Taleo Double Take

In today's (this week's?) OC Weekly, opinionated (as well as knowledgable and humorous) reporter Gustavo Arellano retracts his previous scathing reviews of Taleo Mexican Grill. He goes into detail about how he described them before and then describes his recent conversion to the Taleo fold. It takes some serious fortitude to admit when you've been wrong, and for that Gustavo, the man who fields questions for every Mexican, gets some credit. Is Taleo perfect? No, no restaurant is, but anyone interested in the Mexican food scene in Orange County is going to be missing out by writing it off.

Our own review of Taleo is the longest review ever posted here at this blog. It took three visits to cover it and there are still items on the menu I want to try.

Taleo Mexican Grill Deluxe Review

Kantina - Photos and Menus

IMPORTANT UPDATE (January 11, 2008)

Kantina has closed down. CLICK HERE for more information.

Kantina 2406 Newport Boulevard Newport Beach, CA 92663 (949) 673-1400 Listing on Ask.com's Citysearch Listing on AOL CityGuide Official Site

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Disambiguation

Just wanted to clarify that "Kantina" and "Chronic Cantina" are two different places. "Kantina" is on the harbor in Newport Beach and is an independent restaurant serving upperscale Mexican food and has a nightclub upstairs. "Chronic Cantina" (part of the Chronic Taco chain) is a midscale eatery/sports bar on the upper level of Triangle Square in Costa Mesa.

Chronic Cantina Review

Front Entrance

We finally have some pictures of Kantina in Newport Beach taken during two separate visits (there was a prior visit when no photos were taken). Kantina occupies the spot once filled by a Hooters and specializes in modern Mexican cuisine. Right on the water there are several slips outside to pull your boat or yacht into and walk up the ramp into the restaurant, which only takes reservations from patrons arriving by water, not by land. Their official website is very simplistic right now, including only address and contact information and a message that the site is under construction. The e-mail address given there is currently non-functional.

Parking immediately in front of the restaurant is valet-only for a $3.50 charge. Metered parking is available in the near vicinity but it's not necessary to feed the meters any coins after 6pm.

A friend, Jonathon Stone, who I had known in Hawaii and bumped into recently in California went along with me for the first visit. Joy and Carter accompanied me on the second visit, while Tricia C. (of Munroe Finishing School) went with me on a lunch date for the third visit. Here is what Jonathon had to say:

If you have ever traveled to Mexico and had Lobster Burritos by the beach, you will be able to appreciate the menu at Kantina. While on the pricier side of restaurants, the cost benefit reward is worth every penny. With a night club atmosphere and upstairs bar, it's a great place for a flashy date where you can either stand in line to club it up or you can take a table and enjoy watching the atmosphere spin around you. I chose the latter. My order began with an appetizer of Lobster Quesadillas followed by a main course of Filet Mignon Burritos. Every bite was heavenly! Memories of Rosarita, Mexico, flashed through my mind. For those with an open line of credit and a desire to eat not just a Mexican meal, at Kantina you get a flavorful bang for your buck and if on a date, a great first impression. Thanks, Christian, for an outstanding recommendation. My father got a taste of the leftovers and has decided he would also like to eat at Kantina sometime, his treat! Can't turn that offer down. Also, if you wish to take home your meal, they provide you with high quality Tupperware. Now that's class! I highly recommend this restaurant.

UPDATE: Joy has written in with her primarily positive take:

Carter thought the food was overpriced for the quality, although the presentation and the atmosphere was very nice. I can vouch for the fact that his ceviche was practically flavorless: very dull. He had the flautas, which were more like egg rolls than Mexican food, especially the wrappers. The bite I had was fine, although the flavors were somewhat muddied together and indistinct. He said the steak in the flautas was fatty and chewy. I had better luck with my meal. I really liked the Kantina (lobster) quesadillas. They had a strong, meaty lobster flavor which mixed well with and wasn't overpowered by the other ingredients in the dish. I would have liked more corn sprinkled on top and less of the sauce, but that's just my preference: it was fine the way it was. But huge! I put half of my appetizer aside as take-away so that I'd have room left to eat my entree. The chile relleno had only a passing resemblance to any even vaguely authentic chile relleno, so it shouldn't be judged that way. What it was, though, was good. I could taste lots of flavorful Anaheim chile, which I like: not drowned out by mounds of cheese, as is more common. The pork could have been cooked a little less (or a lot more) as it was slightly dry, but it still had a nice pork flavor to it, and the creamy corn sauce helped balance out the dryness. The feta cheese was an interesting and welcome touch, although I would have liked it to be spread through the dish more evenly. I had the churros for dessert and they were piping hot and delicious! The texture was just right: crunchy on the outside and soft and warm on the inside. The chocolate and cream sauces were good too. It was definitely enough for two people, though.

During the second visit, my friend Jimmy Kindred cruised up in his "Yakety Yacht," named after his company Yakety Yak. They sell cell phones . . . by the seashore?

Starters:

Kantina Quesadilla

Three Citrus Ceviche

Watermelon & Queso Fresco Stack

White Corn Chowder

Chorizo & Potato Egg Rolls

Entrees:

Pork Chile Relleno


Kantina Flautas


Quesadilla Salad

Dessert:

Kantina offers seven kinds of desserts including flan, fried custard, guava cheesecake, and apple tarts. Pictured here are their churros:

Churros

Menus:

Here are the lunch and dinner menus for Kantina in PDF format. Kantina offered brunch for a while and they are thinking about bringing it back.

Kantina Lunch Menu

Kantina Dinner Menu

A fuller writeup and more pictures are likely to be posted here in the future. For now, Kantina earns a four and a half Speedy Gonzales rating:

Jalapeno's - Review #1

Jalapeño's
3851 Alton Pkwy Ste B
Irvine, CA 92606
(949) 251-8976

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Jalapeño's is probably the closest Mexican restaurant to where I live and serves up servicable Mexican food. A mini-review on their Yahoo! Local listing mentioned a robotic cashier and I am pretty sure that robotic cashier is the one who rung up my order. They enjoy a pretty good reputation among locals who seem to think it's the only alternative to Taco Bell/Del Taco/Rubio's. They've got greasy, greasy chips and so-so salsa. They do have Jarritos soda and that is a plus. I ordered the Chile Colorado platter, hunks of beef smothered in hot sauce that'll make your eyes water. The tortillas that came with it were hot and fresh so I made myself a couple Chile Colorado Tacos. I had a coupon for "Buy One Dinner, Get the Second Dinner Half Off" so my roommate ordered a beef enchilada platter and reported that it was quite good. Don't ask me which of our meals was the one that was half off.

Beef Enchiladas


Chile Colorado Platter

Jalapeño's earns a three Speedy Gonzales rating:

Del Taco - Review #1

Del Taco
9436 Warner Ave
Fountain Valley, CA 92708
(714) 968-9846

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(IMPORTANT NOTE: This entry is largely outdated and we have many more entries on Del Taco, with better pictures even, since this one. Click Here to read them all.)

My first encounter with Del Taco was probably in the early Eighties when I learned about a new Mexican fast food restaurant that was much like Taco Bell but ever so slightly more authentic. I've been countless times since. They have excellent strawberry shakes, good yet inexpensive breakfast burritos, Deluxe Chili Cheese Fries when you're feeling gluttonous, and Spicy Jack Chicken Quesadillas for when you're just plain hungry. I also used to thrive on their orange shakes and deli burritos, neither of which is offered any longer (UPDATE from April 22, 2007: Del Taco has brought back their Orange Shakes).

This particular visit was primarily to try out two new featured items: their Jalapeno Bacon and Chicken Quesadilla and the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Shake (am I going to get salmonella?), both good enough to try at least once, but as limited-time-only items I might not have to decide if I'd order them again or not. A few days earlier, in a rush through the drive thru at a Huntington Beach location, I took advantage of "Dan's Deal:" two regular tacos and half-pound bean and cheese burrito for two bucks. Got super creative and added a water to drink and my total for dinner came to $2.16.

For being a faithful standby Del Taco earns a three and a half Speedy Gonzales rating:

Taco Rosa Official Site

NOTE: This entry has been outdated. Please CLICK HERE to read ALL our extensive coverage of Taco Rosa, including dozens of photos, links to their official website, and information about both their locations.

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While analyzing my site traffic yesterday I stumbled across the fact that there is now an official site for Taco Rosa. I don't know when it started but I think it's pretty new. Oddly enough it is not at tacorosa.com but is part of "The Orange Connection." Even stranger is the fact that they put four of the reviews from this blog into their testimonials section, which I guess we should take as flattery. The site is pretty comprehensive. It gives their full regular menu, their Sunday Brunch menu, their lunch menu, company info, and more press reviews. There are some pictures too of their food, their employees, and the restaurant itself. The Catering Menu and Promotions sections are currently waiting to be filled in.

I'm glad I found out about this because after everyone coming here trying to find the Taco Rosa menu I was just about to type it all up and post it here. Now if only they would e-mail me on a day when they are serving their elusive grape aguas frescas.

UPDATE (July 20, 2006):

Their official site can now be found at their own domain: tacorosa.com. The Catering section is now complete but the Promotions section still awaits content. The catering page mentions pastel tres leches and papaya cheesecake as desserts so I wonder if these will be added to their in-restaurant menu.

El Conejo - Review #1

January 24, 2008: El Conejo has closed down. Read more here.

El Conejo
14715 Jeffrey Rd
Irvine, CA 92618
(949) 559-1176

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Went to lunch at El Conejo the other day using a coupon that shows up in the Thursday edition of the Irvine World News. The most recent coupon is for a torta with your choice of meat for $3.79. El Conejo has another location in Santa Ana and a third location in Lake Forest called El Conejito. There may even be a newer location in Laguna Hills now but I have yet to confirm that. This Irvine location is in one of the area's oldest shopping centers (south-west corner of Jeffrey and Walnut) and the parking lot was obviously designed before everyone bought SUV's. If you go during the lunch rush prepare for some serious congestion and tight squeezes and people rolling down their windows to yell at each other. The inside seems much like the outside: old and cramped. I presented my coupon and asked for a torta with al pastor pork as my choice of meat then had a conversation that went something like this:

Me: And I'll have some bunuelos.

Employee #1: We don't have bunuelos.

Me: You mean you're out of them today?

Employee #1: Yes. But we have cherry burritos and flan.

Me: Okay, I'll try the flan.

Employee #1: We also have apple burritos.

Me: Well, I'll get the flan.

Employee #1 to Employee #2: Can you get him a flan?

Employee #2: We don't have flan. We have bunuelos.

Employee #1 to Me: We don't have flan. We have bunuelos.

Me: Okay, I'll have the bunuelos.

So, there you go. I got the dessert I originally asked for. I've never reviewed bunuelos for this blog yet but they are simply flour tortilla strips fried up then sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon. Simple yet delicious. Of course I had to eat my torta first. Filled with marinated al pastor pork, guacamole, onions, and cilantro this Mexican sandwich filled me up and left just enough room in my innards for half my dessert. It didn't even matter that they forgot to give me my free chips and salsa.

Don't throw the coupons away

The food is decent, they get a half Speedy Gonzales for having Orange Bang! to drink but then lose half again for being a tad on the dumpy side. Not awfully so but they could use a little renovation. Overall, El Conejo earns a three Speedy Gonzales rating:

Utah Report

As mentioned previously I took a trip up to Utah from June 7th to the 14th. I knew that there would be at least some Mexican restaurants there and I intended to do a little exploring. It turns out that there were more than I had been expecting and I was able to sample four or five of them.

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Taco Del Mar

Taco Del Mar is 80% Rubio's, 10% La Salsa, 5% Sharky's, and 5% every other fresh Mexican grill and they have a fish mascot named Carlos. The people there were very nice and told me the chain had begun in Washington State and is quickly expanding. I saw another of their locations while on a day trip up to Idaho. They also apparently have some locations in San Diego and are trying to figure out how to tackle the Orange County/Los Angeles market. They get extra points for having Choco Tacos.

Official Site

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Taco Maker

One place that I got nothing more than a taco from was Taco Maker. It shared its restaurant space with a smoothie place so I ordered a "Sunrise Smoothie." Or maybe it was a "Sunset Smoothie." They had both. Sunrise . . . sunset. Sunrise . . . sunset. Taco Maker seems to be a big chain up there; they even had one in the food court in the mall and billboards all over the state.

Official Site

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Rumbi Island Grill

Rumbi is a tropical island-themed restaurant chain with a heavy emphasis on the Hawaiian part of "tropical islands" which, of course, meant that I had to go there. I really liked Rumbi. The decor was laid back but very neatly presented. The food was incredibly fresh with lots of options on the menu. I ordered their Tropical Chips and Salsa as an appetizer though and there seemed to be nothing tropical about it, just regular corn chips and standard tomato salsa. They were good but I wondered why they referred to them as "tropical." While sitting at the table munching away and perusing their takeout menu (reading about food can be almost as good as eating it . . . and a lot less fattening) I noticed that one of their entree items was topped with pineapple salsa so we asked them for some pineapple salsa for our "Tropical Chips and Salsa" and they very readily gave us a cup. Later that night I borrowed my brother's computer and e-mailed Rumbi suggesting that they serve "Tropical Chips and Salsa" with the pineapple salsa they already have on hand. Another Mexican-oriented item on their menu was the Bahama Mama's Tortilla Soup, which I would order if they could make it without coconut milk.

Rumbi is run by a couple former Jamba Juice bigwigs and has a very Jamba Juice sensibility to it: fairly health-conscious food without the stigma of health food. I don't know if "health food" is the proper term here but we should all be concerned about eating healthy but many "health food nuts" can make it look so unappealing. I don't have any inside information but don't be surprised if you see Rumbi Island Grill in California in the future.

Official Site

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Taco Time

Now Taco Time is a place I've known about for years and have never actually visited (to my knowledge) until this particular trip. I went through the drive-thru and was overwhelmed with the number of choices on the menu. My only way to deal with it was to order one of their featured items: their new Mango Ranchero Burrito, which was fried chicken chunks and mango salsa and some other standard burrito fillings. I had heard almost twenty years ago from my brother-in-law that Taco Time was an even more plastic version of Mexican food than Taco Bell was and as evidence he mentioned the fact that they had cherry burritos as a dessert item, flour tortillas filled with good old American cherry pie filling straight out of the can. I couldn't wait to find out if they really had cherry burritos on their menu. They didn't, but they did have dessert empanadas and it said to ask the person ringing up your order what the current selections were. I don't even remember what the first two options were because as soon as I heard the third one, Bavarian cream, I knew that's what I wanted. I don't care how authentic or inauthentic it was because it was so good. And they made it fresh right there. I'd get each item again.

Official Site

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The Garden Restaurant

The day before heading back to California we met my brother for lunch in downtown Salt Lake City at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building (formerly the Hotel Utah). They have two restaurants on the top floor, The Garden (open for lunch and dinner) and The Roof (only open for dinner and slightly fancier than The Garden). It is mainly there for the convenience of nearby LDS Church administrative workers but is open to everyone and had a couple Mexican-oriented items on their menu including a Grilled Chicken Quesadilla and a Southwest Spicy Shrimp Salad.

UPDATE (October 21, 2007)

I've actually been back to The Garden twice since this initial report. On the first revisit I got a Wild Boar Sausage Quesadilla which was basically the same as the Chicken Quesadilla I got the first time but with different meat. When I went a few months later for my third visit this item was no longer on the menu. I liked it but I can imagine the "wild boar" aspect turned a lot of people off. So I got the "Southwest Tortilla Wrap – Your Choice of Grilled Chicken or Fiery Steak, wrapped in a Chipotle Tortilla with Roasted Corn Salsa, Black Bean Salsa, Crisp Bacon, Guacamole and Lettuce, served with Tri-Colored Corn Chips." Just as good as the two quesadillas but a little less greasy, which I guess made it a little better.

Official Site

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Mi Puebla

Mi Puebla is the very last place I went although I think it was the first place I noticed after arriving in Utah. They prominently bill themselves as Authentic Mexican Food" and since they are the only place I tried in my 8-day trip that had aguas frescas maybe they are justified in claiming authenticity.

I showed up at Mi Puebla at 8:58pm and checked their door for a listing of their operating hours and couldn't find it so I tried opening the door and it opened right up and I went in (although there was nobody, customers or employees, to be seen) and finally saw a girl working in the back of the kitchen. I asked, "Are you closed?" "Yes." "Okay, thanks." Then I stepped out and headed back to my car to search for a place that stayed open after 9pm when I noticed a man walking out of the restaurant and toward my rental car. I wasn't entirely sure he was coming for me but didn't want to drive right past him so I rolled down the passenger's window and asked, "Are you looking for me?" "Yes. Did that girl tell you we were closed?" "Yes." "We are open until 10." "In that case I'll come back in." So I parked the car and went back in. We had a good little chat and he told me that it was their second location (first one opened up in Ogden about five years ago) and that it had opened about a week earlier. I ordered an item I had never heard of before called a zincronizada which was like a quesadilla with a big slice of ham in it. They had strawberry, pineapple, and horchata aguas frescas. The horchata was almost gone, not enough to make a full cup out of, so I suppose people had been ordering it throughout the day. I ordered the strawberry and the manager (José) threw in a free flan.

Official Site

There were a bunch of Mexican restaurants I saw there that I wanted to try but wasn't able to including Garcia's, Melina's, Cafe Rio, and others that I remember seeing but can't remember the names of. Other restaurants I went to in Utah include Noodles and Company, KFC, The Lion House, and my brother's house where we had excellent lobster tails one night.

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Cafe Rio

Added October 21, 2007

When I was up in Utah for my first visit I noticed a place called Cafe Rio but didn't eat there. After that first visit I had numerous people telling me about Cafe Rio and that I "definitely have to try it." On my next visit I did eat there and took some pictures but those pictures were lost in the tragic "Christian Accidentally Deletes A Bunch of Photos from His Digital Camera While On Maui in June 2007" incident.

I tried the pork taco then that my brother recommended and loved it. I'd maybe even recommend a trip to Cafe Rio just to try it. I don't know how they packed some much robust, BBQy flavor into it but however they do it I'm sure it's illegal. What should also be illegal is their very hectic manner of rushing people through their line. You probably have to deal with at least six employees barking, "What do you want?" or "What did you order?" at you before you finally pay for your food and make it through the gauntlet/Subway-like food assembly line. I seemed to be the only person getting flustered by it though. Maybe I shouldn't complain; the food is good and I got the pork taco again on my next visit as well as a shrimp taco and their enigmatic chocolate-cheese flan (they also have a coconut-caramel flan), all shown below in pictures taken on my second visit. Now when people ask if I've been to Cafe Rio I can finally say, "Yes." I wear that badge of honor very proudly but still feel like I deserve a Purple Heart for dealing with that insane ordering line.

Superboy was there taking a much needed break

Official Site