My Most Favorite Mexican Restaurant In The Area

Here in the US, there is an abundant (over abundant?) number of Mexican restaurant. And because of this, there is also a wide spectrum of quality of Mexican restaurant, from the very good and very high end (the Frontera Grill's) to the nasty fast food (I won't name names). Add to that, the majority of the food that are termed as "Mexican" tends to be Tex-Mex, originating from the Texas, Arizona, New Mexico region of the US, rather than authentic cuisine from the various regions of Mexico.

In other words, finding a "good Mexican restaurant" can have a wide meaning and can be a daunting task.

My take on ANY ethnic restaurant is this: Is the clientele of that ethnic restaurant predominantly of that ethnicity? If it is, there is a very good chance that the food is either authentic, or very good, or both. I mentioned earlier of why we love Izakaya Sankyu near where we live, and on any given night, you'll see predominantly Asian, and more specifically, Japanese clientele in the restaurant. So apply this to Mexican restaurants. If you walk in, and the clientele in predominantly Hispanic, there's a good chance that the food is good. If you walk in and you don't see even a single Hispanic customer (and trust me, I've been in many such restaurant before), then there's a good chance that either the restaurant is over-priced, or it is not any good.

After searching around for a good Mexican restaurant near here, I can safely say that Los Compadres in Mount Prospect is my most favorite Mexican restaurant in the area, hands down. On any given day or night, you will see a predominantly Hispanic customers, and the food is consistently good. The menu is huge, and it doesn't have just your typical Gringo-style Mexican fare. In fact, there will probably be many menu items that you haven't seen before in your typical Mexican restaurant. And to me, that is a huge plus.

The restaurant is in an old Pizza Hut joint. Decor is minimal (almost verging on a hole-in-the-wall type). But this is perfectly fine with me, because most people who go there are more interested in the food.

So let's talk about the food. I haven't had any bad items at all. My favorites so far are the fried whole red snapper or whole tilapia. YUM! I love this not just because it is always delicious and can be shared with another person, but it is relatively cheap when compared to other places that serve whole fish. And BTW, you people need to get over this aversion to seeing fish heads on your plate. The fish is dead, and the head meat, especially around the cheeks, is the most succulent piece on the fish!

Another favorite is Arrachera Campesina, which is a skirt steak served with grilled cactus. I tend to eat this by slicing the steak and the cactus, and then wrapped them in corn tortilla with a squeeze of the house salsa. This is simple but delicious.

Finally, I love their tacos, mainly because the selection of meat for it is larger than usual. My most favorite meat for my tacos are the lengua (tongue) and barbakoa (braised goat). Served with cilantro and onions, these are delicious!

I've also had their "cocktail" and the 7 Sea Soup. All were quite good. Like I said, I haven't had anything bad here. And often, when I'm there, I try to look at what other tables were ordering, just so I can see if I want to try them next time.

Service can be a bit interesting. You do sometime have to flag a wait staff if you want something, especially the check. If they are busy, this can take awhile, but there's nothing to stop you from simply walking to the cashier counter and paying your bill there if you don't want to wait. But even then, all the staff are usually very nice and friendly.

This is my most favorite Mexican restaurant in the area. If it is good enough for the local Hispanic/Mexican population here, it is good enough for me.

Zz.

Leftover Corned Beef

While St. Patrick's Day is this coming Friday, we already had our corned beef and cabbage dinner this past weekend/week. So now I have leftover corned beef.

If I have the time, I often will use leftovers and turn it into something else. This time, I decided to make my version of corned beef hash, but with homefries. I already had some red potatoes that I roasted with rosemary, and I diced an onion and half of a red pepper. I took the leftover corned beef and diced them into smaller pieces.

I then fried all of them in a pan. And just like the traditional corned beef hash, I want some crusty surfaces on this, so I pressed the down onto the pan and let is sit for a couple of minutes under medium-high heat to develop that crust. Then I roughly flip various parts of it and try to get more of this crusty surface. If you have made the English's "Bubble and Squeak", then this is a similar thing.

Once done, I serve this with perfectly-fried eggs. By perfectly, I mean sunnyside up but with crispy edges. That's how I like my eggs.

Sprinkle with parsley and a touch of Tabasco, and this was a very nice lunch of leftovers.

Zz.

Uncomplicated Lunch

So yeah, I like a few exotic food and a tastes of many cultures. But sometime, I do like something simple and uncomplicated. This is one such lunch that I often enjoy, and it is easy to fix.

It is a selection of mixed greens, half of an avocado, boiled fingerling potatoes, and perfectly hard-boiled eggs. I dressed the greens and potatoes with my homemade balsamic vinaigrette, and finished it off with a sprinkle of freshly-ground black pepper.

I'm sure this is quite healthy as well, but it tastes great, and that is what is important. It is simple and very satisfying.

Zz.

Malaysian Chicken Noodle Soup

I mentioned a few days ago of making a Malaysian Chicken soup. It turned out pretty well. I used the broth as the soup base for my noodle soup.

The noodles are thin rice noodles. The garnishes for the soup are the shredded chicken (actually, it is hen) meat, mung bean spouts, Vietnamese basil, caramelized shallots, and a squeeze of lime.

I served it at a small dinner party, and I thought it went quite well. Everyone loved it.

I still have some leftover broth, which I've been consuming for lunch with a bit of noodles and spouts. It is still good even after a few days.

Zz.

Avodaco And Deforestation In Central Mexico

I'm not naive into thinking that a small act often can make a difference. It is not usual and happens only in rare cases. But still, I doesn't mean that I don't care.

I read this article about how the growing appetite for avocado is driving farmers in Mexico to cut down on forest to plant more avocado trees.

Avocado trees flourish at about the same altitude and climate as the pine and fir forests in the mountains of Michoacan, the state that produces most of Mexico’s avocados. That has led farmers to wage a cat-and-mouse campaign to avoid authorities, thinning out the forests, planting young avocado trees under the forest canopy, and then gradually cutting back the forest as the trees grow to give them more sunlight.

What is more devastating for me is that this happens in the Michoacan forest where the Monarch butterflies over-winter, and I LOVE MONARCH BUTTERFLIES after I learned about their multi-generation life-cycle. I plant milkweed in my yard hoping to attract them.

So I'm now rethinking and hesitating to buy "Avocados from Mexico", as the slogan from the TV commercial says.

Zz.

Malaysian Chicken Soup

OK, I'm having people over for dinner, and I'm going to serve Malaysian Chicken Noodle soup. I've started this morning to make the soup.

Unlike the standard, American chicken soup, the Malaysian version has a lot more spices to flavor the broth. I'm starting everything from scratch. I'm not using even any pre-made chicken broth.

I bought a whole hen (not chicken, so the name of the dish is misleading), and this is what I'm using not only to make the broth, but also later on serve the meat as part of the dish. The reason why I'm using a hen is because I want to simmer the broth for a long time. A typical supermarket chicken will simply fall apart and turn to mush if I simmer them for as long as I intend to. A hen is older, and frankly, has a lot more chicken flavor.

But what makes this different than the standard broth are all the whole spices that I added. The spices are: cinnamon sticks, whole cardamom, whole cloves, whole star anise, and pepper corns. I also put 3 sticks of lemon grass, 3 stalks of celery, one large onion, 5 cloves of garlic, and 5 thick slices of ginger root.

It is simmering slowly right now and the whole house smells wonderful! I'm going to simmer this for about a couple of hours, and then I'll fish out the chicken.. excuse me, the hen pieces and let them cool down. Then I'll shred the meat, and put the bones back into the pot and let then simmer for another hour.

When that is done, I'll strain the broth and I'll end up with the most flavorful soup base for my noodle soup. I'll post some more on how things progress, including the final dish.

Zz.

Most Favorite Refreshment In All Of Walt Disney World

I posted earlier of my most favorite snack in all of Walt Disney World. Now comes my most favorite refreshment in all of Walt Disney World. Hands down, it is the Dole Whip float that one can get from Adventureland in the Magic Kingdom, or at the Polynesian Resort.

It is a pineapple-flavored soft-served ice-cream on top of pineapple juice. On a hot, muggy Florida day, it is the most refreshing thing you can have.

The only drawback? The lines can be long and the service can be VERY slow, especially at the Magic Kingdom. For some odd reason, the Disney management seems to think that it is fine to have one person taking the order and then go off to fill the order. So when you get a family of 4 or 5 ordering something, it can take several minutes for the entire order is done and the line can move. There have been many times where I would like to have one of these, but changed my mind because of the line. Even a short line can take longer than you think. It is one of the most inefficient service in all of WDW.

Zz.