Back from Vacay- to El Maguey!

I'm back from vacay! It was wonderful and restorative, and I'm ready to get back to work and to posting on the lovely blog with new vim and vigor.

After our amazing spa trip at Miraval (whose scarily healthful and tasty food I will write about soon), my mom and I decided to use our time in L.A. for a day trip to Mission San Juan Capistrano, South of L.A. The mission was wonderful and the little town was adorable, too. Lots of little shops and fun historic buildings. I would highly recommend visiting this beautiful and peaceful place.

For lunch, we felt for Mexican, and one of the ladies at the mission recommended that we skip the impressive-looking but touristy place we had found in the AAA guide and go to El Maguey instead.

El Maguey is in a little white building with a patio in front and has a separate take-out section. The inside has cozy booths and cute but simple Mexican decor, plus Latin music videos playing silently on a TV. The menu had a mix of combo platters (combinations of tamales, chile relleno, enchilada, taco, etc.) and house specialties. I ordered the enchiladas en mole, since I love mole and having slaved away to make it a couple of times really appreciate a good one. My mom ordered Mary's tacos, which are tacos al pastor (pork) and with beef, with some green peppers and mushrooms, in corn tortillas. Both dishes were served with Spanish rice and refried beans. We also ordered two of their margaritas, which are made with wine.

Chips and salsa came first. The chips seemed homemade and were really greasy, crunchy and good. The tomato salsa was hot and really tasty. The wine margaritas were also really refreshing and nice. I asked for the recipe but the waitress said they get it pre-made. I imagine it had cheap white wine and lemonade, something like that. With a salt rim of course, on the rocks. It was really good, I will probably try to recreate it sometime.

The dishes were HUGE. (Next time, we will share.) My enchiladas, one chicken one cheese, were delicious. The cheese one had tons of stringy cheese that choked me in a good way. The chicken was well seasoned and tender. The mole sauce was very good and flavorful, though it was a bit sweet for my taste. My mom's dish was very good also, though it was not spicy in the least which the waitress had warned her it was.

The rice and beans were fabulous. FABULOUS! I would bet dollars to donuts they use manteca in the beans and it tastes just right. The rice was fluffy and pleasing. I would go back just for these. These are a few of my favorite thiiiiings.

They also had churros which looked yummy, but we had no room left, alas! And a shockingly large selection of La Michoacana popsicles and ice cream bars, too. Next time I am in SJC perhaps when I have other visitors in town, I would definitely return to El Maguey. It was homey, simple food, no tricks, and not touristy or Tex-Mexy. My dad is Mexican and I grew up traveling and eating homemade food all over Mexico, so I have had some good stuff, but I am not an expert and can't say authoritatively how "authentic" the food was. However, my opinion is that it was quite authentic indeed. All in all, the service was warm and friendly and the food yummy in my tummy, making El Maguey a solid choice I would recommend.

Food: (3)

Experience: (3)

Overall: (3)

For an explanation of our rating system, CLICK HERE!

:-P

Tres Agaves = Tres Malas Experiencias

So.....Tres Agaves. Before this past weekend I had only been there for margaritas and chips and salsa at the bar - which were fine. However an experience I had there previously should have set me up for the disappointment of this past weekend. A couple of months ago I was sitting there at the bar having a nice cold margarita on the rocks with a galpal from work. I remarked to her that the margarita, while good, was not the best I have ever had. Because I had margaritas with Patch when I visited her one summer in Chicago, at Rick Bayless' restaurant, Topolobampo, and it was the freaking best thing I have ever had in my life. We GUZZLED them all night - something I have never done with margaritas. It was like drinking lime-flavored heaven in a glass. And while the margarita at Tres Agaves was good....heaven it was not. I was speaking quietly about this to my friend, and the bartender overheard and came over and gave me a lecture about how Rick Bayless does x thing wrong, and the bartender did it right, yadda yadda yadda - picking a fight with me about this stupid cocktail!! And it WASN'T as good! I'm sorry! Maybe I was being a little rude, but I paid for the drink and was planning on paying for more of them until the little argument. I told him I thought his drink was quite good and I would tell him I liked it best if that would make him feel better. He left us alone and we went on to District.

So anyways, maybe after that little experience, I should have known I would be disappointed with Tres Agaves once I actually got the chance to eat there. But I had high hopes. The restaurant has been on Michael Bauer's Top 100 Bay Area Restaurants List for years. I am generally a little wary of upscale Mexican, but experiences at Topolobampo in Chicago, and Mamacita in SF (which I will write about at some point) lead me to believe that this might be a good thing.

I was wrong. Wrong wrong wrong.

I will start with the good though. We had a reservation and they seated us immediately, even without our entire party there, which I thought was great. They immediately brought us two big bowls of chips and two kinds of salsa - a chopped pico de gallo, and a cooked tomato salsa. The pico de gallo was sort of watery and lame in my opinion - especially considering the great tomatoes available right now. But I really thought the cooked salsa was excellent. Very very tasty, would give my Latina mother's salsa a run for its money (it would lose, but it would be a close race).

Another good thing - some of my friends had a special margarita made with jalapeno, which they all loved - the Sweet Heat. So I would recommend that. We ordered a couple of pitchers of regular margaritas, and they were ok. Not great. They were fine. Too expensive in my opinion - 36 dollars for a pitcher with 4 sub par margaritas. But we enjoyed them.

The food, besides the salsa, was not impressive. I wasn't super hungry, so I ordered one of the $12 ceviches - ceviche being one of my most favorite foods in the history of the world. I had the bacalao - rock cod with chile de arbol, avocado, onion, cilantro, and tomato. It was ok. It was tiny, first of all. And it was served in a tall shot glass basically - which made it hard to eat. The fish was ok. The brine was too limey and watery at the same time - needed more salt, more avocado. Patch had the Durado ceviche - albacore with lemon juice, preserved lemons, cucumbers, and habanero. I had a taste and it was better than mine, but the same tiny glass. My friend R. ordered the chicken sopes, which were absolutely pitiful looking - three tiny (maybe 2 inches in diameter) sopes with pathetically dry chicken and a little chile on top. She remarked that it looked and tasted like it had been under a broiler. Another girl ordered the queso fundido, which also did not look particularly appetizing. The server brought us a bunch of sides to the table - refried beans with chorizo, vegetarian pinto beans, cabbage salad, and tortillas. They were all just ok. I sure didn't taste any chorizo in the refried beans.

The servers also seemed in a hurry to clear our table. Once we ordered the food was out way, way too quickly - we had little time to sit and chat. Once we were mostly done the food was whisked away quickly. But then the check. never. came. Finally after about 45 minutes of sitting there we flagged down our server and made it out of there.

Part of the problem with Tres Agaves is its location. It is a block from the ballpark home of my beloved San Francisco Giants. The before and post game crowds can be very annoying, and are generally looking for their food to be quick and easy. But if that is the kind of place Tres Agaves wants to be, and the crowd they want to cater to in general, they need to lower their prices.

All in all, I was not pleased. I would stop in for a drink and some chips and salsa before a game at the bar, but I will not eat another meal there if I have any control over it. Mamacita across town is just too good - not to mention the deliciously cheap and authentic Los Jarritos.

Food - (2)(1.5 for food, but it gets a boost because of the yummy Sweet Heat cocktail)
Experience - (2)
Total - (2)
* For an explanation of our rating system, CLICK HERE!


Yelp Reviews for Tres Agaves
SF Chronicle Review for Tres Agaves

Los Jarritos

I was blessed to be born into a family of Mexican heritage. My mother is Mexican, and she's an amazing cook. My brothers and I grew up eating her delicious tacos, tostadas, burritos, enchiladas, tamales - the works. She's a healthy cook - she didn't cook anything especially greasy. But it was fresh, well-seasoned, and delicious.

Growing up in Los Angeles and central California, I was also blessed to be surrounded by tons of amazing Mexican food. The population in my hometown in the central valley is mostly Mexican/Latin American. There are tons of great places to get a delicious taco. My test of a good Mexican restaurant is whether they have good beans and good carnitas. The beans have to be fresh, not too heavy, not too salty. The carnitas have to be greasy enough but not too greasy, not too salty. Carnitas are basically porked braised in pork fat. So they should taste bad for you, but without making you feel ill.

When I moved to Los Angeles for college, I was once again surrounded by tons of terrific Mexican food. My favorite place there was called Los Jarritos II. I went there all the time and took family and friends there. Great delicious carnitas, great chips, hot salsa, quick, cheap, great. I hoped when I moved to Palo Alto for grad school that I would be able to find a place as good. But no dice. There is NO good mexican food in Palo Alto. Nothing. Not even worth trying.

San Francisco however.....San Francisco is another story. There is an entire neighborhood in San Francisco that has a heavy latin influence - lots of Mexican, Central and South Americans with great restaurants. I knew it wouldn't take me long to find "my place" for Mexican food in SF - and I was not disappointed. But I was surprised to find that its name, as well, was Los Jarritos.



The mission is full of taquerias and little crowded places where you can grab a quick bite. But the thing I really like about Los Jarritos is that you can sit down, have a relaxing dinner, and its still delicious and inexpensive.

The chips and salsa at Los Jarritos are pretty good. The salsa they serve before you eat is a cooked salsa - tomatoes, onions, and spices and lots of jalapeno blended until smooth and cooked before its served. The chips are always fresh, made from the corn tortillas that the restaurant makes and uses in all its recipes. My favorite things to order are the tacos - you can get them crispy or soft (I go for crispy). They put a little beans, and then your choice of delicious chicken, spicy beef, carnitas, or just rice if you are a vegetarian. The guacamole is fresh and super tasty, and made spicier if you ask them. The beans - oh man. They are pure heaven. And they are vegetarian, which means no lard - but they are so freakin good you would never know it. And the carnitas are perfect - greasy but not gross, tender, tasty, YUM.

I go to Los Jarritos once a month or so. I like to take people there. My parents have gone with me and my mom gave it her true Latina stamp of approval. I took my friend from high school, L., there for 4th of July dinner. She had the carne asada and said it was amazing. I believe her - but the carnitas are so good that I'm not sure I'll ever be able to try anything else.

So if you are in town and want good authentic Mexican food, in a cozy atmosphere, in the heart of SF - Los Jarritos is it!!

Food - (3)
Experience - (3)
Total - (3)

For an explanation of our ratings system, CLICK HERE!

Check out Los Jarritos Yelp! reviews HERE.

I dig it!

Em