Mi Hacienda Es Su Hacienda

Friday I visited Mi Hacienda with some friends. My friend Z swore by his grave that this place was awesome. I told him I would not talk to him again if he deceived me, regardless of whether the reason for going to Mi Hacienda was a special ceremony for friend Y.

They served chips with a delicious white sauce and a classic red sauce. The waiter disappeared for a little while and did not refill the chips. However, after requesting more chips, the waiter was as prompt as ever in bringing in more as they ran out and refilling drinks and everything. So in conclusion the service was, after a little nudge, excellent.

I ordered the carnitas, which tend to be slow-roasted, braised marinated or spiced up pork chunks. They turned out pretty good. The plate was large and the food within was plenty. It came with refried beans (not watered down, for once!), rice (done properly!), guacamole, pico de gallo, salad, and three flour tortillas. Although I wish I'd had more tortillas I was content. It was a bang for the buck and also a feast.

Good luck eating all of it!

Price-wise you can pay around 10 dollars and get a lot of food (The carnitas ran around 10.25 after tax) or you can pay less for individual items or combos of individual items and eat a decent amount.

The group of 8 that was there that night left without complaints. They did not conglomerate the bills nor added gratuity, they graciously split the checks at the register.

I even got hit on by an alleged, quite attractive, lady of the night that evening.

Conclusion: Although it is not the best Mexican food I have tried in Richmond, I do believe that for the size of the place and its customer base they do a fairly good job in keeping up the quality. Isn't that what you want: Quality?

Info:

Mi Hacienda

8250 Midlothian Turnpike, Richmond, VA 23235

(804) 560-6994

www.richmondmexicanfood.com

Process

The process will be: attend a new restaurant or try something new at an old restaurant, sit on a sunny spot of the restaurant, or one with good lighting and, as a tourist from Spain, take a picture of what I'm eating as if I were to send it to my mom across the sea. Capisci?

PHOLICIOUS

Pho is delicious any time of year. It is filling, comforting, and light on the stomach. If you have lived in Richmond for some time now and haven't had a chance to try the pho it has to offer, maybe it's time you put some shoes on and get in the car to go get some.

I've got like three go-to pho spots. Always go for the largest bowl. Let me tell you a little about them, and don't forget to look for the business information at the bottom:

Pho So 1: which I like to call 'pho sho' (as the answer I would give if someone wants to go) is probably my top recommendation, although I like the mom and pop one behind it almost equally. Let me explain why I would talk about Pho So first- Basically, Pho So is all about pho. You go in, you sit down, and you order pho. Caution: sometimes the server may appear rude- hasn't happened to me, but I've heard reports... Regardless: Order the most appetizing looking pho, for me usually one with tripe, and then awe at the fact that it comes out so quickly. Literally, every time I have been there it takes less than 7 mins before the order is placed for the food to come out. Potential caveat: Pho So does not serve alcoholic drinks. In my opinion, though, however enjoyable a hot bowl of pho might be with a cold beer, it says a lot about the fact that this place has developed a firm foundation in its food. If you need to drink, let me tell you about...

Mekong: which I've heard pronounced 'Mee-kong' but also 'Meh/May-kong'. I don't care what you call it, but if you do, please consult with a server or a Vietnamese friend (if you got one) and get back with me. Mekong is a favorite of many. Not my first choice for pho (see previous post), but first choice if intention is to pursue a less pragmatic purpose such as just eating. Mekong's slogan is "Mekong is for beer lovers", which goes to say that they have a fairly wide selection of brews to enjoy with your pho or noodle dish. The service is always quite motivated and that's a plus. Pricewise it may run a little more than the other two, but always within that 7-11 dollar pho range. This place is usually packed so don't be surprised if you have to wait a little to check out. O, about the pho- it's good, like...

Tay DO: constitutes my second recommendation although listed third. The beer was just too good a transition to miss. Tay DO Vietnamese restaurant is like the quintessential mom and pop pho restaurant. It is a little building located about a block behind Pho So 1 with parking room for about six cars on site (more parking is available on street). Tay DO is the least expensive of the three and equally good. I'd say there pho has a touch of home, a higher sense of authenticity, than the other two. I'd say eating there is as if your mother were Vietnamese, and you were simply at home eating there. Its lower accommodation in a way allows for greater tact and care to be taken in the preparation of dishes. Potential Caveat: It is easy to miss so try to get there while it is light out. Cash only. I'm serious, they only take cash, so don't forget to stop by an ATM if you are venturing into this delicious little place for supper. You will not be disappointed.

Summary: Pho So 1 is awesome for people who want there pho as quickly as possible. Mekong is for beer lovers. Tay DO is best for the wallet and for those seeking a touch of home.

Business Info:

Pho So 1

6403 Rigsby Road, Richmond, VA 23226

(804) 673-9940

map it

Mekong

6004 W Broad St, Richmond, VA 23230

(804) 288-8929

www.mekongva.com

map it

Tay DO

6328 Rigsby Rd, Richmond, VA 23226

(804) 288-3861

map it

El Toro Loco: Revisited

The day is Jan. 7, 2010. It is noon. A dish of Dos Burritos Compadres awaits my palate. I always allow for the opportunity to absolve person and business. I absolve thee, Toro Loco.

The flavor was really quite decent. The salt level was very well balanced. The presentation was deliberate, unrushed- a small pile of shredded cheese topped one half of the two burritos, fresh looking, tasting lettuce and a single tomato slice topped the other half. Beneath, it had been drizzled in a tempered blend of sauce and melted cheese, soaking the burritos they covered.


Pros: A bang for the buck. Seven dollars will leave you satisfied. If you are seeking smaller servings, try Can Can.

The chicken had been well cooked, lightly salted, string possibly by hand (strenuous work if you’ve ever done it). Additionally, it was juicy, not dry as you may find in other places. Leaving it unseasoned allowed us to taste the natural flavor of the chicken, allowing a second to brush it in the sauce created a different flavor, a different sensation, nevertheless pleasant to the taste.
The amount of sauce and cheese was well balanced with the rest of the meal. This had been a major drawback in my previous experience. Today the chef had felt better about himself, the day, the world, and it was all well balanced in the plate.

Service: Beautiful service. Very gentle, very timely, very attentive. Did not press, did not push, did not appear to loom… Offered water when cups were low, asked if anything else was needed and did not pursue when answered,’no’. They understood that business day lunches bring in busy people and promptly brought the check. Leaving was no fuss.

Cons: The beef was good, but could have been excellent if it had been seasoned a little more generously: A tiny bit more cayenne pepper (enough to let the tongue tip know of its presence, without offending its sensitivity), a little more garlic powder (or crushed garlic would work better), a little cumin (comino), and perhaps the tiniest twist of a lemon! All these would have brought to mind the authentic carne molida of latin America; would have danced in your mouth with greater passion.

One word: Cilantro!!! Even if it is just used to decorate the plate there should be some sign of its existence! I think I tasted some in the chip salsa, but I am not sure. I don’t seek ingredients in food with my eyes; I let my tongue do the seeing! And I have to tell you, I did not see enough cilantro! One tight handful (three tight handfuls in one Kroger bunch- 99 cents) might add 10 cents to the overall price but would make such a huge difference in what we taste!

El Toro Loco... Not so 'Loco'.

Whereas love drives the best flavor in dishes, for the dish I had here, it seemed more like nostalgia. You know, as if the full flavor of the dish I was eating was left in an ideal past and traded by some mediocre idea in the present. The taste of this dish was certainly mediocre, if not shameful and disappointing.

What I had was either an enchilada, a taco, or a burrito. I cannot remember. Somebody once commented on the peculiarity of today's Mexican cuisine, how it had been reduced to a sloppy dish made of the recombined same ingredients, or stuff. Like: Put the stuff in a soft tortilla and call it a burrito, put it in a hard tortilla and call it taco, wrap it up really tightly and call it a flauta: At the end of the day, you shouldn't worry about remembering what you ate: You had the same 'stuff', merely recombined.

El Toro Loco failed even to provide the best of these recombined creations. It utterly failed as it seemed I bit into yesterday's rice, and the beans had been watered down with milk or water so much as to be deemed insipid. They had been liquified without the proper spices to the point of losing their entire bean feeling. The only thing you could praise about these was the fact that they left no remains on your teeth. It seemed the flour tortillas had been shipped from California in plastic bags rather than made by the chefs and it seemed the chefs, if I may call them that, lacked even the sense to heat them on a 'comal' or flat plan, but rather zapped them for 10 seconds in the microwave. I know, I have tasted real tortillas, and they are neither a) elastic, b) hard to cut with your fork, and c) they do not stick to the roof of your mouth.

I, who grew up amid Latin American cuisine, know that this food that was placed in front of me was the cusp of a decadent food culture reduced to this mush by the expectations of the new culture. We should, as clients, request to taste the real beans, the real rice, the real tortillas. We should not be mocked by this mass brought to us in plates pretending to be authentic Mexican food. You should ask, when the beans are not dark in color, WHY ARE THESE BEANS NOT DARK IN COLOR? WHY ARE THEY SO WATERY? Mexican restaurants would not lose money by providing real food, condimented with the real spices -cumin! paprika! chili!- and garnished with the freshly chopped cilantro. Beans and rice are cheap; Flour and Maseca (used for corn tortillas) are cheap; lettuce, tomatoes and onions are cheap, and for $6 a dish, you could still surely make a profit.

The cooks in this restaurant got lazy and have lowered their standards to provide run of the mill Mexican food for cheap. The only way I feel I could have really enjoyed the food here would have been had I been drunk, which I was not at the time of my visit.

In short, the Toro Loco was just Another Mexican Place.


Address: 1808 Staples Mill Rd
Richmond, VA 23230
(804) 353-2391

Would I recommend it to others: Obviously not.

Price: Fit for the stuff they feed you.




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Note: The waitstaff did, however, provide an excellent service.

Baja Blunder

I am new to the fair city of Richmond and have yet to sample much of its fare, though I have already been to the infamous Baja Bean, not once, but twice. I will say the good things first. The Bean is spacious, and the indoor area is nice and cozy, with low ceilings and ample seating. I had a couple of bottled beers the night I went, and enjoyed myself. This enjoyment was perhaps more about the company than the place, though there were a fair amount of other people there, who seemed to be enjoying themselves too and this lent an enjoyable energy to the entire scene. And the outdoor area is inviting on a nice evening, with fans and, again, ample seating. There is a bar level where you can go if you are just drinking, and plenty of tables and chairs if you are eating, too. Their happy hour, which stretches from 5 to 7 from Monday to Friday is light on the wallet, with specials varying by the day. I sat outside for a couple pleasurable hours on a Friday and remember it was $1 Pabst pints and $3 margarita pints. This is where I will turn sour. The margaritas were made from a mix that left a chemically aftertaste in my mouth. With such a good price, it's sometimes hard to say no. And then the food. I didn't order anything myself, having just eaten, but I tried both the vegetarian nachos and the chicken quesadilla. Now, on their website, the Bean touts itself as fresh and tasty, and I would have to say it's the oppposite of those things. If I was drunk or starving, I may have benefitted from the food, but as it was, I found it rather sad. The beans on the nachos were tasteless and thick. The guacamole was starting to go brown. The chips were stale-ish and the salsa was soupy and lacking in flavor. The chicken quesadilla was nothing extraordinary. Quesadillas rarely are, but when they are...oh man! I wouldn't count on that happening here, but I'll go back, I'm sure. It's at a great central location, and the price is right.

Baja Bean is located at 1520 W. Main Street. www.bajabean.com. $

Cafe Rustica's Wonderful Beets

I remember as a child I hated beets. The taste was between a mediocre sweet and a mediocre salty, and would surprise me later as it seemed I flushed blood down the toilet after a visit. As a young adult I hated beets, because of the bad memories I still had as a child. Up to the day I walked into Cafe Rustica I hated beets, and when I sat down at the table, I despised them still. But not for long...

After that dish was brought out to the table and I had parted the first piece; after I had chewed on that first piece with the timeliness and delicacy of someone's flesh, it hit me that what I was tasting had changed something in my perception of the condemned purple root. Here I was tasting a bizarre slice of euphoria. There it was exploding in my mouth slowly and delicately and at the same time invaded it like vandals in Rome- pleasure vandals; vandals that had vowed their loyalty to some Bacchus or Epicurus. It was, I tell you, more like a vision than a taste. It was delicious...

Cost: $7.
Address: 414 E Main St, Richmond, VA.