Friday, February 8, 2008

Week 2 - Cantina Mayahuel

Cantina Mayahuel – Near 30th and Adams, Normal Heights.

www.myspace.com/cantinamayahuel
-map-

Eater #1: Shrimp Taco, Tasajo Taco, Chips and Salsa. Negra Modello.
The tacos are different here than what I am used to. Talking to another patron while waiting for them to open at noon, he explained that this is Mexican food from southern Mexico… They used cabbage instead of lettuce and smothered the tacos in chipotle, lime juice and other sauces. The shrimp tacos were good, nice plump shrimps and the right amount of other flavors. The beef tacos were good, but the meat was kinda too chewy… Like they used stuff that should have been made into stew. Overall I liked it.

Sitting on the sunny patio, drinking a Negra Modelo and eating good Mexican food. Damn I’m glad I live in San Diego.

Eater #2: Chicken Taco, (2) Tasajo Taco, Chips and Salsa. Negra Modello.
Right out of the gates Cantina Mayahuel earned one punto de taco for their wall of top-shelf tequila. After munching on some chips and salsa, I made the mistake of going too big and ordering two carne asada tacos (tasajo-style) and a chicken taco. Two tacos on my hungriest day would have been more than enough. The la diabla sauce for the tacos was pretty damn tasty and not nearly as sphincter scarring as it sounds. I would definitely go back and Cantina Mayahuel made a fine benchmark for the Taco Friday saga. I give them 3 puntos de taco out of 5. Mahalo & God save the Queen.



Eater# 3: Eater #2: Chicken Taco, Tasajo Taco, Chips and Salsa. Jamica.
Atmosphere: A small cozy restaurant, very cute, but the side patio tops it all.

Food: Chicken taco, good good stuff. Tasty flavorful chunks of white meat, tons of cabbage topped off with 3 sauces that I guess to be sour cream, a dark rich chili sauce, and one other that is somewhere in between the two. There was a tortilla disaster due to there being too much innards for the poor tortillas to handle, but that is a small issue.
Tesajo style beef taco was decent, but not as good. The meat had great flavor to it, but was tough and hard to chew, not a good cut of meat. Oh yeah, and it had a hair peeking out of the end of it, but hey this is life and shit happens.
Libation: Jamica, not as sweet as I normally like, but it was good and it tasted fresh which is always a plus.

Overall: I tend to like my food hair free, but other than that this was a good spot to relax and have some tacos, and you can bet my next visit will include a margarita with tequila from one of the several shelves of offerings.










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