Burrito Bites....

We’ll let the oysters by themselves another day or so and go over some goings on...somehow mostly related to Mexican Food...

The third of the holy trinity of restaurant signs has finally appeared on Plaza Tolteca

And guess what?  The very first day (a week ago, Tuesday or Wednesday) the sign was hung, the parking lot was full.  Certainly the novelty and curiosity of a new place will bring people, but it sure seems like there are a whole LOT of people who eat out a LOT.  And as I have mentioned before it’s not like there is a paucity of Mexican restaurants to choose from around here.  In fact, this place is pretty much right across the road from Chipotle (okay, not quite the same) but only maybe a half mile from Monterey in San Souci.  Pizza, Chinese, and Mexican... can't have too many (apparently).

And as fate would have it, we were coming home from one of those lectures I have been lecturing you about lately, and we were kind of hungry as we had not had dinner prior to the program.  It was also kind of late, and we came to the realization that there probably wasn’t much to choose from at the digs.  So kind of on a whim, MFO wheeled MOMSTER II into Plaza Tolteca and I went inside to see if they did do carry out.  As in the previous incarnations of the building the "stand" is right inside the main doors (with bar right, dining space left).  As I approached the stand, there was a heated discussion going on amongst four of the employees and what I assumed to be a straw manager.  It was not being conducted in English so I had no idea of the content, but none of the participants were smiling.  Finally I was acknowledged, and yes, they did do take out.  They handed me a four paneled, two sided menu, one side of which looks like:

(Demonstration purposes only, do not attempt to read)

containing an astonishing number of choices (in astonishingly tiny print).  I am not sure what it is about Mexican, Chinese, and maybe Thai restaurants that they feel the need to provide hundreds of items.  Might be an interesting culinary/cultural research project. To save you the trouble of squinting, the menu had all the usual (Tex) Mexican dishes we have come to expect: Appetizers (Guacamole, Nachos, and 17 others); Fajitas (6); Burritos (8); Quesadillas (4); Seafood, beef and steak, Chicken, Pork Dinners (27 all told);  Especialidades de la casa (15); you get the idea.  A little nuance is that there is a section called “Healthy dining (9)” which seems to be all vegetarian.. Desserts, sides, a bewildering amount of things..  Everything has a number, but they are not consecutive.  The ten entries in the Seafood section are numbers 99, 135, 146, 7, and 8, and some in the 160’s. There is a luncheon menu, and something called “Street Food” which are all Tacos so they are up on their current food trends.

I went back out to the MOMSTER, we perused the menu (held close up), MFO decided on steak fajitas (#139), and not knowing what to expect I did my sort of chicken Mexican dish, Enchilada’s Suizas (#184). I have found this dish to be relatively safe, being composed of chicken, a tomatillo sauce (which is usually mild) and melted cheese which oddly enough is NOT swiss, but cheddar, Monterey Jack, or a traditional Cotija..  don’t ask me why.   We didn’t notice anything special about the food, pretty much standard stuff, but again, newly opened and carryout.  Keep seeing a full parking lot there..

Hopeful?

Was driving into San Souci yesterday and saw what I took to be an encouraging sight at another purveyor of Mexican food:

Busily Working

 

A chain being demolished and eliminated?  Upon further consideration, I suspect it is probably just a makeover.  We’ll see.

The Cycle Begins Again

Further into San Souci I discovered yet another first in the holy trinity of restaurant signs

This one is affixed to the window of the space that the Subway vacated to move across the street.   So, instead of a Subway the front now looks like:

announcing that "coming soon" will be:

So yet again, somebody thinks “we can make it!”  It occured to me that the motif and the cuisine are kind of reminiscent of the shuttered CoCo Cantina.  One of the reasons I heard they left the Lone Star site in the park was that rent was too high.  This is much less square feet, so maybe it would be attractive to them.  Just a speculation, I’ll talk to some sources.  At least it appears to be independant...

Surprise

Since we seem to be mostly devoted to Mexican/Latin food subjects today, a little factoid for you:  You know that little Mexican Market on Great Mills near the dry cleaners and the Dollar General?  Apparently they have a few tables and serve food.  A loyal reader told me about it and said that he has a co-worker who hails from Mexico and swears by it.  Says a rudimentary knowledge of Mexican language is a big help.  Sounds encouraging..  maybe a “just right” place??  not sure how you would

DFD

 

EXTRA TO DO:  not mexican food, but yet another lecture.. tonight at the Historic St. Mary's City Visitor Center will be a free program centering on the Calvert house, the dig there, and what they are learning...