rico - farmers market edition

The place: Rico

What we hoped for: a delicious lunch and cold coke to finish off our weekly visit to the market.

What we got:

pork tamale

artichoke, asparagus, and cheese tamale

Mexican coke

You likely know from reading our blog that we are real suckers for good Mexican food, and Rico"s tamales didn't disappoint.  Their artichoke, asparagus, and cheese tamales are cooked in plantain leaves, rather than the traditional corn husks.  They practically melt in your mouth.  When paired with their fresh, delicious tomatillo salsa and an icy, cold Mexican coke, it is a lunch that will surely satisfy.  At $2.00 a tamale, it is a great cheap eat.  Rico also has a store on the corner of 800 S and 500 E and they are open for lunch.

Andinita Venezuelan Restaurant

The place: Andinita's Venezuelan Restaurant

What we hoped for: Something new. This is a time when we were eating out for the sake of eating out, and googled around for Latin American food.

What we had:

Ham and Cheese Patacone, which was a ham and cheese sandwich on fried plantains, with veggies (including avocado) and green sauce.

Pabellon Arepa, which was shredded beef, black beans, cheese, and sweet plantains on an almost pupusa-like bun.  This was grilled, but it's also served fried,

Plenty of cilantro based salsa (in the moclajete pot) and avocado sauce (in the squeeze bottle).

Inca Cola

The pros: Really, the arepa.  Everything was outstanding, but the arepa was the highlight.  Beans and plantains on a sandwich was really an epiphany for us.  The service was friendly, all the staff played around with our fussy kid to keep him calm, and it was fairly busy for a hidden strip mall gem.

The cons: There was no dessert other than a cake, which isn't really our style.  The ham itself on the sandwich was basically typical deli meat - beef might have been a better choice.  Really, that's all we can come up with.  Really, an all around great experience.

What to get: The arepas, but specifically the pabellon.  We'll try it again to give more recommendations.  The patacone was really good too.

Rating
Atmosphere: 4 mo mos.  The restaurant itself was clean and standard, but the staff was very very friendly and excited to please.  Our teenaged waiter made our kid laugh and the manager/owner came and talked to us several times and told us about the place.  Plus, having foreign soda is a nice touch.
Price: 4 mo mos.  The arepa was about $4 and the patacone was about $7.  The arepa was a steal at that price.
Food: 4.25 mo mos*.  We're not ready to give it 4.5, but it might go up after another visit.  It was a pleasant surprise.  Readers of this blog will know we like Latin American and Mexican food, and this keeps up with some of our other favorites.  We don't get to Taylorsville as often as we should (and we really ought to more often - there are several great spots there), but this is worth the drive.
*Subject to change.

Will we be back:

Absolutely. The beef patacone needs sampling and the pabellon arepa needs another try.

Sergio's

The place:
Sergio's (website)

What we hoped for:
Another authentic Rose Park area Mexican restaurant.  With it being right next to Red Iguana and Chunga's, we expected something good.

What we had:
Huarache al Pastor - a fried masa base with a green sauce, meat, onions, and cheese and white sauce on top.  Here's the wiki.  It was like an empty pupusa on bottom with good ole classic Mexican goodness on top.  This was certainly the star of the show, and the reason we'll go back.  Apparently, these are big in Mexico City.

Chile Relleno - pretty traditional Chile Relleno, but it wasn't overcooked as they often are, so the chile still had a crunch to it.  It had enough spice to give it a little bite, which is appreciated.  The beans, rice, and tortillas were pretty standard, but good.

The pros:
The huarache.  Absolutely the huarache.  We've heard good things about the sopas and tamales as well, which we'll try next time.  But if you're only going to get one thing there, we recommend the huaraches.

The cons:
It's a little tricky to find, so make sure your directions are good.  The building itself had a pretty bland fast-food style interior that was a little run down, but we weren't there for the atmosphere, so no big complaints here.

What to get:
It feels like we already did this one.

Urban Spoon users:
Don't know much about it.

Rating (1-5 mo-mos, 5 being the best):
Price: 5 mo-mos.  This is legitimately a good deal.  Price to value scale is way up here.  Two meals and two beverages for $15.

Atmosphere: 2 mo-mos.  Not the most fun place to eat.  You're there for the food, not the atmosphere.  That being said, the service was very friendly.
Food: 3.5 mo-mos.  The huarache was a 4 or so, but overall it was good not great.

Will we be back:
Yep.  Probably not right away, but we want to try some of the other dishes.  And even if we don't make it back here right away, there are about 5 other Mexican restaurants within a block that we want to try, so we'll wave soon.

se rancho markets (tabasco's)

The place:

Tabasco's (website)

What we hoped for:

A unique experience

What we had:

Molcajete.  What's molcajete?  It's gooey happiness.  Steak, chicken, shrimp, cactus, leeks, queso fresca, and some cheese and tomatillo salsa melted together, served in a molcajete pot (hence the name), that is shaped like a pig if you're lucky. Served with rice, beans, and homemade corn or flour tortillas.

The pros:

It's awesome.  And gooey.  And it's an experience.  If you're like us, the Latino Mall was a new experience, but between the molcajete, the friendly folks, the fresh juice and ice cream and neighboring places, it's really a good time.

The cons:

They're closed on memorial day apparently.  That cut deep.

What to get:

Molcajete.  Don't mess around with anything else.  We've had other stuff there and it's good, but much like MC Hammer's number one hit, it can't touch this. This is what you want.  When they bring you a menu, throw it in their face and say "I don't need this!"  Also, the ice cream store next door has great pistachio, lime, and strawberry cream ice cream.

Rating (1-5 mo mos, 1 being the worst, 5 being the best)

Price: 5 mo mos.  $20 bucks will feed 4 people!  Easily!  This is hands down the best price/value food combination out.

Atmosphere: 3.5 mo mos when you eat at the market part of it. 4 mo mos now that it's moved into Tabasco's restaurant inside the mall.  The mall is really fun, but the restaurants themselves are pretty normal places.

Food: 4.5 mo mos.  Like Lone Star Taqueria, this is in the exclusive "slc shawsome spots" club.

Will we go back?

Yes.  Often.  Even though we haven't learned Spanish yet, we can still say "uno Molcajete por favor," and they can laugh at us and bring food.  It's a nice arrangement.