Flashback Friday - Tequila Mockingbird

This post originally appeared on Minxeats.com on October 26, 2011.

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Ocean City, Maryland, is hardly a foodie destination, and we're ok with that. Most trips, we end up eating pretty decent pizza at Lombardi's, tender ribs from J.R.'s, and terrific sushi at Yokozuna. If we're there more than three nights, another restaurant has to enter the rotation, and occasionally it's Tequila Mockingbird. Every time we go there, I think it's a terrific idea, and every time we leave I think, "why did I eat that?"

Not that the food is bad. It's not bad. It's just...bland. But that doesn't seem to keep anyone away. Seems like every time we've eaten there, there's been a small hoard of people at the front of the restaurant, waiting for a table. I don't really get it.

Ok, maybe I get going there for a margarita and some chips and salsa, which always seem freshly made. The chips were warm and un-greasy, and completely unsalted on our most recent visit. (That's fine - I prefer my tortilla chips unsalted.) The salsa also seemed underseasoned, but otherwise had the standard mix of tomatoes, onions, and cilantro.

After perusing the pun-heavy menu, which is divided into sections like "Chimi Chimi Bang Bang," "Gone with the Taco," and "Love American Style," you know, the usual suspects (see what I did there?), I ordered the "Tijuana Triple," a typical Tex-Mex platter of excess including a mini shrimp quesadilla, a chicken hard taco, and a cheese enchilada, plus arroz verde and refried beans. Pretty standard fare that can be made at home quite easily, with or without the help of Old El Paso. How could it go wrong? Well, not wrong, per se. Just horribly...uninteresting. The chunks of chicken breast in the taco were not only boneless and skinless but also completely devoid of seasoning and flavor. They were also slightly tough, but that was expected. Topping the meat were some unseasoned bits of tomato and onion and shredded lettuce. More of this bland vegetation topped the cheese enchilada, which was orange goo wrapped in a corn tortilla. The enchilada sauce had slopped off to the side and was killing the crispness of the quesadilla, which was filled with - you guessed it - more of the tomato/onion blandness. The small shrimps hiding in the cheese were pretty tasty though, adding a modicum of flavor to an otherwise snooze-worthy plate that also included underseasoned arroz verde and gummy refried beans.

After eating as much as I could stomach, I went back to the chips and salsa. After the blandness of my dinner, I could detect that the salsa *did* have seasoning - maybe a bit of vinegar. Perhaps even salt.

Mr Minx fared much better. He wisely ordered beef as the filling for his chimichanga, and found it to be nicely seasoned with a bit of cumin and other spices. It was actually flavorful. Unfortunately, it came with the same boring beans and rice, and more completely unnecessary tomato/onion/shredded iceberg.

My camera phone sadly doesn't have a flash. My dish came out blurry,
but that's fine - it looked like a mess anyway.

We washed down our food with glasses of sangria, which tasted heavily of cinnamon. It reminded me of the Korean persimmon- and cinnamon-flavored dessert beverage, sujung gwa. I probably should have ordered a margarita.

So...it was edible. Everything seemed fresh, and it was fine for folks who don't like spicy or flavorful food, I suppose. Really quite a let-down after eating some really good Mexican chow at Miguel's recently. I did notice that we were possibly the youngest customers in the dining room, and that might have been the reason for the "taco night at the nursing home" quality of the meal. But then the place has a captive audience, as do the rest of OC's restaurants that don't seem to try very hard.

Sadly, eating at Tequila Mockingbird gave me this thought: Ocean City could use a Chili's.

Tequila Mockingbird
12919 Coastal Hwy
Ocean City, MD 21842
www.octequila.com
(410) 250-4424

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Flashback Friday - Miguel's Cocina y Cantina

This post originally appeared on Minxeats.com on September 28, 2011.

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MinxEats is a proud supporter of Dining Out for Life and we did our part this year by dining out at Miguel's Cocina y Cantina, which offered 50% of their take to Movable Feast. We are big fans of Mexican food and Mr Minx and I looked forward to sampling chef owner Michael Marx's authentic fare from the moment I made our reservation.

Miguel's is in the hideous new Silo Point complex and is a bit hard to find, so thank goodness for the well placed signs and arrows. Once inside, we were taken to a tiny table across from a large bank of windows in the bar area. It was dark and gloomy outside, so unfortunately, it was rather dark and gloomy inside as well. And a bit noisy, despite the few other diners partaking of our normally early dinner hour.

While perusing the menu, we nibbled on a basket of freshly fried corn tortilla chips accompanied by two salsas - a tangy bright tomatillo and an almost creamy roasted tomato. I had a bad day and was in the mood for a margarita - the Miguel's, with Espolon Silver, Gran Gala, Miguel’s mix (simple syrup + fresh lime juice) really hit the spot. Mr Minx tried the Agave wheat beer, which was light and mild.

Chips and salsas and the Miguel margarita

While my mood was gloomy, the food definitely was not. Because the prices at Miguel's are reasonable and we wanted Movable Feast to get as much money as possible, we ordered three appetizers - the guacamole for two, the shrimp corn cakes, and the birria Guadalajara. The guac and corn cakes came out first, competing for space on the table with the basket of chips and salsa, and our beverages. The guac was nice and chunky, had a nice kick of heat, but was perhaps a tad too acidy for me. It came with fried flour tortillas, which were flaky and brittle and didn't work as well with the thick dip as corn chips did. The corn cakes were terrific - three delicate and fluffy discs topped with a scattering of very flavorful shrimp, some salsa fresca, and a drizzle of crema.

Shrimp with corn cakes

Guacamole for two

Our third appetizer, the birria, arrived with our entrées - enchiladas de pollo, and carne asada. My two large enchiladas were filled with pulled chicken bound together by a bit of cheese and were topped with a lake of molé negro. The molé was surprisingly mild and sweet, redolent of Mexican chocolate. Under the enchiladas were black beans and an arroz verde made with a pesto-like mixture of cilantro, basil, and pumpkin seeds that gave it a lovely nutty flavor.

Enchiladas de pollo

The carne asada - which also came with arroz verde and a pile of sliced zucchini cooked with achiote and a good dose of cinnamon (weird, but it really worked well) - was very tender and full of flavor. The molé Amarillo reminded me a bit of New Mexican red chile sauce, but with a brighter flavor. The components of this dish really worked well together - it was meaty, creamy, nutty, spicy, and tangy, all at the same time.

Carne asada

The birria had yet another, completely different, sauce, this one primarily tasting of dried chiles and cumin. Combined with the very tender, very lamb-y lamb, it seemed almost like an Indian dish. It was topped with a garnish of toasted almonds, which lent a pleasant crunch to the dish.

Birria Guadalajara

Finally, we ended up with two desserts, the churros, and a chocolate bread pudding, both accompanied by Taharka Brothers vanilla ice cream and a puddle of cajeta (goat's milk caramel - if you haven't tried this stuff, go find some NOW!). The bread pudding had a rather loose consistency, and was very moist and fudgey, but not overly chocolaty. The churros were even better, with super crisp, cinnamon sugar-dusted outsides and an almost creamy middle. Both were large enough to share.

Chocolate bread pudding

Churros

We were pretty happy with the goodies we sampled from the limited menu offered for Dining Out for Life and look forward to a return visit to taste some flautas, carnitas, and maybe a taco or two.

Miguel's Cocina y Cantina
1200 Steuart St
Baltimore, MD 21230
www.miguelsbaltimore.com
(443) 438-3139

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!

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Flashback Friday - Enchiladas Elegante

This post originally appeared on Minxeats.com on June 14, 2013.
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Last month, we purchased a 5-lb bag of masa flour and used a whole two cups of it for this recipe. There was (and is) still plenty left, and I was looking for things to do with it besides making corn tortillas (which I have not yet done as I do not own a tortilla press). While noodling around online, I found a recipe for corn crepes. I love crepes, and they are pretty easy to make, so the next step was to figure out how to fill them.

I consulted a copy of Rick Bayless' Authentic Mexican for ideas (not that I planned to be authentic in the least) and settled on a green chile sauce with chicken. Only I didn't have any fresh chiles and didn't feel like slogging through the humidity to the grocery store to pick some up. I did have cilantro, and canned tomatillos, and why can't a chipotle en adobo stand in for its unsmoked cousin? I also found a can of mild green chiles in the cupboard, and threw those in too.

Since I was making crepes, which seem somewhat fancy, I figured I might as well make the presentation as elegant as possible, hence the chive garter. Fancy or no, they tasted muy bueno.

Enchiladas Elegante

green enchilada sauce (recipe follows)
2 cups cooked chicken, shredded
masa crepes (recipe follows)
long chives
toasted pumpkin seeds (pepitas)

Add chicken to prepared enchilada sauce and cook over low heat until warmed through.

If crepes have been refrigerated, allow them to sit at room temperature for an hour or so. Place a few tablespoons of the chicken mixture in the middle of a crepe. Fold up the bottom, then fold the sides over diagonally, so the crepe is fan-shaped and the chicken mixture can be seen through the wide end. Slip a chive under the middle of the crepe and tie it in a knot to hold the crepe closed. Trim the chives to a reasonable length.

Garnish with pepitas.

Masa Crepes

½ cup masa flour
3 eggs
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups milk

Pour all the ingredients into a blender and blend until well combined.

Place a bit of butter in a non-stick skillet and heat to medium-high. Ladle in some batter, swirling the pan to spread into a thin layer. Cook until the top looks dry and the edges are brown. Flip and cook the other side for about 45 seconds. One side will be much darker than the other. Repeat for the rest of the batter, omitting the buttering of the pan (the batter has plenty of butter in it). Keep crepes separated with sheets of waxed paper. Cover finished crepes with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use, up to overnight.

Makes about 10 8" crepes, depending on how many you mess up. (The first two are almost always casualties until you get the hang of it.)

Green Enchilada Suiza Sauce (roughly adapted from Authentic Mexican)

1 12-oz can whole tomatillos
1 4-oz can green chiles
1 small onion, roughly chopped
1 handful of cilantro leaves and stems, roughly chopped
1 large or 2 small cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 chipotle pepper in adobo, seeded and roughly chopped (or use 1 or two fresh jalapenos)
1 tablespoon cooking oil (I used extra virgin olive oil)
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup sour cream

Drain tomatillos and place them in the jar of a blender along with the chiles, onion, cilantro, garlic, and chipotle. Blend to a puree.

Heat the cooking oil in a sauce pot until a drop of puree sizzles madly. Pour in the tomatillo mixture and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture darkens and begins to reduce, about 5 minutes. Turn the heat down to medium and add the cup of chicken stock. Simmer for about 15 minutes. Stir in sour cream.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Fiesta Mexicana

My brother discovered Fiesta Mexicana first, when he lived on the east side of Baltimore County. He and Dad would go to the tiny family-run restaurant for lunch on a semi-regular basis, which made me wish Mr Minx and I lived closer. The two of visited the restaurant in 2012, while we were writing Food Lovers' Guide to Baltimore. We ordered the Paquet Eduques, a combo platter including two enchiladas, and one each sope, taco, quesadilla, and flauta. We would have ordered more, but in those days we were eating at multiple restaurants a day in order to write about as many as possible before we hit our rapidly approaching deadline. We especially enjoyed the authentic Mexican quesadilla, which only vaguely resembles what goes by that name here in the US.

Recently, my Dad moved to the area and we took advantage of the proximity to visit Fiesta Mexicana not once but twice in a matter of weeks. The first time, I tried the pambazo, a sandwich served in a roll that has been brushed with a savory guajillo chile sauce and seared, then stuffed with meat and garnished with lettuce, crema, and queso fresca. The normal meat filling is chorizo with potatoes, but I opted for the Milanesa, a breaded beef cutlet that they cut into pieces and pile onto the bread. The sandwich had lovely flavors and textures, from the slightly chewy seared parts of the roll to the cool cream and everything in between. I could get this every time, but there are so many other things on the menu, I'm definitely going to have to branch out.

On the next visit, I tried three of the tacos: carnitas, carne asada, and campechanos, which is a combo of chorizo with shredded beef. The fillings are generous and the corn tortillas are thick enough that they don't need to be doubled, but I was a bit disappointed. Both the carne asada and carnitas were tough and chewy, and I really couldn't tell the pork from the beef. The campechanos was the best of the three, but was also lacking in moisture.

My Dad got his favorite, the quesadillas. Made from pockets of fresh masa stuffed with your choice of meat, cheese, or veggies, these are closer to turnovers than what we normally consider a quesadilla. The texture is both crisp and tender, and they are especially good when stuffed with chorizo and potatoes, or spicy chicken. He normally doesn't like sour cream (or so he says) but he gobbled these up even with the generous drizzle of crema.

On one occasion, we ordered enchiladas to go. Normally stuffed with shredded chicken and topped with a spicy green sauce, they can also be filled with any other meat for a slightly higher price. Occasionally, molé sauce from Mexico City is available, which I am sure is a treat.

On both occasions, the restaurant was full of patrons ordering things like nachos, chilaquiles (eggs with tortilla chips soaked in chile sauce), cecina (flank steak), and tostadas, all of which looked tempting. Next time I'll try one of those, if I don't just get another pambazo.

Fiesta Mexicana
8304 Philadelphia Road
Rosedale, MD 21237
The menu can be found here.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Barcocina

Mr Minx and I visited Barcocina for the first time last summer. We were in the neighborhood, didn't have dinner plans, and had heard good things. Most importantly, after threatening skies most of the afternoon, the evening had turned breezy and pleasant, making the idea of outdoor dining very appealing. Lucky for us, in warmer months, Barcocina is open to the elements on three sides, with both indoor and outdoor seating. If you want sun, there are sunnier spots, and if you prefer shade, there's plenty of that as well.

On this first trip, which was early on in the restaurant's existence, we tried one each of Barcocina's selection of various tacos, guacamoles, and ceviches, plus a side of Brussels sprouts.

Crispy Brussels sprouts with red mole and Cotija

The sprouts, which were tossed with red mole and topped with a smattering of cotija cheese, were excellent. Who would think that cinnamon would work so well with the tiny cabbages?

Oaxaca style guacamole

The guacamole we tried was a fairly simple and traditional affair of avocado seasoned with shallot, lemon, lime, jalapeno, and cilantro.  It came with a generous basket of not-too-salty tortilla chips. Also successful were the easy-to-eat tuna sashimi tacos, cool raw tuna swaddled in pillowy soft flour tortillas.

Sashimi tuna tacos

A scallop ceviche, on the other hand, was a bust. What we received was one large scallop, sliced horizontally, sauced with citrus, vanilla, and habanero, with a smattering of red quinoa on the bottom of the dish and an overly generous amount of ancho chile popcorn on top. It sounded good, but the slimy slices were awkward to eat, and they were not as fresh as they could have been. (The restaurant seems to have gotten rid of the ceviche altogether, apart from one version on the appetizer list.)

Our second visit came about 9 months later, during the brief Baltimore City curfew period. Two media dinners planned that week had been canceled, but we ventured to Fells Point anyway to support the businesses that were hurt by the early shutdown. We had planned to revisit Barcocina at some point, and this seemed like a good time to do so.

Smoky Margarita and Texas Pink

We started out with two smoky mezcal-based cocktails, a margarita and a Texas pink, topped with pineapple foam. They were both refreshingly un-sweet, but the latter had far more ice than actual cocktail going on. With drink prices over $10 a pop these days, I want a little more booze, please.

Barcocina Dip

Like the first time we dined at Barcocina, the food was hit or near-miss. The Barcocina dip, listed on the menu as "an Oaxaca queso fundido" had a curious fluffy texture studded with odd rubbery and flavorless bits of chorizo, topped with a whole poached egg (not fried, as the menu indicated). While the yolk was runny, the white was very firm and required a knife to cut and distribute through the dip. The accompanying tortilla chips were weeny, as if made from taco-sized tortillas, and not big enough to scoop up a decent amount of dip.

Duck enchiladas

Better were the duck enchiladas topped with red mole and a fried egg and served on a bed of black beans. Listed in the appetizer section, the three generously stuffed enchiladas would make a perfect entree as well.

Buffalo chicken tacos

We tried one of the seven varieties of tacos offered, the Buffalo chicken. Three flour tortillas stuffed to bursting with shredded chicken were topped with shredded green mango & napa cabbage and smoked cheddar, and served with a bowl of salsa de arbol. The flavor wasn't as reminiscent of chicken wings as the name suggested, but they were pretty tasty nonetheless.

Tuna taquitos

Even better were the tuna taquitos, wee small shells of fried malanga, a taro-like starchy tuber, filled with chopped tuna, pickled sweet potato and ginger, and a chili soy sauce. Each two-bite taco had just the right amount of texture and flavor, and were my favorite thing on the table.

We were hungry and tried two sides as well, crispy yucca tots and elotes. Let me just say this: all tots should be made with yucca! (I'm not a fan of the tater variety). These were super crispy on the outside and creamy within, and just fine without the accompanying adobo sauce and citrus crema.

Really?

As for the elotes--Barcocina should be embarrassed. For $6, we got one medium-small ear of corn, cut in half. It apparently had ancho cayenne butter, queso fresco, and lime zest, but in such minuscule amounts as to be ridiculous. Thinking on it, I should probably have asked to have it removed from our check. It made me mad.

So apart from two real bombs (elotes and scallop ceviche) and one almost-flop-yet-still-edible (Barcocina dip), the food at Barcocina is pretty good. Anything with raw tuna in it especially. And Brussels sprouts. And the food is prettily presented, to boot. Service is decent as well, if a bit relaxed. And you can't beat the location--at the foot of Broadway, overlooking the water or Thames Street, depending on which side you sit. The views certainly make up for any deficiencies in food or drink.



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El Salto

Tuesday is our regular grocery shopping night and occasionally we have dinner before we hit the produce aisles. Because we're on the go, we seldom have the camera on hand or even think about writing about our meal. But El Salto deserves a mention on the blog (it's in the book already) because it's fast, it's cheap, and it's tasty.

My favorite thing at El Salto is the simplest - the basket of tortilla chips that are brought to our table within seconds of being seated. If they're salted, I can't tell, and that's what I like best. I can pretty much eat the whole basket without even thinking about it, dipping chips in their simple pureed salsa before cramming them into my eager maw. If I want to make those chips go even faster (or have an excuse to ask for a second basket), I order us an appetizer of queso con chorizo: molten white cheese flavored with bits of chorizo.

Most of the time, however, we simply order one of the many super-cheap combination platters. I usually choose one that has a chile relleno, and sometimes an enchilada or burrito. This one has the former and a tostada.

Mr Minx likes the beef tacos there, too. Maybe not so authentic with the crunchy corn shell, but pretty tasty.

I like that I'm not forced to face a plate of rice and beans, because, you know, tortillas are plenty enough carbs for me.

If you're not into the combo platter thing (all under $8, by the way), there are also fajitas, huevos rancheros, carne asada, and many other dishes to try. We've enjoyed everything we've tried there. It's not fancy, it's not pretty, but it's filling and it's good.

El Salto
8816 Waltham Woods Rd
Parkville, MD 21234
(410) 668-3980




Posted on Minxeats.com.

Enchiladas Elegante

Last month, we purchased a 5-lb bag of masa flour and used a whole two cups of it for this recipe. There was (and is) still plenty left, and I was looking for things to do with it besides making corn tortillas (which I have not yet done as I do not own a tortilla press). While noodling around online, I found a recipe for corn crepes. I love crepes, and they are pretty easy to make, so the next step was to figure out how to fill them.

I consulted a copy of Rick Bayless' Authentic Mexican for ideas (not that I planned to be authentic in the least) and settled on a green chile sauce with chicken. Only I didn't have any fresh chiles and didn't feel like slogging through the humidity to the grocery store to pick some up. I did have cilantro, and canned tomatillos, and why can't a chipotle en adobo stand in for its unsmoked cousin? I also found a can of mild green chiles in the cupboard, and threw those in too.

Since I was making crepes, which seem somewhat fancy, I figured I might as well make the presentation as elegant as possible, hence the chive garter. Fancy or no, they tasted muy bueno.

Enchiladas Elegante

green enchilada sauce (recipe follows)
2 cups cooked chicken, shredded
masa crepes (recipe follows)
long chives
toasted pumpkin seeds (pepitas)

Add chicken to prepared enchilada sauce and cook over low heat until warmed through.

If crepes have been refrigerated, allow them to sit at room temperature for an hour or so. Place a few tablespoons of the chicken mixture in the middle of a crepe. Fold up the bottom, then fold the sides over diagonally, so the crepe is fan-shaped and the chicken mixture can be seen through the wide end. Slip a chive under the middle of the crepe and tie it in a knot to hold the crepe closed. Trim the chives to a reasonable length.

Garnish with pepitas.

Masa Crepes

½ cup masa flour
3 eggs
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups milk

Pour all the ingredients into a blender and blend until well combined.

Place a bit of butter in a non-stick skillet and heat to medium-high. Ladle in some batter, swirling the pan to spread into a thin layer. Cook until the top looks dry and the edges are brown. Flip and cook the other side for about 45 seconds. One side will be much darker than the other. Repeat for the rest of the batter, omitting the buttering of the pan (the batter has plenty of butter in it). Keep crepes separated with sheets of waxed paper. Cover finished crepes with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use, up to overnight.

Makes about 10 8" crepes, depending on how many you mess up. (The first two are almost always casualties until you get the hang of it.)

Green Enchilada Suiza Sauce (roughly adapted from Authentic Mexican)

1 12-oz can whole tomatillos
1 4-oz can green chiles
1 small onion, roughly chopped
1 handful of cilantro leaves and stems, roughly chopped
1 large or 2 small cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 chipotle pepper in adobo, seeded and roughly chopped (or use 1 or two fresh jalapenos)
1 tablespoon cooking oil (I used extra virgin olive oil)
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup sour cream

Drain tomatillos and place them in the jar of a blender along with the chiles, onion, cilantro, garlic, and chipotle. Blend to a puree.

Heat the cooking oil in a sauce pot until a drop of puree sizzles madly. Pour in the tomatillo mixture and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture darkens and begins to reduce, about 5 minutes. Turn the heat down to medium and add the cup of chicken stock. Simmer for about 15 minutes. Stir in sour cream.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Fiesta Mexicana

My brother and father go to Rosedale's Fiesta Mexicana pretty regularly and rave over the authentic renditions of Mexican street food known as antojitos. That pretty much includes all the stuff most Americans are familiar with - quesadillas, tacos, enchiladas - plus thicker tortilla shells called sopes, and a chile sauce-soaked sandwich called the pambazo.

There restaurant is tiny - only four tables and a small counter - but the menu offers a panoply of options. Not only are there plain cheese quesadillas, but also variations filled with beans, mushrooms, roasted poblanos, potatoes, chicken, beef, chorizo, or a combination of chorizo and potato. The quesadillas at Fiesta Mexicana are not the Americanized version made with griddled flour tortillas layered with cheese, rather, they are fried turnovers made with fresh corn tortilla dough. In my mind, closer to an empanada.

We tried one filled with chorizo con papa, or spicy Mexican chorizo and potatoes. We also tried a beef flauta, chicken enchiladas, a mushroom sope, and a carnitas taco, all of which come on the "Paquet Eduques" sampler platter. Apart from the slightly tough beef in the flauta, everything was uniformly tasty and despite some items being fried, ungreasy. The two salsas served on the side - one green, one red - were both complex with roasted chile flavors that gave a nice hit of heat but weren't overly-spicy.

Drink choices are myriad and include imported sugar-sweetened Coke and various flavors of the Mexican soda brand Jarritos, all of which are self-serve from the refrigerated case at the back of the restaurant.

Service at Fiesta Mexicana is cheerful and helpful, especially for people like us who can't make up our minds. Definitely worth a visit for those who want a real taste of Mexico. Indeed, most of the other customers were Latino, which speaks well for the authenticity of the food.

Fiesta Mexicana
8304 Philadelphia Rd
Rosedale, MD 21237
(410) 686-0135


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Tequila Mockingbird

Ocean City, Maryland, is hardly a foodie destination, and we're ok with that. Most trips, we end up eating pretty decent pizza at Lombardi's, tender ribs from J.R.'s, and terrific sushi at Yokozuna. If we're there more than three nights, another restaurant has to enter the rotation, and occasionally it's Tequila Mockingbird. Every time we go there, I think it's a terrific idea, and every time we leave I think, "why did I eat that?"

Not that the food is bad. It's not bad. It's just...bland. But that doesn't seem to keep anyone away. Seems like every time we've eaten there, there's been a small hoard of people at the front of the restaurant, waiting for a table. I don't really get it.

Ok, maybe I get going there for a margarita and some chips and salsa, which always seem freshly made. The chips were warm and un-greasy, and completely unsalted on our most recent visit. (That's fine - I prefer my tortilla chips unsalted.) The salsa also seemed underseasoned, but otherwise had the standard mix of tomatoes, onions, and cilantro.

After perusing the pun-heavy menu, which is divided into sections like "Chimi Chimi Bang Bang," "Gone with the Taco," and "Love American Style," you know, the usual suspects (see what I did there?), I ordered the "Tijuana Triple," a typical Tex-Mex platter of excess including a mini shrimp quesadilla, a chicken hard taco, and a cheese enchilada, plus arroz verde and refried beans. Pretty standard fare that can be made at home quite easily, with or without the help of Old El Paso. How could it go wrong? Well, not wrong, per se. Just horribly...uninteresting. The chunks of chicken breast in the taco were not only boneless and skinless but also completely devoid of seasoning and flavor. They were also slightly tough, but that was expected. Topping the meat were some unseasoned bits of tomato and onion and shredded lettuce. More of this bland vegetation topped the cheese enchilada, which was orange goo wrapped in a corn tortilla. The enchilada sauce had slopped off to the side and was killing the crispness of the quesadilla, which was filled with - you guessed it - more of the tomato/onion blandness. The small shrimps hiding in the cheese were pretty tasty though, adding a modicum of flavor to an otherwise snooze-worthy plate that also included underseasoned arroz verde and gummy refried beans.

After eating as much as I could stomach, I went back to the chips and salsa. After the blandness of my dinner, I could detect that the salsa *did* have seasoning - maybe a bit of vinegar. Perhaps even salt.

Mr Minx fared much better. He wisely ordered beef as the filling for his chimichanga, and found it to be nicely seasoned with a bit of cumin and other spices. It was actually flavorful. Unfortunately, it came with the same boring beans and rice, and more completely unnecessary tomato/onion/shredded iceberg.

My camera phone sadly doesn't have a flash. My dish came out blurry,
but that's fine - it looked like a mess anyway.

We washed down our food with glasses of sangria, which tasted heavily of cinnamon. It reminded me of the Korean persimmon- and cinnamon-flavored dessert beverage, sujung gwa. I probably should have ordered a margarita.

So...it was edible. Everything seemed fresh, and it was fine for folks who don't like spicy or flavorful food, I suppose. Really quite a let-down after eating some really good Mexican chow at Miguel's recently. I did notice that we were possibly the youngest customers in the dining room, and that might have been the reason for the "taco night at the nursing home" quality of the meal. But then the place has a captive audience, as do the rest of OC's restaurants that don't seem to try very hard.

Sadly, eating at Tequila Mockingbird gave me this thought: Ocean City could use a Chili's.

Tequila Mockingbird
12919 Coastal Hwy
Ocean City, MD 21842
www.octequila.com
(410) 250-4424



Posted by theminx on Minxeats.com.

Miguel's Cocina y Cantina

MinxEats is a proud supporter of Dining Out for Life and we did our part this year by dining out at Miguel's Cocina y Cantina, which offered 50% of their take to Movable Feast. We are big fans of Mexican food and Mr Minx and I looked forward to sampling chef owner Michael Marx's authentic fare from the moment I made our reservation.

Miguel's is in the hideous new Silo Point complex and is a bit hard to find, so thank goodness for the well placed signs and arrows. Once inside, we were taken to a tiny table across from a large bank of windows in the bar area. It was dark and gloomy outside, so unfortunately, it was rather dark and gloomy inside as well. And a bit noisy, despite the few other diners partaking of our normally early dinner hour.

While perusing the menu, we nibbled on a basket of freshly fried corn tortilla chips accompanied by two salsas - a tangy bright tomatillo and an almost creamy roasted tomato. I had a bad day and was in the mood for a margarita - the Miguel's, with Espolon Silver, Gran Gala, Miguel’s mix (simple syrup + fresh lime juice) really hit the spot. Mr Minx tried the Agave wheat beer, which was light and mild.

Chips and salsas and the Miguel margarita

While my mood was gloomy, the food definitely was not. Because the prices at Miguel's are reasonable and we wanted Movable Feast to get as much money as possible, we ordered three appetizers - the guacamole for two, the shrimp corn cakes, and the birria Guadalajara. The guac and corn cakes came out first, competing for space on the table with the basket of chips and salsa, and our beverages. The guac was nice and chunky, had a nice kick of heat, but was perhaps a tad too acidy for me. It came with fried flour tortillas, which were flaky and brittle and didn't work as well with the thick dip as corn chips did. The corn cakes were terrific - three delicate and fluffy discs topped with a scattering of very flavorful shrimp, some salsa fresca, and a drizzle of crema.

Shrimp with corn cakes

Guacamole for two

Our third appetizer, the birria, arrived with our entrées - enchiladas de pollo, and carne asada. My two large enchiladas were filled with pulled chicken bound together by a bit of cheese and were topped with a lake of molé negro. The molé was surprisingly mild and sweet, redolent of Mexican chocolate. Under the enchiladas were black beans and an arroz verde made with a pesto-like mixture of cilantro, basil, and pumpkin seeds that gave it a lovely nutty flavor.

Enchiladas de pollo

The carne asada - which also came with arroz verde and a pile of sliced zucchini cooked with achiote and a good dose of cinnamon (weird, but it really worked well) - was very tender and full of flavor. The molé Amarillo reminded me a bit of New Mexican red chile sauce, but with a brighter flavor. The components of this dish really worked well together - it was meaty, creamy, nutty, spicy, and tangy, all at the same time.

Carne asada

The birria had yet another, completely different, sauce, this one primarily tasting of dried chiles and cumin. Combined with the very tender, very lamb-y lamb, it seemed almost like an Indian dish. It was topped with a garnish of toasted almonds, which lent a pleasant crunch to the dish.

Birria Guadalajara

Finally, we ended up with two desserts, the churros, and a chocolate bread pudding, both accompanied by Taharka Brothers vanilla ice cream and a puddle of cajeta (goat's milk caramel - if you haven't tried this stuff, go find some NOW!). The bread pudding had a rather loose consistency, and was very moist and fudgey, but not overly chocolaty. The churros were even better, with super crisp, cinnamon sugar-dusted outsides and an almost creamy middle. Both were large enough to share.

Chocolate bread pudding

Churros

We were pretty happy with the goodies we sampled from the limited menu offered for Dining Out for Life and look forward to a return visit to taste some flautas, carnitas, and maybe a taco or two.

Miguel's Cocina y Cantina
1200 Steuart St
Baltimore, MD 21230
www.miguelsbaltimore.com
(443) 438-3139


Posted by theminx on Minxeats.com.