Guero's Taco Bar

On our last morning in Austin, we decided to have breakfast at Guero's Taco Bar.  My wife was in the mood for Mexican food and she told me that this place was supposed to be very good.  Parking is sometimes an issue on South Congress, but we were fortuitous and found a parking spot less than a block away from Guero's.

Our party of four was famished so we ordered quite a bit for breakfast.  Below are my thoughts and opinions of what we ordered:

Queso - Regardless of the time of day, I have to order queso when I see it on the menu.  Unfortunately this queso was very bland and tasted similar to what one would get at a concession stand while watching 7th grade basketball.

Breakfast Tacos - Basic breakfast taco that was nothing special.  I only tried the chorizo and bacon, but neither were very flavorful.

Migas-Decent portion, but could have used a little more pico de gallo.  The flour tortillas were the only bright spot of this dish

Huevos Mexicanos - Like everything else we tried, this dish was super bland.  We got corn tortillas with this dish and I didn't like them as much as the flour tortillas.  Everything was once again tasteless, from the  eggs to the potatoes.

I ate some outstanding meals while I was in Austin for this particular weekend, but this meal was not one of them.  In addition to the bland food, the service was super slow too.  I would not go back here for breakfast and I cannot recommend it.  This might also be the last time I let my wife pick a restaurant while we are on the road!

Guero's Taco Bar
http://www.guerostacobar.com
Livin the Good Life=1

Wild Salsa

After what seemed like an eternity, the Fairview location of Wild Salsa finally opened.  After watching the remodeling of the space for months, I was happy to see that it was finally open for customers.  With only a handful of good Mexican restaurants in Collin County, I had high hopes for Wild Salsa.

The menu boast more of a true Mexican restaurant and not the Tex Mex that you find in most restaurants in the area.  Below are my options of the items  I have tried thus far:

Choriqueso- this appetizer contains house-made chorizo and sizzling Oaxaca cheese served with flour tortillas.  I really liked this dish and there was plenty of chorizo, but it did tend towards the greasy side.  

Sopa Azteca Verde- basically a fancy name for chicken tortilla soup, but it was excellent.  It included chicken, tomatillo, hominy, Oaxaca cheese, cilantro, and serrano.  The soup had a lot of different flavors working for it, but none that were overpowering.

Taco Al Pastor-Included pork, pineapple and pico de gallo.  Too much pico and not enough pork.
Chicken Tinga- chipotle rubbed chicken and pico de gallo.  The chicken was spectacular, but once again, their was too much pico.
Beef Barbacoa- Included Negro Modelo braised beef, chipotle, caramelized onions, and cilantro.  My favorite of the tacos I tried and it had plenty of meat and appropriate amounts of onions and cilantro.  The trio of tacos was also served with cilantro rice and black beans, both of which were pleasing to the palate.

Wild Salsa also has a kids menu and both of my kids chose the cheese quesadillas.  The waitstaff was excellent and we all enjoyed the decor, including a huge fireplace in the middle of the covered patio where we dined.  With a great location and a good menu, I see good things to come from Wild Salsa.

Wild Salsa
http://www.wildsalsarestaurant.com
Livin the Good Life Rating=3

Hula Hut

The Fall of 2015 brought several new restaurants to the DFW area, but the biggest one in Little Elm had to be the addition of Hula Hut.  Many families, including my own, love to visit Hula Hut in Austin because it is a fun place to dine with families and the food isn't bad either.  The self proclaimed Tex Mex restaurant with a Polynesian twist, opened its second location on, this one on Lake Lewisville, and brought it's Mexonesian cuisine to the DFW area.

Having dined there several times in the past few months, I can say that I like the food here quite a bit and it is much better than the majority of the chain Mexican restaurants in the area.  While some items are better than others, none of them are bad.  Below is my opinion on a few of the items I have recently had at the Little Elm Location:

Chips and Queso-Chips are good enough, but the queso is really good.  It has a great flavor with quite a bit of kick.  If you don't like spicy foods, you might want to stay away from this quest.

Chicken Tortilla Soup-The bowl you receive is about double the size of most soup bowls and filled with plenty of chicken, avocado, cheese, cilantro, poblano peppers, corn, tomatoes, and tortilla strips.  The broth is great too.  I actually had this as a meal one time and was barely able to finish the huge portion.

Grilled Fish Tacos-These tacos include fish, shredded lettuce, cabbage, cilantro, tomatoes, and jalapeño-lime sauce served in flour tortillas.  I thought they had great flavor, but I would have preferred more fish.  There were so many veggies, that I could barely taste the fish at all.  

Pork Burrito- By far, my favorite item I have tried here and it is huge.  The large flower tortilla was stuffed with slow roasted pork, black beans, Monterrey Jack cheese, green chiles and roasted corn that was topped with Hatch Green Chile and Queso Blanco sauces. This burrito is served with rice, which is a little bland, but the burrito itself is a cornucopia of flavors.

Hula Hut Burger-This is one item that I probably wouldn't order again.  The burger was mediocre at best and the fries were less than spectacular.  

Since the portions are so large, I have yet to try any desserts at this location.  The kids seemed to enjoy the items they have ordered from the kids menu and the service is generally good.  Be warned that it can get very busy on weekends (an hour or more wait) and the service seems to suffer somewhat at these times.  Overall, I think the Hula Hut is a fun restaurant that serves good food (generous portions too) and is very family friendly.

My daughters in front of the volcano

Hula Hut
http://www.hulahutlittleelm.com
Livin the Good Life Rating=3

Ernesto's Fine Mexican Food

As new families continue to move to Frisco, the city continues to grow.  New houses and new restaurants go up so fast that they seem to magically appear before your eyes.  Mexican food is one of my top cuisines, so I always try to dine at any new Mexican restaurant that opens in Collin County.  While Ernesto's is not brand new, it is "newish" and I recently tried it for the first time.

Queso

If you follow my blog, you know that I am a big fan of queso and I order it almost every time I eat Mexican food.  At Ernesto's, I ordered the chile con queso with ground beef.  The queso here was pretty good and they were generous with the beef.  Although it wasn't super spicy, it was flavorful.  

Chile Relleno with Brisket filling

For my entree, I ordered the chile relleno with brisket.  Instead of the ranchero sauce, it had them top it with chile con queso.  The poblano pepper was larger and filled with brisket, but I would have preferred the batter to be cooked a little more.  The rice and beans were pretty basic and very bland.  The buddy I was dining with had the chimichanga and he said his entree was good, but felt the same way about the rice and beans.

Sopapillas

I also ended up ordering sopapillas for dessert.  They were also pretty basic and were covered with too much cinnamon for my liking. The queso ended up being the highlight of this dining experience.  While I wasn't overly-impressed with the food, I felt the service was very good.  My first visit to Ernesto's left me with the impression that it was very basic and had average tasting food.  Although my first visit wasn't impressive, I wouldn't be opposed to giving it another try.  

Ernesto's Fine Mexican Food
http://www.ernestosfinemexicanfood.com/index.html
Livin the Good Life Rating=2

Nom Noms Mexican Grill and Chill

Burritos and homemade ice cream are two items that I don't usually associate with each other.  They seem to be as similar as Ted Cruz and Nancy Pelosi.  Well, the good folks at Nom Noms Mexican Grill and Chill want to change that.  The restaurant specializes in build-your-own burritos or tacos and homemade ice cream.

My Burrito

On my first visit to Nom Noms, I decided to order the burrito.  I had them make mine with cilantro rice, chicken, black beans, Monterey Jack cheese, cheddar cheese, cilantro, lettuce, grilled onion, and spicy tomato salsa.  My burrito was okay, but it had an overpowering taste of cilantro.  A little cilantro can go a long way, but the staff filled my burrito with more cilantro than lettuce.  I also ordered the chips and cheese dip (queso).  For less than $3.00, it was a pretty good value because it included a lot of chips and the white queso was more flavorful than the burrito.

Chips and Cheese Dip (Queso)

I couldn't leave without trying some of the homemade ice cream.  They have a variety of ice cream flavors, Nom bars (ice cream bars), sherbet, and sorbet.  I ordered a coffee cream bar for myself and a quart of the Triple Chocolate Chunk to take home to the family.  The coffee cream bar was fantastic and the Triple Chocolate Chunk was a big hit with the family.

Coffee Cream Bar

While I was not highly impressed with the burrito, I felt the ice cream was a winner.  I didn't feel like there was anything to really separate Nom Nom's from any of the other build-your-own burrito joints, but I do want to try some of the tacos with either pork or beef.  The ice cream is better than many restaurants in the McKinney area, so I will be taking a return trip to Nom Nom's.

Triple Chocolate Chunk

Nom Noms Mexican Grill and Chill
http://www.nomnomsmgc.com/
Livin the Good Life Rating=2

Bien Salsa

I recently had the opportunity to have brunch at Bien Salsa.  This Mexican restaurant is located in downtown Mckinney and has received good reviews from the majority of diners.  Bien Salsa has been on my wish list of local places to try and I was finally able to convince my family to eat there on a recent Sunday morning.

Dining Area

Chips and Salsa Sampler

A brunch menu is served on weekends and my party was pleased with this because my entire family is a big fan of brunch.  We started with the chips and salsa sampler.   Unlike most Mexican restaurants, this item is not free and they charge $2.49 for this item.  The fried tortilla chips come with three different types of salsa that included a chunky smoked salsa, salsa verde (green sauce), and a hot salsa.  I absolutely loved the chips and all three versions of salsa.  If I had to pick a favorite, I would probably go with the hot salsa.

Breakfast Taco Trio with flour tortillas

For my entree, I ordered the breakfast taco trio.  The dish had one chorizo and egg taco, one ham and egg taco, one potato and egg taco, black beans, and rice.  You can choose either corn or flour tortillas and I chose the latter.  Each taco was very good, but I was very impressed with the house-made chorizo.  The black beans were pretty basic, but the rice was very good.

Huevos Revueltos

My wife and mother-in-law both ordered the Huevos Revueltos which included scrambled eggs with bacon, salsa, corn tortillas, and flour tortillas.  The pancakes got a stamp of approval from my oldest daughter and my father-in-law enjoyed his breakfast of Chilaquiles Mexicanos served with bacon and potatoes.

Chilaquiles Mexicanos

Pancakes and fruit

The food was tasty on this visit and the portions were more than adequate.  Bien Salsa has a very nice dining area and the service was faultless on our visit.  Although this is an upscale Mexican restaurant, the food was not overly-pricey.  Now that I have tried their brunch menu, I cannot wait to go back and sample the goods on their dinner menu.

Bien Salsa
http://www.biensalsa.com/home
Livin the Good Life Rating=4

Micheladas Cafe y Cantina

I was craving Mexican food on my last evening in Austin and my buddy said that Mexican sounded good to him. There are several choices in the downtown area, but many of them are chains.   I wanted to dine at a restaurant that we do not have in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, so I asked the concierge at our hotel which restaurant he recommended .  He recommended Michelada's Cafe y Cantina and told us that it was only a couple blocks away from the hotel.

Green Chile and Corn Crab Dip

We landed at Michelada's within minutes and sat down to look over the menu.  For a starter, we ordered a crab dip that included corn and green chiles.  At first bite, I was in love.  The green chiles, corn, and crab blended together to make one of the most phenomenal crab dips I have ever had.  The chips and salsa were also very good, but I could no get enough of the crab dip.

Green Chile Pork Tacos

For my entree, I ordered the green chile pork tacos.  That menu item is not currently listed on the online menu, but I can assure you that they were wonderful. These very flavorful tacos were served with rice and charro beans.  The rice was pretty basic, but the charro beans were laudable.  My colleague ordered the beef enchiladas with rice and charro beans.  He gave a big thumbs up to the enchiladas and was also impressed with the beans.

Beef Enchiladas

Michelada's definitely hit the spot and fulfilled our craving for Mexican food.  In addition to the great food, the service is absolutely exceptional.  The staff fawned over us during our meal and we never had to ask for refills of water or chips.  Over the years, I have dined at dozens of Mexican food restaurants in Austin and I can honestly say that Michelada's is one of the best I have ever had in the city.  If you are in the downtown Austin area and looking for some really good Mexican food, I highly recommend Michelada's Cafe y Cantina.

Micheladas Cafe y Cantina
http://www.micheladasaustin.com/micheladas.html
Livin the Good Life Rating=4

Stampede 66

Stampede 66 is a restaurant that I have been wanting to try for quite some time.  This Stephan Pyles restaurant has received favorable reviews from many critics and diners alike.  The menu has an intriguing blend of Tex Mex, Southern comfort food, and cowboy classics.  My wife and I were staying in downtown Dallas for a wedding this past weekend, so we decided to meet a buddy of mine at Stampede 66 and try out their food.

Dining area and bar at Stampede 66

When I first walked into Stampede 66, I was impressed with the traditional Texas decor that was enhanced by vibrant colors throughout the restaurant.  The ambiance was very lively and the restaurant had a high energy level among the crowd.  Our waiter informed us that there was no "wrong way" to order from the menu and advised us to try some of the various menu items for starters.  I ordered a beef brisket taco and a pork barbacoa taco.  My wife ordered the fried green tomatoes and my buddy ordered the tortilla soup with a side of the Mexican cornbread.

Pork Barbacoa and Beef Brisket Tacos 

Taco relish tray

My tacos were brought out with a relish tray that included two different types of hot sauce, diced onions, cheese, lime, and cilantro.  The pork barbacoa taco had great flavor, but certainly played second fiddle to the beef brisket taco.  After inhaling both tacos, I wished I would have ordered two more of the brisket tacos which were some of the best I have had recently.

Fried Green Tomatoes

My wife enjoyed her fried green tomatoes, which were served with fresh mozzarella sandwiched between the tomatoes.  She claimed that this dish was the best thing she ate at Stampede 66.  I tried one and they were certainly commendable.  Our friend said his tortilla soup was great and also gave a thumbs up on the Mexican cornbread.

Tortilla Soup

For my entree, I was torn between desire for the honey fried chicken and the chicken fried buffalo steak.  My wife helped me make my decision by saying that she was going to order the fried chicken and would give me a piece to try.  With her decision made, I ordered the chicken fried buffalo steak which was served with loaded mashed potatoes and pea salad.  

When my order came out I was surprised to see that it did not come with traditional white gravy.  Instead, it was served on top of a queso-like gravy.  I didn't really know what to expect with the flavor of the gravy, but it was delicious and enhanced the flavor of the dish.  The batter on the chicken fried buffalo steak was crunchy and the meat was tender.  The loaded mashed potatoes were good,  but the pea salad was rather bland.  In the end, pea salad is still pea salad.

Chicken Fried Buffalo Steak, Loaded Mashed Potatoes, and Pea Salad

My wife gave me a chicken breast and I absolutely loved the honey fried chicken.  The chicken is injected with honey and it gives it a very unique taste.  I adored the flavor of the fried chicken and was particularly impressed with the crispy batter.  I thought it was one of the best pieces of fried chicken I have ever had, but my wife didn't like it near as much as I did.  Our friend also ordered the chicken and he also liked it.  The fried chicken was also served with mashed potato tots and biscuits.  We all three agreed that the mashed potato tots were great, but we were unimpressed with the biscuits.

Honey Fried Chicken, Mashed Potato Tots, and Biscuit

For dessert, my wife and I shared the seasonal cobbler.  The cobbler on this visit was a white peach cobbler served in a cast iron skillet.  This dessert was disappointing and didn't live up to my expectations.  The consistency of the cobbler was somewhat runny and neither the peaches or the crust were very sweet.  The other member of our group ordered the butterscotch pudding and he said it was a much better dessert than our cobbler.

White Peach Cobbler

Butterscotch Pudding

Stampede 66 gets somewhat of a mixed review from me.  It had some hits and some misses.  When I go back, I will certainly order more of the brisket tacos for an appetizer and would eat the honey fried chicken any day of the week.  If I get the chicken fried buffalo steak again, I will ask them to substitute the pea salad for more of the mashed potatoes.   The service was great on our visit, but the noise level made it hard to carry on a conversation at times.  I enjoyed my experience at Stampede 66 and absolutely loved some of the food I sampled, but I don't feel comfortable rating it above a six due to some of the items being sub par.

Stampede 66
http://stampede66.com
Livin the Good Life Rating=3