La Cocina de Ricardo - Review #1

La Cocina de Ricardo 23532 El Toro Rd, Ste 11 Lake Forest, CA 92630 (949) 586-1477 Listing on Yahoo! Local Listing on Ask.com's Citysearch Official Site

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Here's a place that numerous people have recommended to me. I even had a certificate for them from restaurant.com (which I found out about from frequent guest writer Johnny Automatic and from where you can get $25 restaurant gift certificates for $10 or sometimes even less) printed out and sitting on my desk for a while before finally making it there with James and Lori and Thomas a few weeks ago.

A family-run business, La Cocina de Ricardo opened in the mid-1980s and has two other OC locations and a location up north in Mountain View. Their recipes come from Grandma Juana, who, according to their website, "was the main chef of her town [Mixtlán Jalisco, México] and would prepare the food for small and large events, from parties to weddings, making every occasion memorable. This tradition of thoughtfully prepared recipes was passed to Mamacita Alicia (the current chef and Owner)."

James got a burrito which I think was a Chile Colorado burrito:

Lori got the Carnitas Los Gordos, "Roasted lean chunks of pork, garnished with onions jalapeños, cilantro & guacamole," which is generally for two people but you can order it for one person, as she did:

I had a hard time choosing from their extensive menu and after much deliberation I finally narrowed it down to five choices and when the waiter came to take our order I just blurted out that I wanted the Pollo en Mole:

This was excellent stuff, deep, rich, bold, smoky topped with onions, avocado slices, and sesame seeds (I can never get enough sesame seeds).

The desserts were a highlight, with a silky, yet not cloying, flan garnished with cinnamon, an orange slice, and a cherry, and a large dish of buñuelos served with whipped cream and honey.

La Cocina de Ricardo earns a four Speedy Gonzales rating:



Our blog friend, Melissa O. from Alosha's Kitchen, has reviewed La Cocina de Ricardo at Yelp. Check out her review here.

Click here to see the complete album (11 photos) at .

Albatros - Review #1

Albatros Mexican Food 23591 Rockfield Blvd. #G Lake Forest, CA 92630 (949) 859-9600 Across from the Captain Creams Shopping Center, facing the north side of The Hat. No known official website.

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I recently found out about a new food blog on the block called Griffin Eats OC and its most recent review is about a new Mexican restaurant in Lake Forest. I wish I could go to every Mexican restaurant in the county every day. Well, not really, but there's still only so much one person can do so I asked Griffin if I could reprint his review of Albatros and he kindly gave his permission. So without further ado:

I recently visited the brand new Albatros Mexican Food in Lake Forest. Although they have a bird on their sign, I got the impression that they were trying to make people think that they were an "Albertos." This place is tucked away in a tiny strip mall. The location has had so may different tenants recently that I didn't think that anyplace could survive here. Until now.

I went to Albatros with high hopes and wasn't disappointed. I have only tried one item so far, the carne asada burrito ($3.50), but I was really impressed at both the quality of the burrito and the cost. I watched as the cook took a large portion of fresh beef and threw it on the grill. The small pieces of beef quickly cooked with a few tosses of his spatula. The cook then threw a giant flour tortilla on the grill, removed it and put some oniony guacamole on it and then filled the tortilla with the beef and rolled it. No rice, no beans, just meat and guacamole. An all meat burrito for $3.50? Unheard of! It was also actually so large that I couldn't even finish the whole thing! The meat was tender, but a little under seasoned for my tastes. I would have liked a little more of a citrusy flavor. It wasn't bad at all though.

Their salsa was very watery and not very spicy. Another guy from my office got their carnitas burrito. It too was all meat and guacamole, and he enjoyed it very much as well. I look forward to returning to Albatros soon to try their other menu items like Tortas ($2.75 ham, beef, chicken, chorizo-$3.00 carne asada, carnitas) Tacos ($1.90-$2.25) Enchiladas ($3.40) and more. I hope they don't raise their prices soon though. I can't believe how cheap some of their stuff is!

Read the complete entry at Griffin's blog: Griffin Eats OC

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UPDATE (April 9, 2013): Here's some pictures I (Christian) took at Albatros when I finally made it there myself a few days ago:

Click any one of them to be taken to the complete flickr photo album.

Chipotle Opens in Lake Forest

Chipotle is having their grand opening today at The Arbor shopping center in Lake Forest on the southwest corner of El Toro & Rockfield.

I stopped by at lunch and got the carnitas burrito bowl:

Read more about Chipotle and this new location at the Fast Food Maven blog.

Image hosting courtesy of

Tacos Ensenada - Review #1

Date of Visit: November 17, 2007

Tacos Ensenada 24601 Raymond Way Lake Forest, CA 92630 (949) 583-7711 Listing on Yahoo! Local Listing on Ask.com's Citysearch No known official website.

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Went with James, Lori, and Thomas a couple weeks ago to a place they recommended and knew how to get to but couldn't remember the name of. Described by James as "a hole-in-the-wall but a big hole-in-the-wall" it ended up being Tacos Ensenada in Lake Forest. Better brush up on your restaurant Spanish before coming here since you won't see anything in English once you arrive and chances are the person taking your order won't know English. If you really don't know any Spanish though don't be scared off because many of the menu items are pictured on the wall (good for people like me who like to see what they are ordering before it arrives at the table).

Decorated for Christmas

In my continuing quest to come up with a concrete, authoritative definition of what makes Mexican food authentic, or inauthentic as the case may be, one conclusion I have come to is that a restaurant's authenticity goes up when they sprinkle cinnamon onto your horchata after you order it (as opposed to just having it in the mix), or dumped on as was the case here:

And, no, I didn't put Tapatio in my horchata.

Lori ordered the chile rellenos platter which is really two chile rellenos and exclaimed how spicy hot they were. James, who has a higher tolerance for spiciness, then tried a bite and said it was almost too hot even for him. So, if you like really overtly spicy chile rellenos then this is the place to get them from.

Two-year old Thomas didn't complain about his quesadilla kid's platter being too spicy hot:

I went for the parillada de mariscos ($13.95), an artfully presented seafood dish with halibut, scallops, oysters, shrimp (some with the eyes still attached), and octopus, as well as avocado and orange slices:

As mentioned above, I like to see pictures of dishes I'm thinking of ordering before I order them and when I saw the picture of this seafood platter on their wall I was sold. The taste matched the image with everything fresh, nothing too tough and chewy (as octopus can tend to be), and big enough to share.

Tacos Ensenada earns a four Speedy Gonzales rating:

Los Primos - Review #1

Los Primos 26721 Rancho Parkway Lake Forest, CA 92630 (949) 581-6031 Listing on Yahoo! Local Listing on Ask.com's Citysearch Official Site

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Before I go out of state for a few days and then return to work on my backlog of reviews to finish writing I'll leave you with a new review from Johnny Automatic, this time of Los Primos in Lake Forest:

Many parts of the newly opened territories of South and East Orange County are essentially nothing but chain restaurants. It can be almost impossible to find a family-run joint no matter what type of food you have in mind. The Foothill Ranch part of Lake Forest is no different. The only Mexican restaurant in town for a long time was La Perlita. Recently Miguel's, a long-time local's favorite in Corona, opened up a location here. I guess that puts Foothill Ranch way ahead of most of the new neighborhoods. But both of these places are full service sit-down restaurants. The food, and the time it takes for your meal, can both be a bit much for lunch.

There is a good option for a quick lunch at a reasonable price. It's one of two Orange County outlets of a small San Diego-based family-run chain called Los Primos. The one in Foothill Ranch is actually inside a Shell Gas Station! The other OC location is in Rancho Santa Margarita, another chain dominated city. Oddly, of their 19 locations, 5 of them are in gas stations. You'd hardly know it was there unless you are really looking for it. It doesn't seem to hurt their business any, and a number of people waiting for their food seem to have learned of the place through word of mouth.

They serve breakfast, lunch and dinner from 6am to 10pm daily. On past occasions I have mostly stopped by for breakfast. Their assortment of breakfast burritos are all good. Lunch time features a number of specials from an extensive menu, and the burrito I had recently was very good. But since they are based in San Diego, I decided to try that unique regional creation - carne asada fries. They even have a Wikipedia entry and I've seen them recently on people's "foods to have before you die" lists. They are an even more Americanized version of nachos. They have a lot of the same pluses and minuses of nachos from my point of view. The ingredients certainly are an appealing mix of flavors. You start with a base of french fries covered in melted cheddar cheese, carne asada is placed on top of this with large dollops of sour cream and guacamole are on either side of the meat. Almost every ingredient is just a nutritionist's nightmare and taken as a whole they are a heart attack on a plate. I understand that it a very popular dish for surfers after a good workout in the waves. If you need a carb and fat load you couldn't do much better. It seems a shame they close at 10 pm. This seems like the kind of gut bomb you'd have a late night craving for after a night of drinking. Putting aside my conflicted thoughts on this San Diegan specialty, the ingredients in this version were all very good and fresh. The carne asada meat was especially good. I'll need to try it in a burrito or taco soon.

One of the problems with a lot of nachos is that it is hard to eat the toppings and the chips in an even manner. You often get sections loaded up with toppings and then a bunch of plain chips at the bottom. It takes a lot of work to get it all sorted out. I don't find things any easier with the fries. In fact, fries are a worse shape for picking up toppings. It is probably best to treat them like chili fries and go with the fork. As a first timer, I was working blind here.

I'm glad I finally tried these, but I will probably stick with Los Primos' other good Mexican items. They have a basic fresh salsa bar with a green salsa, red salsa, pico de gallo and pickled carrots and jalapeños. You can get several agua frescas but they are the fountain type sold under the Olé brand. And besides that you can get some Slim Jims, a Twinkie, a tank of gas and a car wash at the same time. Los Primos is a good place for breakfast or lunch if you're in the area and craving some Mexican food. They have a section set off for sit down dining and some tables outside too. I give it 3¾ Speedys:

Thanks again, Johnny.

Avila's El Ranchito - Review #2 (Photo Super Post)

Date of Visit: January 2, 2007

Avila's El Ranchito 24406 Muirlands Blvd Lake Forest, CA 92630 (949) 855-4989 Listing on Yahoo! Local Listing on Ask.com's Citysearch Official Site

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After taking numerous clandestine photos of Avila's El Ranchito during my visit last August I was invited back by the owners and given free rein to take photos shortly before they opened for business one day. Like The Chili Pepper in Orange (and the next place to be reviewed here) this restaurant is decorated to the extreme. The decor is obviously Mexican but with heavy doses of Hawaiian, tiki, and surfing motifs thrown into the mix, all of which is fine by me.

After taking the pictures I tried out their house soup which had been recommended to me by somebody while I was dining at another Mexican restaurant.

I wanted to finish off with some of their deep-fried ice cream again but the combination of a late breakfast and early lunch nixed that idea. I got the small bowl of the soup and it was still very filling.

Avila's El Ranchito in Lake Forest maintains a strong four Speedy Gonzales rating: