Chilorio's Very Mexican

Fast, fresh & healthy Mexican food near Dadeland.


What we had:

I'm a slacker, and we have been eating here regularly on Monday nights for about a month. My DH usually goes for the burrito and I get the tacos. Because we have addictions.

How to order: First, select the dish you want (grilled burrito, 3 tacos, 2 tostadas, 1 quesadilla, 1 salad, 2 enchiladas or 1 tostada) and then the meat (Chilorio chicken, grilled chicken, Chilorio beef, steak, ground beef, grilled mixed veggies, shrimp or lobster), toppings and sides.

Meats

The meat is generally dry, but what do you want? It's been sitting in a pan, waiting on your order. This is fast food. At least it's not sitting in grease.

Chilorio chicken: Supposedly spicy shredded chicken. Neither of us find it spicy, but it isn't bad, either.

Grilled chicken: Chopped, grilled chicken.

Chilorio beef: Supposedly spicy shredded beef. This one isn't spicy either.

Steak: I think this is the best of the bunch. Generally less dry than the others (go fig), and nicely seasoned.

Ground beef: My DH likes this one; I haven't had it yet.

Pork: I swear they have pork, but it's not on the menu. The pork was dry, but it was pork, so I wasn't complaining.

Grilled veggies & seafood: Haven't tried these options, either. Seafood ups the price by around $3, and I'm usually way too starving by the time we get here to order veggies.

Toppings
Typical beans/rice/pico/cheese/lettuce toppings.

Tortillas
The tortillas are homemade. My favorite is the soft & pillowy wheat.

Sides
I love that they offer baked tortillas and non-refried mashed pinto beans as sides. The black beans are also very tasty.


Décor:

The little fire guy is cute, and I like the lime and red color scheme. They also have small upgrades like TVs, menu pics on an overhead monitor and a cell phone charging station.


Service:

I don't know if it's the acupuncture I get before I go, or old age setting in, but whomever is behind the counter is usually almost inaudible.


Overall impressions:

Not bad. A little bland, and not as good as Moe's, but we don't feel guilty about eating here, either. The prices are very reasonable. We usually get out for just under $20 for one burrito, three tacos and two fountain drinks. We must not be the only ones who don't feel guilty about feeding their need for Mexican here--Chilorio's was voted 2010 best guilt-free burrito by Miami New Times.

Check out their website for nutritional information.


Rating:

3.5 out of 5 salamanders

T-Mex Cantina

Tex-Mex bar in the downtown Fort Lauderdale Riverwalk. The menu has a variety of burritos (regular and loco size), tacos, nachos, burgers and other bar food and was written by a drunk Spanglish speaker. Chicken was referred to in one burrito as both chicken and pollo; not sure what they think the difference is... maybe pork? Pretty much all iterations come with a shrimp or fish option, but surprising little pork on the menu.


What we had:

I had the shredded chicken burrito and my DH had the ground beef burrito. Both were edible, but way too watery and boring to be called good. We ordered hot, and it wasn't at all spicy.


Décor:

Bras & beer signs on the ceiling.


Service:

Typical bar service.


Overall impressions:

We were starving, so no complaints about not dying of starvation, but it's not a place I would willingly visit again if even a little sober. Maybe if I turn into a Girl Gone Wild when I grow up. Or learn how to do a keg stand.


Rating:

2.5 out of 5 salamanders





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Fairchild Tropical Garden Cafe

The cafe at Fairchild Tropical Garden.


What we had:

I had the tropical turkey sandwich on a hoagie roll--nice quality turkey with dill Havarti, mixed greens and a mango sauce on a fresh-tasting roll. This sandwich far exceeded my expectations, providing nice light fortification without making me nauseous from the heat of the day.

My DH had the roast beef sandwich on a hoagie roll, which was equally as nice.


Décor:

Can't beat it--outside in the garden, near the tropics zone.


Service:

Disorganized, but tolerable.


Overall impressions:

A great little gem. We will definitely be going back.


Rating:

4 out of 5 salamanders





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Marhaba

Mediterranean cafe in Coral Gables, right outside the big Gameworks/Nike Town mall thing.


What we had:

Delightful hummus with fresh pitas--the plain were great; the fried were too greasy.

Kibbeh kabobs--we both got the lamb kibbeh kabobs. The meat was succulent, if a bit fatty; the rice (with angel hair pasta bits) was nice; and the few grilled peppers and tomatoes (2 each) were a nice treat.


Décor:

Ok. Not overdone by Mediterreanean standards.


Service:

So-so.


Overall impressions:

A little less healthy than I had wanted that day, but not terrible.


Rating:

3 out of 5 salamanders





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Mercadito Midtown

Pretentious Mexican boteca (tapas) style restaurant in the Midtown Miami area (in the Target shopping complex; one street east of Target).

We were craving tacos after a day at the beach (damn you, Ver Daddys for closing), and decided to give this place a shot. We won't be repeating that mistake any time soon.


What we had:

Let me preface our meal ny saying the menu at Mercadito is ridiculous. It's overpriced, inflexible, and pretentious. I guess you have to be pretentious to charge $14 for 4 mini tacos with a straight face. There is also no mixing and matching with your 4 tacos, a fact with which we were sorely disappointed--almost to the point of walking out. $14 is ludicrous, but we would be willing to overlook that if you could sample more than one flavor. Two even, would be okay.

Salsa costs $3 extra, and it's maybe a quarter of a cup. The variety we got was nice, but worth nowhere near $3.

The chips were fresh but unsalted and really greasy; almost inedible.

We ordered carne and carnitas tacos. Each variety came out on long glass plates; a nice presentation.

The carne tacos (tender grilled steak chunks with diced potato, an airy potato puree, bits of roasted poblano and crispy wisps of something in fresh corn tortillas) were tiny, but the flavor was good.

The carnitas tacos (shredded, juicy slow-cooked pork shoulder with crispy cabbage slaw and peanut dressing on the same tortillas) were also tiny and tasted good, but the value for money just isn't there.


Décor:

We were seated outside; almost flapping in the breeze in the patio entranceway. The inside decor was bright, open and modern.


Service:

The server didn't speak English terribly well and managed to be both condescending and neraly intelligible, because he was opposed to enunciation.

The service was tapas style, with dishes coming out at all different times. Really? Is that entirely necessary? Our food did come out quick, though, I will give them that.


Overall impressions:

Everything else on the menu seemed to be similarly overpriced, and geared to ordering a bunch of plates/courses.


Rating:

2.5 out of 5 salamanders, but begrudingly. The tastes were good overall, but the experience was wholly unsatisfying.


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Smith & Wollensky

I made reservations to celebrate our fourth wedding anniversary through Open Table and requested that we be sat overlooking the sunset and mentioned the reason.

The management and staff went out of their way to make the experience a memorable one. We were the first table to be sat upstairs overlooking the water and were promptly ushered to the optimal sunset seat. The maitre d' left us with a handwritten congratulatory card and at the end of the meal we were treated to a free dessert.


What we had:

We started with cocktails-my apple-tini tasted like medicine, but my DH enjoyed his dirty martini.

We had the calamari appetizer, which was fresh, perfectly fried an well seasoned.

The table bread was house-made and came out in a little pan.

I had the chef's cut prime rib--over 1 pound of the most succulent bone-in prime rib I have ever had (at a restaurant). Holy crap this was awesome. Unfortunately, I was wearing a nice dress, so I ended stuffing my face so much I was in pain by the end of the meal, and had to leave about 2 ounces behind. I know, I know... I'm still hanging my head in shame, but I was in real danger of explosion. We're talking past the food baby point.

My DH had a big honkin bone-in ribeye, and it was also fan-freakin-tabulous.

For sides, we had the truffle mac & cheese and the asparagus. The truffle mac was pretty good but a littly grainy. Bourbon steak's was miles better. My asparagus is much better than this was. It wasn't bad; it was asparagus afterall; but nothing was done to it but blanching. The bernaise sauce was good.

So, after eatibg ourselves into a beef-fueled stupor, a free chocolate lava cake with vanilla ice cream and a fresh raspberry coulis came out. What did we do? We finished it.

We needed coffee after this, so we stayed around for our aperitif.


Décor:

I think it was nice; the sunset, cruise ships and people on an evening stroll were.


Service:

Old school older men in S&W jackets. Good service; attentive without being obtrusive.

The silverware was impressive--sterling made special for the restaurant.


Overall impressions:

A good old-school steakhouse that seems to take care in nurturing repeat business. We would go again.


Rating:

4 out of 5 salamanders


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Cantina Laredo

Gourmet Mexican food in Gulfstream Villiage.


What we had:

The table chips weren't fresh, but the salsas were nice and flavorful. We enjoyed a richly-smoked mild salsa and a nice, bright spicy salsa.

We ended up eating (chips) until we were over-stuffed.

My DH had the chicken and steak tacos--the chix was over-cooked but ok; the steak was well-seasoned and cooked to perfection. The tacos wete accompanied by nice fresh avocado, tomato that actually saw the sun and sides of really nice fresh black beans with cojito and bland-but-not-terrible Mexican rice. Nicely seasoned queso was served as an additional optional topping.

I had a chicken & shrimp dish--dry and bland chix with perfectly cooked shrimp, a poblano white wine sauce (good taste, but salty finish) and nice veg side with almonds that was not over-processed.


Décor:

Nice, modern, austere.


Service:

The staff was all over the place; herds of them were walking back and forth during the meal - hopefully it was shift switch time.


Overall impressions:

Nice decor, decent American-ivied menu (read: cheese heavy). On the pricey side with an average plate price in the low 20s.


Rating:

3 out of 5 salamanders


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