feel to it. It had ‘happenin’ music’ with about 100 seats. Oh and there seemed to be a couch on the ceiling ?! Weird.

The menu was all over the place: quesadillas, lobster rolls, meat, poutine. It was a mix of Mexican/Japanese/Canadian.  I usually don’t tend to appreciate mixed restaurants (I’m SO restaurantIST), but this one turned out to be ok. And their theme was ‘street food’… so the mix of different foods was understandable. 

I had the duck quesadillas. I see duck on a menu, I have duck. It's that simple. The duck turned out to be a tad dry but there were really good flavors in there and amazing guacamole! Careful, the hot sauce (on the side) is damn hot. I was happy with the portion: it was quite big, for my big appetite!

The service was good. The waitress knew what she was talking about and opened the wine very well (I always look at this part of the service, don't ask). She was friendly and knew her shhtuff. On top of it, when we asked for the bill, it took about 3.5 seconds to get it. I guess the fact that there were about 12 people when we left kind of helped!

And now, the scores!!!

Food: a generous 8
Service: 8,5

Don't be fooled by the fact that there's no one in this restaurant. It's worth a try!!!