Red Burrito - UBC Village

I gotta love finding somewhere new to eat on  Campus. I have spent many an

upsetting meal getting the $4.50 Two Item Chinese Food Special in the SUB building, so I walk

out to the village was a breath of fresh air (literally).

I stumbled across this place after work the previous day and I would have gone that day but I needed to get home..I vowed however I would be back the next day..so I did!

What really got me going was the Tortilla Soup. I have a soft spot in my heart for this particular item

and despite it being hot out and a spicy soup is not a preferred too drink in the heat, I had to get it.

Tortilla Soup

As you can see, not the most aesthetic looking soup out there. I was handed a baggy with

tortilla chips in it to add myself and asked what I wanted in it. Onions, Cilantro, Sour Cream, and Cheese. I really enjoyed the soup, and it was on special for $3.00 on Wednesdays so a pretty good deal in my opinion.

Enchilada Platter

Of course a soup was not enough so I indulged for some more food. I went for the Enchilada Platter which was advertised as a daily special for $6.99.  You got rice beans and choice of whatever toppings with your meal. I got spicy beef and thought it was very good.

I guess this place would fall under the category of tex-mex, II am not too picky though and could care

less if something is authentic or not though. I thought for the price I was sufficiently filled and I enjoyed it. I may have just found a new place to frequent after my forays at Wreck Beach!

Lunch Time on The Marina, Queso Chihuahua! - Cabo San Lucas

Stepping off a cruise ship onto the Cabo San Lucas Marina area can be a bit of
a sensory overload. For one thing you have a constant bombardment of

people trying to sell everything from whistles to cocaine to you. You also have signs signs sings all over the place, with deals for restaurants..5 beers with salsa and chips for $10..
All drinks 2X1 Happy Hour from 9am-7pm..I think you get the point.

After a long stressful day relaxing, eating, and drinking on the beach (note the sarcasm)

my girlfriend and I started our walk back to the ship. We decided to go to

a restaurant which boasted a nice tequila and cheese fondue dish..Both of

us being fondue addicts could not resist this.

*Note: I don't remember the name of this place, but if you are walking along

the area in the above picture you are in the right place!

We ordered the Fondue Dish to share, and to start they brought out some

fixings to accompany the meal. This particular dish was all about novelty.

Our server came out with a hot stone bowl, cheese, an open flame, and some Mexican

water (tequila). I'm sure you can imagine how this all went down..cheese into the hot bowl, tequila poured through a flam to light it on fire, into the cheese, and onto the table.

This is the finished product. We were given soft corn tortillas to top with cheese

as well as the various fixings. I think the child and pyromaniac in me came out well being

served and eating this dish. It was a great meal and of course right on the Marina it was

great to people watch.

If you thought I was going to eat Mexican food and not have a Margarita

you are out of your mind. Although the earlier afternoon was spent with

similar libations, we could not resist the opportunity to indulge ourselves once more..

It probably wasn't the greatest idea considering you have to take a tender boat back to

the ship...oh well!

That is all for now!

Baja Cantina - Cabo San Lucas

Ah, Cabo San Lucas..the sun, the ocean, food and drink, what more could I ask for?
How about lounge beds on the beach, roped off so you can leave your stuff and not worry about it being stolen...I like the sounds of this.


Medano Beach

Medano Beach is the big popular beach in Cabo San Lucas, and it can be a little intimidating. Big crowds, people trying to sell you stuff, loud music are all present here. My girlfriend and I wanted to relax in the sun and when we saw Baja Cantina with their loungers and exclusivity via a roped off area, we thought why not. I know these pictures aren't really showing a restaurant but trust me..it is one!

So the deal with this place was, if you ordered food and drink, you could use their lounges and pretty much have a sweet spot to leave your stuff all day. After looking at the menu, and being stereotypical Caucasians from Vancouver, we thought we would try their sushi. I don't remember what this roll was, but it had a fantastic cilantro and something sauce on top. Greedily we ate this with the fury of a thousand gods.

Next up, we shared the pork tacos. I found the taco to be fairly bland to be honest, but the rest of the stuff on the plate was pretty great. The guacamole was delicious, as well as the re fried beans.. Typing this out right now I am seriously craving Mexican food, however UBC has none!

Here is the requisite Corona picture, drinks were 2X1 so when I ordered two beers they came with four, needless to say I was pretty happy. After multiple beers and a rather large margarita I was starting to feel pretty darn good.

I want to finish off with the view we had...absolute perfection. This was such a beautiful area and despite what you hear on the news, I felt completely safe here.  As a first timer in Cabo, I absolutely loved it.. There were some great restaurants ( I didn't get a chance to take pictures but Taco Loco is a must try!). Baja Cantina was great because you could get up and leave your stuff for a good 40 minutes and there were no worries..as long as you were drinking or eating you were fine to stay there for a good 4-5 hours. The music was great too!

Stay Tuned for more eats in Mexico!

Website:
http://www.loscabosguide.com/bajacantina/bajacantina-beach.htm

Cheeky Monkey - Puerto Vallarta, $1 Margaritas !!

A recent trip to Mexico, Puerto Vallarta specifically, led me to find this cool restaurant

called the Cheeky Monkey.

Situated along the Malecon, which is a boardwalk along the ocean, the Cheeky Monkey lured me in with signs advertising $1 Margaritas....I am helpless after that. Although it was 10 am and I really did not need a drink, my girlfriend and I caved in and went on up the stairs to the restaurant.

Naturally we started off with two Margaritas..for $2 I can say I was pleasantly pleased..the view alone was worth the money :)

As you can see it wasn't very busy at the time, which was perfect for us..some nice relaxation time. It is two stories up so we had a nice view of the area around us, and the sea air blowing in was awesome.

I needed to eat because drinking without eating in the Mexican heat is a recipe for disaster.

This restaurant did seem to be more catered towards Americans (or Canadians like us) with many menu items similar to what you could get at a bar. We decided on some Beef tacos, which were a perfect compliment to our drinks.

If you have never been to the Malecon before it is a pretty great place. It is riddled with shops and restaurants and of course some pretty cool art/statues. I know it is a touristy area but that was why I had gone on vacation...I was a tourist after all.

There are so many options to eat in the area but if you happen to see the Cheeky Monkey, $1 for a beer or Margaritas is a pretty sweet deal.

Cheers!

Their Website: http://www.cheekymonkeypv.com/

Charlie's Mexican Restaurant - Port Moody

Tonight we were going for dinner in Port Moody. It feels weird writing that because since I live so close to Vancouver, Port Moody usually does not come up for dining options.

Well tonight we wanted Mexican, and somewhere new, so my girlfriend suggested we go to a place she had gone 2 or 3 years ago.

We were the only ones there when we arrived..to be fair it was only 5pm so the real dinner rush hadn't really started. I was expecting, as is the norm that we would receive chips and salsa upon getting to our table..this was not the case.

I wanted salsa anyways so we ordered Chips w/ Salsa and Guacamole $7.. a little steep eh?

Well at least it was great salsa, very fresh tasting. I love pico de gallo (salsa fresca).. so simple but so fresh and wonderful tasting.

The waitress wasn't really pushy, but she came multiple times to see if we were ready to order when we had just sat down, barely getting a chance to open the menu. After a bit of weighing of options, Jess went with the Chicken Flautas.I knew they were good because she actually ate everything on her plate..maybe she was just really hungry but normally there is a lot left-over (a plus for me). They were served with a side of beans with some tortilla chips sticking out of them, kind of a neat presentation I thought.

For myself, I ordered the Beef Tostodas. I had a choice of chicken or shrimp but I like to consider myself an "alpha" male so I went with beef.

I also got the cool presentation of chips sticking out of not only the beans.. but the rice as well! I had to start breathing slowly because I was getting way too excited for my own good.

I found the food here to be really good, although we only had a couple items on the menu, I was impressed with both. Prices here are a little high, I guess there isn't really much competition around so you can't do much about that.

I took a shot of the interior to show a little bit of the feel of the place. There was some art and various things on the walls to give it more of a 'Meixcan Feel' I guess. What the interior is like for me doesn't really matter as long as the food is good.

Final Thoughts:

-Unless you live close-by, you probably have not heard of this place

-Prices are a little more than somewhere like Las Margaritas or Salsa and Agave

-Great food, even better Salsa

Lorenzo's Mexican Restaurant - Bellingham

It was late and we were all hungry. We knew tonight was going to be Mexican, the question was where? It was nearing 10 pm and on a Monday I wasn't sure how we would fare. Near our hotel we spotted Lorenzo's and it was still open. The manager was nice enough to let us in even though they would be closing soon. There was six of us and they were very accommodating since one person with us was in a wheel chair.

The inside was your traditional Mexican interior. I thought it looked quite nice.
So I'd like to throw this out there, if you are looking to get totally stuffed, Lorenzo's is your place. Great big portions and a decent price..that's why I love Mexican food.

We started out with a round of lime margaritas on the rocks. It didn't taste like there was a lot of tequila in them..and I don't remember if I had more than two, but I ended up getting quite inebriated from these and passed out wonderfully after getting to the hotel.
The drink itself was quite tart, so if you like more tart than sweet these are perfect for you.

I apologize for the pictures of the food. I had the iso setting cranked up and it made for a lot of noise. my camera doesn't do so well in dim lighting.

I ordered Two Burritos w/ beans and rice (one with beef, one with chorizo). It is hard to tell what is going on with this dish, it just looks like a giant plate of melted cheese. The chorizo burrito was Delicious. It had a nice spiciness to it that I loved. For around $10 I could barely finish this, which made it a great deal in my eyes.

My girlfriend ordered the chicken enchiladas with mole sauce. I tried a small bite and it was very good. It seems the US does a very good job of Mexican food. Everyone enjoyed their meals and  I would definitely come back again next time I am down, I do like trying new places though so maybe some other time.

I really enjoyed the meal here and thought everything tasted great. A great spot that won't hurt the budget.

El Comal, hidden yes... gem? Not too sure. (Burnaby North)

I honestly have no idea how I stumbled upon this place. What I did notice was that it was very close to my girlfriends house, and that No body had ever been to it, on Urbanspoon (gasp!). I read some reviews on other websites and it seemed to me like I had found a hidden gem...

El Comal essentially is a small Mexican grocery store that also hosts a deli/restaurant. It is kind of out of the way and unless you know about it you most likely would never see it (I drove right by it while looking for it).

We quickly looked around at the groceries.. lots of sodas, salsas, sauces, and tortillas, before wandering a couple feet over to the dining area.

We sat down and were served some complimentary salsa. I enjoyed it although my girlfriend did not think it was that good. We also grabbed some Mexican sodas. They were nice and apparently have %100 Natural Sugar! Just reading those words is stimulating some insulin production. Anyways onto the food.

I ordered three soft tacos, one with chicken, beef, and pork so that I could try different things.



soft tacos



side of rice and beans

The tacos were really nothing special. I enjoyed them but there was nothing that stood out in them flavor wise. Fairly bland imo. The rice and beans were your standard rice and re fried beans. I wasn't too happy though with the meal. My favorite out of the tacos was the pork one.

My girlfriend ordered the chili relenos. I read on one review that somebody said they tasted just like they do back home in Mexico...we will see.

Chili Relenos

So my girlfriend did not like this at all. I felt kind of bad because I was excited to show her a new place because she loves Mexican food. This place however was not the best. I ate the rest for her, although it wasn't amazing I didn't mind the taste of it.

Now in defence of this place because I hate bashing an establishment in my post, I came to the conclusion that perhaps we are so used to non authentic Mexican food, which I assume is served at most Mexican joints in Vancouver, that when we actually had traditional cuisine we did not enjoy it because we were used to tex mex or some other type.

Just food for thought/rambling. I have never been to Mexico and had real Mexican food so I really can't compare.

A Celebratory Dinner at Las Margaritas

Food and drink is the best way to celebrate in my opinion. Lots of food and plenty of drink flowing is always a good thing. Tonight we were celebrating my girlfriend getting into the Kwantlen Fashion Program, and myself getting into the School of Human Kinetics at UBC. After some narrowing down of what we wanted to eat, Mexican surfaced and the closest and best  place was Las Margaritas. We have been here countless times and knew that on such a nice sunny day we should arrive early to avoid line-ups. My girlfriend, her parents and myself piled into the jeep and headed from North Burnaby to West 4th.

I tend to keep my face glued pretty close to the window scanning the streets for restaurants, two in particular in the area that I want to try are Romer's Burger Bar, and A french place I believe called Bistro Bistro just a couple stores down from Las Margaritas.
We went in and luckily no lines! We opted for patio seating to enjoy the sun. A pitcher of lime margartia was shared and I chose a Russel's to sip on.

Since it was somewhat of a family outing I did not want to  be obnoxious and go picture crazy (only when it's just me and my girlfriend) so I just snapped two quick pics of my meal and hers.

On the table:

Tacos de Carnitas- Two soft corn torillas filled with roasted pork. Served with chopped cilantro, diced onions, two fresh salsas, frijoles charros, and an avocado slice.

I wanted to try something new on the menu and when I saw the words cilantro listed on this dish I was sold. The tacos (plural, even though you can only see one in the pic) where really good as a standalone. I wasn't too impressed with the salsas that came with it. The one on the right was very spicy and had a bit of a smokey flavor to it, I didn't really like it. The one on the left looked like guacamole and had a very mild taste. I preferred the one on the left but I would have liken some more zest to the taco. The meal also came with a bean soup, I did not know it was a soup I thought you were supposed to dip the taco into it, which I was doing and it was very tasty.

Burrito- A large flour tortilla rolled with edam, cheddar & mozzarella, cheese and roasted beef  (covered with a mild red sauce). Both are topped with melted cheese & sour cream. Served with refried beans & Mexican rice.

Wow, talk about a lot of food. I knew that my girlfriend wouldn't be able to finish all this so I patiently bided my time waiting until the point where should would be too full to eat anymore. Aha, her fork was placed down and I knew it was time for me to do my boyfriendly duty and help her finish the rest. There was still some Burrito left, along with the rice and re fried beans but I decided to eat the Burrito since the other two are more fillers. I must say this was a fantastic Burrito. Lots of cheese and meat, very filling and very tasty just how I like it.

Final Thoughts:I'm sure anybody reading this blog, if from the Vancouver area has already dined here but if not i'd suggest going at least once. You don't have to break the bank and you can get some very tasty food/drinks. Be cautioned on a Friday night, any time after 6 probably expect a wait.

Las Margaritas- West 4th

 Las Margaritas
1999 West 4th Ave, Vancouver BC.
Tel: 604-734-7117
Email: info@lastmargartias.com

Las Margaritas is a popular restaurant serving "food more from the north of Mexico, Baja and California". I first went here last year and today was probably my 5th or 6th visit. My girlfriend and I had just gone to Mussel Mania at the Sandbar and gotten rid of some lose change at the arcade on Granville Island, we were now feeling drinks and a light snack.
It was around 6:30pm by this point so we knew there would be a line up but we were willing to wait. We had about a 20 minute wait before we were seated. I was a little disappointed the patio was not open, it was such a nice day. The first time I went we dined on the patio and had an awesome Raspberry Margaritas with actual raspberries in the ice cubes... I don't think they do this anymore I have yet to see this again.

Before Talking about our meal I would like to tell a funny story. Our second visit to Las Margaritas was July last summer. That was the day we realized my girlfriend was allergic to red wine..It made her throw up.. wait isn't that just called drinking too much? Not exactly, red wine contains tannins and sulfates which some people are allergic to. Well we found out the hard way. After finishing some Red Wine Sangria my girlfriend remarked that she was not feeling very well. We quickly  made our way to Capers up the street and she went and ..err made the food we just ate come back out her mouth. Hope you enjoyed my amusing little anecdote.

We had our complimentary chips and salsa, I really love the salsa here..The salsa is freshly made and tastes great, much better salsa than that at the Naam..ugh..
We decided on a pitcher of Raspberry Margaritas, The Jalapeno Poppers ($8.45), and the Sopa de Tortilla ($5.70). Funny thing with the Margaritas, I was looked at the price of pitchers on the Virgin drink list so I thought it was only $15..don't know how I made that mistake..lets just say I was not pleasantly surprised to find out on the bill that it was $27.

Ever since having the Sopa de Tortilla at Salsa and Agave I have wanted to try it again. I love this dish, it was really well made here, the presentation wasn't as nice as the last one I had but the taste was great. I love avocado but I don't really like it in the soup. Avocado for me is meant to be refreshing, I don't think it goes well with a hot soup, however that is just my personal opinion. I think I enjoyed the soup at Las Margaritas more than Salsa and Agave, I'll have to go back just to make sure though
The Jalapenos Poppers, are very tasty however almost $9 for 5 of them is a little steep.They are a great snack though.Often times when we go we just order drinks and the Fiesta Platter which gives us more variety, it also comes with a couple Jalapenos Poppers so we can enjoy them.

The Pitcher of Margaritas said it was supposed to serve five.We shared it between the two of us. I really enjoy their Raspberry Margarita but at $27 I think I'll have to stick to the smaller monster margarita. I guess my tolerance is getting higher because I felt completely normal after drinking copious amounts of margarita, however it was a struggle to keep my clothes on, a daily problem (increased by tequila).

I will be coming back here in May for my girlfriends birthday and I'm hoping the Patio will be open, although there isn't really any view, people watching is fun and on a hot day a nice cold drink outside is a great feeling.