Had an impromptu lunch meetup today with Tina and her kids. They were going to be in the area so decided we should get lunch. Tina's suggestion for lunch was La Chiquita because "Brenda" had suggested it. Who is "Brenda" you might be asking? I don't know but she had tried La Chiquita's restaurant and enjoyed it. In case you're wondering yes that La Chiquita Hispanic grocery store by my house. They have a little restaurant section serving Mexican food:
La Chiquita Menu
I was kind of sketchy of it as I had tried it once when they first opened up and thought it was pretty bad. Tina tried to sell me on "Brenda's" credentials on Mexican cuisine to which I was very inquisitive about. "Brenda" had also mentioned Salsa Verde which got me even more skeptical as having tried that place as well NO ES BUENO! Still Tina defended "Brenda's" honor and was fairly convincing so I decided to give it another shot and add to our squad goals.
Drink wise Karen and Lily went with the restaurants freshly squeezed orange juice. The rest of us were boring and went with some high quality H2O. I didn't give the orange juice a try but it appeared that both of them were huge fans of it as they topped them off fairly quickly.
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| Half of the Fresh Orange Juice. |
For an appetizer I ordered some Guacamole which was definitely freshly made. Me and Tina highly enjoyed as the wonder twins that we are. Karen semi-liked it as she was not a fan of the onions and/or random big chunks of peppers. I think the kids as expected were not really into it as much as they were into the tortilla chips. Definitely would go back and get this.
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| Guacamole |
Let's start off with the kids choices as they were pretty standard. Gavin was the only true adventurous one of the three as he got Pork Tamales. Lily got hot dog and fries and Owen got a hamburger and fries. The only thing I can vouch for were the fries as that was the only thing I tried. They were really good and you can tell they cut and make the fries themselves. Very enjoyable. All the kids polished off their food so I'd have to imagine they all liked it. Well maybe not Owen as he's got to be the difficult one. #SHAMED
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| Pork Tamales |
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| Hot Dog and Fries |
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| Hamburger and Fries |
Tina went with one of her favorite options for Mexican cuisine: Chilaquiles. I think there might have been a mix up in the ordering process as I looked at the menu and you can have it with eggs or steak in red or green sauce. I think the waitress asked eggs or steak and Tina replied with "no". Thus Tina's meal came out with neither egg or steak.
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| Chilaquiles mins egg or steak in red sauce w/ rice and beans |
Having sampled it I thought it was fairly decent myself. Interested to see how it would have turned out with eggs. I'd have to guess very good in that instance. The rice was okay/nothing to write home about. The beans I enjoyed but really they were "basic as them young kids and snarky mean girls would say. I think Tina would agree with this assessment. Bonus points for her showing Karen love by sharing the sour cream she was given. #100PointsGryffindor
Karen went with the taco dinner plate. She choose three different types of tacos- Al pastor, steak, and chicken. She was being adventurous in wanting to try different kinds and narrow down a standard for ordering there at some future point. Her meal also came with rice and beans.
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| Taco Dinner Plate |
Of the three she enjoyed the chicken taco the best. She thought the Al pastor was way different than the one I got (see below). She didn't care much for the rice or beans. Luckily she hates onions so I was able to take 3 of the 4 grilled onions off her place. Also stole the tomatoes as she's not a big fan of them by themselves.
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| The solo onion Tina was able to capture before Reef ate them all |
For my selection I decided to go with an Al Pastor torta. Now my go to meal is typically steak tacos. However since I didn't like them last time I applied some "crazy" logic for my decision. I had seen a special item they had for this past Monday of a Hawaiian torta. This triggered the thought that if they do out of the ordinary types of tortas then all their tortas must be pretty good. The rationale is based on the fact that I have gotten some fantastic tortas from hole in the wall places. I'm talking like a plug in griddle on a counter inside of a gas station. Pretty much think that means that its their try hard menu item. So with that thought process I figured it was a safe bet on being good.
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| Al Pastor Torta |
I highly enjoyed this Al Pastor torta. It came with Al Pastor, avocado, cheese, tomatoes, beans, and mayo. Unlike Karen's al pastor taco, this was cut into better pieces and included pineapple. I think it's safe to say my crazy logic paid off as I believe everyone who tried it liked it. I definitely would go back for a torta.
For dessert we decided to hit up the bakery of the grocery store and grab some pastries. Unfortunately I couldn't even tell you what anything else cause I have no clue and they don't label anything. What I do know is that the orange colored ball things are fantastic and shockingly coconut flavored. If you hit up a bakery and see one of those you should give it a try...unless you hate coconuts, are on a strict diet, or voting for the giant Oompa Loompa.
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| Pastries |
It was a good lunch so I have to give kudos to "Brenda" and Tina for pitching the idea of eating there. I think La Chiquita redeemed it's restaurant side.
#Squadgoals,
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