Frida's Gourmet Mexican @ Mill Creek

Thanks to a recent coupon, I now have a new found love for Mexican food. Gourmet Mexican food, to be precise. For a Vegetarian, Mexican Cuisine translates to rice, beans, cheese, pico di gallo, and tortilla in various forms such as Tacos, Enchiladas, Burritos, Chimichanga, Fajita, Quesedilla and Chili Releno. If you are mighty lucky, you will find a Vegetarian Tamale or some veggies in your food. So, we don't eat at Mexican restaurants that often. Especially because, there are zillion other cuisines that offer much better healthier variety for vegetarians.

But after a recent mind blowing dinner at Frida's, we have developed a new found love for Gourmet Mexican. The one that has a lot of interesting flavors like sweet, sour and spicy and is also known as Authentic Mexican. Such restaurants are rare to find and am glad I have one about a mile from where I live.

Frida's is a fairly small restaurant in a strip mall at Mill Creek. Because of its obscure location, it is not so popular. But once you visit, you will want to go back again and again.The restaurant is warm and inviting once you step in. A softly lit decor with soft lighting and a Spanish melody playing in the background.

There is a small bar too.

No one knows the secret ingredients that this restaurant uses. The food is fabulous. It seems the owner doesn't share the secret recipes of the various sauces even with his own chefs; he makes them himself.

The waitress brought a basket of colorful tortilla chips, a couple pieces of bread and three different types of dips - Salsa, Salsa Verde and a white creamy dip (no, not sour cream or ranch) - we assumed - for the bread.

  

We ordered the Champinones al Ajillo - mushrooms, onions, guajillo chilies and herbs sauteed in oil till perfection and served with a roasted garlic sauce and house herbs. One word - Fantabulistic!! I Have never seen something like this at a regular Mexican restaurant! One thing to note - this appetizer is not available during lunch. The steaming hot tortillas were brought wrapped in a napkin.  The pico di gallo was served in a flower shaped tortilla shell.

  

We then ordered a plate of Morrales Dona Rocio - A lovely blend sauteed vegetables wrapped in a large crepe, served in a sauce of blended light cream cheese and zucchini. The beans were in a bowl shaped tortilla. It came with rice. 

Next was the combination dinner. Chiles en hojaldre - Poblano chillies filled with chihuahua cheese, wrapped in thin layers of baked pastry, served with a light zucchini bloom sauce and Enchiladas Chipotle - Two corn tortillas covered with light cream sauce with chipotle chilies and roasted peanuts. It came with beans and rice.

 The poblano chili releno was so different from the ones we get at other restaurants. Very delicious.
 

And, the food was not heavy at all. Cheese was used very sparingly. The sauces were to die for. This restaurant gets full points for presentation, taste, innovation, ambiance and service! If you want to try gourmet Mexican food, I highly recommend this restaurant.