Tortilla Republic @ Poipu

Beach music, airy outdoor seating, earthy décor, friendly service and great happy hour sets this restaurant apart. Located in the Kukui ula shopping mall, this restaurant serves Mexican food with an Island twist and makes the best drinks in Kauai.

Comfy cane chairs awaited us as the waitress showed us to our table. Talk about beach décor. Fans, woody interiors, lots of sunshine, cool breeze.....I could go on and on. The happy hour menu lists lots of veggie appetizers priced at $5. And the cool cocktails are $5 too. On an Island that is heavily priced this is a steal. For the décor, awesome food and lip smacking drinks I would go here again and again.

I ordered a Hydration Margarita for me

and a Tortilla Tai for A.

Both were delicious. The best we had had in Kauai.

We started with the Jalapeno Croquetas Charred Jalapenos folded with potatoes and goat cheese, fried, cilantro crème .

Delicious! Crispy on the outside, soft, gooey medley of potato and goat cheese topped with a dollop of cilantro crème, this was finger licking good!
Huarache Thin Flatbread with Oyster Mushrooms, Roasted Shallots, Baby Arugula, Jack and Manchego Cheeses.

As good as a flatbread can get. The toppings were a good mix of greens and cheese. It was quite filling and totally worth the five bucks!

Patatas Bravas Pimenton Dusted Fried Potatoes, Fresh Aioli, Rioja Sauce, Chives

A must-eat for us at any Mediterranean restaurant, this was fantastic and a big plate! Rioja sauce was a nice Spanish touch. The waitress was very friendly and attentive. If you are looking for a classy happy hour with delicious drinks and scrumptious food in a lovely, casual, beach atmosphere with great service while not ripping your pocket, this is the place to go to!

Verde @ Kapaa

Verde is a family owned hole in the wall Mexican restaurant in Kapaa that is known for great food and hospitality. With a very customizable menu, it certainly is a heaven for vegetarians. If you are setting out to explore the Northshore, this will be a great lunch spot.

We got there at 11:15 am with rumbling stomachs. The hostess who I believe is the owner greeted us and showed us to our table. She brought over a basket of chips and told us to help ourselves to the many different salsas from the salsa bar.

Chips and Salsa @ Verde

Salsa bar @ Verde

A and I opted for the Bean and Cheese tostada - Layers of guacamole, local greens, pico di gallo, garlic aioli, green sauce, beans and cheese piled up high on a flat toasted tortilla. It was garnished with crispy tortilla strips! Mountain of goodness!

Bean and Cheese Tostada @ Verde

It had a whole lot of flavors - fresh, crunchy, garlicky and spicy!

We then asked for the Verde Verde Burrito - Green beans, spinach, broccoli sauteed in chipotle, guacamole, potatoes, cheese with green sauce. We asked for eggs to be added to it. The lady was more than happy to customize it and asked us how we would like the eggs to be - hard boiled, poached or scrambled? Hard boiled, it was. One of the few restaurants that can toss and play around with any combination you want! And just for this reason, it is a complete lurer! And the taste was fantastic. 

Verde Verde Burrito @ Verde

We ordered dessert to-go. Sopaipillas - A triangle shaped fried pastry that's hollow inside. You bite the corner off and drizzle honey into it. Again, a classic I have never had before.

Sopaipillas @ Verde

The food was fresh and made to order. The service was excellent. The lady made us feel at home, chit chatting and playing with my eleven month old. She even offered a side of guacamole for the little one to snack on, for free. A great casual lunch spot in Kapaa. A must-try if you haven't already!

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.

Rocco's Tacos @ West Palm Beach

On 1st May, we drove to Palm Beach to take in the poshness and take a peek at the million dollar extravangant mansions. We had lunch at Rocco's Tacos. A lovely restaurant, where the food is yummy, the service is great and the outdoor seating is just fab.

Unlike other mexican restaurants, you don't get free chips and salsa here. You pay for everything other than water, of course.

You can choose seasoned chips or the naked chips. They are quite popular for their giant sized pot of Guacamole and Chips. The guacamole is made at your table! $12 ! For chips? and the giant sized....No thank ya.

We ordered the seasoned chips n salsa, instead.

And then, we split the Chili Releno - Charred poblano chile, chi hua hua and goat cheese, salsa rojo, crema, cotija cheese, red rice, black beans. God, it tasted so good! Just thinking about it makes me crave for more. Usually, it is soaked in cheese and is kind of soggy, but here,the poblano pepper was nicely fried and very crisp on the outside. One bite and the cheese just melts in your mouth. The salsa, red rice and beans were all just perfect. And quite, filling too!

Again, we got to eat something different.Something that is not as good in Seattle.

Mi Pueblo @ Sarasota

After a long day at the Siesta Key beach, we were really hungry. We had already looked up this website and chose the dinner spot, even before we left Seattle.
Mi Pueblo is a wonderful restaurant that excels in both service and food. They have lots of vegetarian options for a really good price!  They even have a separate organic menu.
The restaurant has a spanish style elevation.
.

And is decorated in a typical mexican style.

The waitress got us the chips and salsa. The chips were very light and not oily. The salsa was mildly spicy and very refreshing with the flavor of freshly chopped cilantro.

We chose the Veggie Fajita.

It is the best we have had so far. The sizzling platter had all kinds of veggies. And, they gave generous portions of gaucamole, sour cream, cheese, pico de gallo, rice and beans.

Here is picture of A's plate.

We were so stuffed in the end that we ditched considering a dessert. The best mexican restaurant in Sarasota, I say! Muy Delicioso!!!