TravelValue: Portland, Oregon: tacos

Showing posts with label tacos. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 21, 2018

Camas, WA: No Horsing Around, This Place Is A Definite Neigh ... I Mean Nay

Los Potrillos Mexican Restaurant

1735 SE 192nd Avenue, Suite 101

Camas, WA 98607

Phone number (360) 838-2431

Website: lospotrillosweb.com

Prices: $$$$

I do not know what happened since 2014 when Los Potrillos was selected "Best of Vancouver" (award in the entry), but if this is the best Mexican food in Vancouver, the bar must not be set very high. It was not the worse Mexican food I have eaten and there are more shoddy Mexican restaurants in southeast Clark County (there are two in Washougal), but this place is the poorest "value" by far.

Prices are very high by Mexican restaurant standards with combo plates running $13 to $15 and meat dishes (carne asada, carnitas, etc.) in the $17 to $19 range. One of the few positive things I can say is that the service here was very good. Everyone I came in contact with was friendly and efficient.

Only the margaritas have prices listed on the menu with all of the other mixed drinks, beers and wine displaying no prices. I do not know about you, but I am not going to ask how much a drink is and I refuse to order one not knowing how much it costs, so I normally bypass the alcohol at places like this. Because the margarita prices were listed, I decided to try a medium ($6.50), blended with salt. It was a decent size and not bad with a slight kick, probably being the best value on the menu.

My very small side of guacamole was $4.99 ("Market Price" - price not listed on the menu), the consistency was odd (probably cut with a cheap filler of some kind, probably mayo), and the flavor bland. $2.99 would have been a more realistic price based on the fact that it was probably made with less than one small avocado ($1 retail). The chips were most likely out of a bag, stale, and room temp - YUK - the salsa was oddly sweet and they were accompanied by a plate of cabbage with a couple of slices of jalapeño on top.

I ordered a large combo ($13.95 plus 75¢ for shredded beef on my taco - $14.70 total) with a chile relleno, cheese and onion enchilada, and shredded beef taco. The taco, like most places in the Portland metro area, came on a pre-fab shell (a large one nonetheless) with too much lettuce and not enough cheese - WEAK. I could not tell the relleno and enchilada apart by appearance and the flavors were nearly identical except for the green chile in the middle one. Both were somewhat flavorless.

For someone who loves good Mexican food - me - Mexican restaurants in the Portland and Vancouver metro areas have been a massive disappointment. There is a decent taqueria near our house and I found some pretty good Mexican places in Gresham, Tigard, and Tualatin, but, otherwise, there is a dearth of good Mexican food in the area. Unfortunately, this gringo can make better Mexican food than the supposed experts, so I will likely continue to eat at home, especially with inflated prices like those at Los Potrillos. It should be no surprise that the place was mostly empty at 7PM, having paid $34, including tip, for a dinner for one.

CombatCritic Gives Los Potrillos 3 Bombs Out Of 10 ... More Bombs Are Better!

Three Bombs Equates To:

Translation for Civilians: "Situation Normal, All Fucked Up"

Tuesday, June 5, 2018

Washougal, WA: No Bueno Compadres! ... Not Good Mate!

Los Dos Compadres

701 E Street

Washougal, WA 98671

Phone number (360) 335-1706

Website: They Do Not Have One

Prices: $$$$

I thought Mexican restaurants in the Midwest were bad ... until we moved to Portland, Oregon. I love Mexican food, but I would rather cook at home then eat the crap places like this put out.

I paid $20 plus tip ($24) for a dinner for one with NO DRINKS, only water, and all I had was a taco, enchilada, and chimichanga (it was actually a burrito) with refried beans and a small side of guacamole ($4.95). I like to have a margarita or a beer when I eat Mexican food, but I refuse to order drinks at restaurants that do not print drink prices on their menus. Soft drink prices were on the menu, but you have to guess how much the alcoholic drinks will be, meaning they are probably trying to gouge you.

The chips were store-bought, about the same quality as you can get at Safeway just down the street and the salsa likely out of a plastic tub. You apparently have to pay extra if you want more than one bowl of their mediocre chips. I asked if they had "hot" salsa, something every Mexican restaurant I have ever been to has, but was told "that's all we got". The guacamole was not bad and was well seasoned, but the serving was skimpy for $5.

The taco came on a pre-fab shell, a sure sign that you are eating at a substandard Mexican restaurant. If they do not even bother to fry their own taco shells, that tells you about their commitment to excellence and customer satisfaction. Tacos are one of America's favorite foods, so why would anybody eat at a place that uses Rosarita or Old El Paso taco shells? There was plenty of ground beef, but it was an odd red color and so greasy (see video below) that the crappy shell was falling apart shortly after arriving at my table. I had to eat the last half off of the plate with my fork.

The cheese and onion enchilada was the sole highlight of the meal, but that is not saying much. The supposed "chimichanga" that I ordered was actually a very small burrito, the smallest flour tortilla I have ever seen with shredded beef inside and two small dabs of guacamole on top. I asked the server if that was what they call a "chimichanga" and he said it was, telling me that it was supposed to be deep fried, a step they apparently had missed. Being so dismayed by my experience, I politely declined when he offered to have it remade.

The service was friendly and good with the food coming very fast and my water glass topped-up without delay. Unfortunately, the food sucked just like at their sister restaurant a few blocks east and the fork they gave me still had food on it from the last customer. It was not the worst Mexican restaurant I have ever been to, but it was close.

CombatCritic Gives Los Dos Compadres 3 Bombs Out Of 10 ... More Bombs Are Better!

Three Bombs Equates To:

Translation for Civilians: "Situation Normal, All Fucked Up"

Thursday, August 31, 2017

Tualatin: "Muy Buena Comida" Means "Very Good Food" ... A CombatCritic BEST VALUE!

Rosie’s Kitchen
8145 SW Nyberg Street
Tualatin, OR 97062
Phone number: (503) 563-6890
Website: rkmexicanfood.com
Prices: $$$$

"Muy buena comida!" or for the language impaired, go to Google Translate like I did ... "very good food!". I do not dole out five-star (9-10 Bombs) ratings very often, leaving my highest marks for the places with the best food, superior service, appropriate ambience, and, most importantly, outstanding value. The name of my blog, after all, is "TravelValue".

Off the beaten path and unimpressive from the outside, Rosie's sits in a small strip mall hidden from the main road and not far from I-5 in Tualatin. The inside is simple and basic with a counter where you order and several tables where you can sit and eat your meal if you so choose. This family run operation offers freindly, responsive and efficient service.

Guacamole (about $4) is made to order and we were given the option of eliminating tomatoes and jalapeńos (which my wife is intolerant to), so we took them up on it. With avocado, cilantro, and diced onion as the main ingredients, it was both tasty and plentiful for the price. The chips were homemade and fresh as were the salsas with not one, but six different choices (regular, avocado, habańero, tomatillo, and one other ultra-hot variety).

The cheese and onion enchilada (about $3.50) was unlike any I have had. The handmade tortilla had been soaked in red chile sauce, but instead of being smothered in more sauce, covered with cheese and broiled, this one was topped with shredded lettuce, tomato, queso fresco (queso blanco), and slices of avocado. I like the smothered variety, but this one was deliciously fresh.

My wife's quesadilla ($4.95) was a decent size for the price and her carne asada taco ($2) traditionally made with a hot handmade tortilla, diced steak, cilantro and onion, not the Americanized variety so many places pump out with pre-fab hard shells, ground beef, loads of shredded lettuce and a little cheese.

I ordered the carne asada dinner ($10.95), a thin marinated grilled steak with grilled green onion, a roasted poblano pepper, three handmade corn tortillas, rice and beans. A good value for the price, there was not as much beef as you would see in some restaurants that charge $14-$18 for carne asada, but plenty enough for me to make three reasonable size tacos. The only thing missing was some guacamole on the plate, a nice addition they may want to consider offering for an additional 50¢ to $1.

The menu is very simple, but missing some ala carte items (enchiladas and guacamole for example, hence my "about" estimations) as well as drinks, so I am merely guessing at the prices of those items. They also charge 50¢ for soft drink refills, but may want to consider raising the price by 25¢ and foregoing the refill charge for simplicity's sake. At less than $27 for our dinner for two, we ate very well, the quality of the food was top-notch, and the service excellent.

Do yourself and the owners a favor and seek this place out. They are a small family-run business open for just 10 months and in a building void of much street or foot traffic, making it all that more critical to market themselves properly and for word-of-mouth advertising by folks like you and me to let others know about this hidden gem.

CombatCritic Gives Rosie's Kitchen 9 Bombs Out Of 10 ... More Bombs Are Better!

Nine Bombs Equates To:

"U.S. Marine Response To A Verbal Greeting Or As An Expression Of Enthusiasm"

Read Reviews By CombatCritic:

Yelp - Elite '14/'15/'16/'17 - 650,000+ Views A Year

Tabelog - Official Judge (Silver)

Zomato - #1 Ranked "Verified" Foodie - Over 1,890,733 Review And Photo Views

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Read Chris S.'s review of Rosie's Kitchen on Yelp

Title: Tualatin, OR: "Muy Buena Comida" Means "Very Good Food" ... A CombatCritic BEST VALUE!

Key Words: Portland, Rosie's Kitchen, Rosie, Rosie's, kitchen, Rosy, taqueria, Tualatin, Portland, Oregon, Mexican, taco, tacos, restaurant, combatcritic, combat, critic, review, menu, travel, value

The "Star" Of The 2017 Eclipse: Taqueria La Fuente

Taqueria La Fuente

12198 SW Main Street

Tigard, OR 97223

Phone number: (503) 639-3653

Website: lafuentedetigard.com
Prices: $$$$

A bright, sunny, cloudless day in Portland, Oregon suddenly turned dark and cool, the birds stopped chirping. The quiet deafening, the light seemingly escaped into the vastness of the great Northwest before suddenly returning as if someone flipped a celestial light switch. Was the end of time near? If this was going to be our final meal, it seemed clear that we should eat a bunch o' tacos.

In a tiny strip mall perpendicular to Main Street in downtown Tigard and barely visible from the street, we found Taqueria La Fuente. Nondescript from the outside, the inside was simple, yet clean with several laminate-top booths and tables. The hot, fresh homemade chips and salsa quickly arrived compliments of the friendly server who warmly welcomed us on this historic day.

A Dos Equis Amber draft (16 oz - $4.25) seemed like a good way to start, quickly followed by a side order of guacamole ($2.95). The beer was cold and frothy and the guacamole as good as any restaurant guac I have had, simple, flavorful and larger than those others charge twice as much for.

Tacos were the star of this show. We ordered the Crispy Tacos ($8.50) and Tacos Mexicanos ($8.85), coming three each to the plate with no rice and/or beans. The crispy tacos came deep fried with two medium tortillas each, filled with carne asada (or your choice of meat), lettuce, tomato and cheese. A little leftover guacamole, metaphorically, was the icing on the cake. The tacos Mexicanos were simple, as they should be, one with carnitas, one with carne asada and one with shredded beef (cabeza), all on large, soft corn tortillas, topped with chopped white onion and cilantro, and accompanied by sliced radish and lime wedges. If they do tacos this well, I can hardly wait to return to sample the other menu items because these were some of the best restaurant tacos I have had in recent memory.

On our second visit, they were closing soon, so we did not go nuts, ordering the go-to Crispy Tacos and a Cheese and Onion Enchilada ala carte ($3.25). I also tried the House Margarita ($5.75), asking for it blended with salt, but when it arrived it was "on the rocks". I did not make an issue of it being so late. The margarita was OK, not big and not very strong, so I think I will stick with the cerveza from now on. The enchilada was presented quite nicely with shredded lettuce, a drizzle of sour cream and some chopped cilantro, but the toppings masked the flavor of the enchilada which was what I wanted to taste.

Cheese and Onion Enchilada

Flan

The service was impeccable - friendly, efficient and professional. We even received a complimentary order of Flan at the conclusion of our second visit, fluffy and delicious as any I have had. Taqueria La Fuente was the "star" of the show and a "bright" spot on an otherwise dark day, celestially speaking. At just $24.55 before tip on our first visit, this was one of the best values I have seen in my two plus months since moving to Portland, hence my nearly perfect rating ...

CombatCritic Gives Taqueria La Fuente 9 Bombs Out Of 10 ... More Bombs Are Better!