El Moctezuma

El Moctezuma #3 1740 W Chapman Ave Orange, CA 92868 (714) 456-0080 Listing on Google Maps No known official website.

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Bringing this entry back up to the top to remind everyone of Johnny Automatic's review and also because I added my own pictures of El Moctezuma's first location.

Moctezuma's Revenge

Heeeeere's Johnny from Orange slowly becoming our #1 guest reviewer with review #4, this time of El Moctezuma #3:

On my first visit I was a little overwhelmed by the menu and a number of regional specialties I had not encountered before (despite decades of devoted Mexican food eating). I ended up trying a Huarache con pollo. You may think of huaraches as sandals and in most of Mexico they are, but they also are an oblong slab of fried corn masa topped with refried beans, chile sauce, cheese and in this case moist grilled chicken breast meat. The lady running the front end gave me chips and salsa beforehand, the salsa being a warm cooked salsa that was very chunky. I added some of this salsa on top of the huarache. The salsa punched up the flavor on what was a mild, fresh and flavorful dish. But I liked it more with the kick of some salsa. They have agua frescas and horchata fresh each day. What's available seems to vary. I had the Jamaica or hibiscus flower agua fresca that day. In a previous review I called jamaica fruit punch. I was copying right off the menu there but hibiscus is really what jamaica is.

I went back a second time with a group of six. My friend Luis is a computer programmer who previously lived in Mexico City and is from the Sonora region of Mexico. I wanted his opinion on the food and that got others interested. Luis has also been looking for a restaurant that had food like he remembered in Mexico. He tells me it all tasted the same here and it doesn't taste like home. So I took that as a challenge.

Once again the chips and salsa came but today's salsa was different than the last time. This was a traditional salsa verde with a nice kick to it. I ordered the Burrito with Tinga filling ($4.95). Tinga is shredded beef in a chipotle sauce. This along with tasaja, cecina and tlayudas were all items I had either never seen on a menu or overlooked. The burrito was a big rice and bean filled burrito with lots of chipotle sauced shredded beef. The chipotle flavor was obvious but the heat was not overpowering. Barry ordered the carnitas burrito and ended up taking half of his home. So they are big burritos.

Tinga Burrito

Kay and Cary both ordered chile rellenos and hard shell tacos. Hers was cheese filled, his filled with chicken. They said they were like no relleno they had previously had. The egg batter was thin and light and did not overpower the chile and its filling. Kay said her relleno was the best she had ever had and that she was very critical of chile relleno quality. Allan made up his own concoction of a chorizo, potato and tinga quesadilla which they were happy to oblige. Luis, who usually eats vegetarian wanted to try their mole. So he got rice and mole. The mole sauce was quite good this day. Very smooth, full-flavored yet mild. He also noticed that they had two specialty quesadillas available. They had flor de calabaza and cuitlacoche. These are the kind of regional specialties you usually only see at some place like Gabbi's. Flor de calabaza is zucchini flowers folded with cheese into the quesadilla. Cuitlacoche is a black fungus that grows on corn ears, destroying the ear of corn but producing something more valuable. Luis ordered these to round out his meal and I ordered a couple more for the table. This was my first chance to try cuitlacoche though I had read about it for the past few years. It has a unique sweet, woodsy, mushroomy flavor that is hard to describe. Especially given it was the first time I had eaten it. The flor de calabaza was very tasty and my favorite of the two. What a special treat and surprise to see these available on our visit. These along with the other quesadillas ran $3. They are not huge quesadillas like you sometimes see, just as big as their excellent homemade tortillas are. A basket of those fresh tortillas came with our meals.

(two orders of chile rellenos, a carnitas burrito and fresh tortillas)

(mexican rice and lots of mole sauce)

(quesadilla flor de calabaza & quesadilla de coitlacoche)

(coitlacoche filling)

The agua fresca this day was an excellent melon (cantaloupe to be precise). Luis had the tamarindo.

We all enjoyed our meals very much. Luis said this was the best Mexican food he'd had in the States and was going to bring his family back the following day. I suggested, that unlike any place in memory, this food seemed like homemade food. It was like something I would get if I was invited over to a family's house for dinner. Luis agreed. Don't expect pretty decor or fancy presentation. This is home-style cooking in a funky thrift store environment. The food is the star here. I look forward to returning and learning about some of the other regional specialties I haven't tried yet. For the uniqueness of the offerings, the love apparent in the preparation, the memorable flavors and market fresh specials I give this place 4 1/2 Speedys. You can get the other half a Speedy down the street for about $20 more a person.

Thanks, Johnny!

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El Moctezuma #1 809 N Fairview St Santa Ana, CA 92703 (714) 648-0402 Listing on Yahoo! Local Listing Local.com No known official website.

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El Fortin - Review #2

El Fortin 700 E Commonwealth Ave Fullerton, CA 92831 (714) 773-4290 Listing on Yahoo! Local Listing on Ask.com's Citysearch Official Site

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Appetizer: Chips and Salsa and Mole Sauce
Entree: Estofado con Puerco
Drink: Horchata
Dessert: Flan

Whenever I tell people about this little blog here that I run one of the first things they tend to think is that is that I'm on a mission to find and eat the weirdest, most exotic foods out there, as though my life is a never-ending Fear Factor. Well, I don't actively seek out bizarre foods but in my quest to provide complete coverage of Mexican food in Orange County it's hard to not encounter some out-of-the-ordinary food from time to time.

Now, El Fortin is a mini-chain with two locations, one in Stanton and the other in Fullerton, with the Fullerton one being much more well-known. Both locations specialize in Oaxacan food and are known for serving chapulines (grasshoppers). However, I actually covered the Stanton location first. In that review I talked about eating one grasshopper when the waiter "encouraged" me to.

When I finally got to the Fullerton location two days ago I met up with frequent guest reviewer Johnny Automatic and his friend Luis, a Mexican who has travelled extensively throughout Mexico. Like me they weren't aiming incontrovertibly to eat chapulines but we still knew we had to at least try some.

We decided the best way to do this would be to share a Quesadilla con Chapulines. As you can see above they stuffed quite a few whole grasshoppers into the quesadilla. Oddly enough, Luis had the hardest time stomaching it while Johnny gobbled his right up. I was somewhere in the middle. There's nothing off-putting about the taste but you can definitely tell you are eating grasshoppers and discern every distinct part of their bodies. Still, I can think of worse things to eat.

You can even buy a t-shirt here that proudly proclaims that you ate grasshoppers at El Fortin Oaxacan Restaurant. But be honest, don't buy one if you didn't actually eat some.

Like at the Stanton location El Fortin's horchata comes with a shot of watermelon syrup, diced cantaloupe, and a sprinkling of walnuts on the top. They very nicely made me a non-walnut variety.

James and Thomas stopped by too

Estofado con Puerco

For an entree I got the Estofado con Puerco, sort of a Mexican curry: "Chicken or Pork covered with Oaxaca's mole made from sesame, tomatillos, chiles, raisins, olives and spices. Served with rice."

Enchiladas de Coloradito con Cecina

John and Luis both got the Enchiladas de Mole Negro o Coloradito con Chorizo, Quesillo, Tasajo o Cecina for $5.99: "Three tortillas rolled around chicken dipped in either red or black mole and sprinkled with cabbage and cheese. Served with choice of tasajo, chorizo, Cecina Enchilada or quesillo on the top with rice and beans on the side." The listed price is for one ingredient. Each additional ingredient is 80 cents extra. Johnny got the enchiladas with the coloradito and cecina enchilada (the spicy coated fried pork strips). The enchiladas were filled with chicken.

Negro mole con quesillo

Luis got the Negro mole con quesillo. Look at the cheese on that, like very thick string cheese. I remarked that it looked more like rope.

Here's Johnny's input on the visit:

It was fun to try the chapulines and I really didn't have the squeamish factor. But between the heavy spices on them, all the frying and the rich cheese it was pretty heavy fare.

The smoky quality of the mole negro was very nice. I found their negro mole to be less sweet and with less chocolate flavor than others.

I actually liked my mole coloradito better and I know Luis also agreed. It was a really excellent balance of sweet, hot, spicy, chocolate and chiles.

I finished my own meal up with a flan (surprise, surprise) and found it to be very soft and melt-in-your-mouth:

Flan

El Fortin earns a four Speedy Gonzales rating:



Just wanted to add that today is the two year anniversary of this blog and, believe me, we have plenty of more content coming.

See the whole photo album at

Gabbi's Mexican Kitchen - Review #5

Appetizer: Chips and Salsa
Entree: Ensalada de Nopales
A la carte: Taco de Rajas
Drink: Horchata
Dessert: Chocolate Mayan Tart

On this, the first anniversary of the beginning of this "blog" (still not sure I like that word), I'm highlighting my other favorite place: Gabbi's Mexican Kitchen on the Circle in Old Towne Orange. There is still no sign out front but they get enough business that co-owner Ed Patrick (Gabbi's husband) feels they may never need one. The above picture should help you locate it though if you've never been before.

On this visit I finally tried an item from their menu I had eyed many times before, the Ensalada de Nopales, or "Cactus Salad" for us gringos. A nearby customer (I believe his name was Robert) asked what I had ordered and when i told him he said that he was a connosieur of nopalitos, having practically grown up on them in Texas. He said many Mexican restaurants in Texas serve nopalitos with scrambled eggs for breakfast.

According to the menu on their official site the Ensalada de Nopales is comprised of "Breaded cactus, diced chicken, tomatoes, cucumber, cotija cheese, avocado, romaine lettuce & chipotle ranch dressing."

On Ed's suggestion I rounded out my lunch with a Taco de Rajas (not pictured) on the side. Another item I've never had before, the Taco de Rajas are filled with "Melted Oaxaca cheese, roasted pasilla strips
& onions." I also found out today that they have a newly updated dessert menu and I love how all their menus come on a wooden board:

I was tempted to try their new flan presentation (that'll have to wait for my next visit) but was even more tempted to try the Chocolate Mayan Tart, a pastry filled with a layer of ganache then topped with truffles made from Ibarra brand chocolate and resting in a cajeta (caramel) sauce, with a dollop of whipped cream and a mint sprig on the side:

When it was brought out to me my dessert was getting oohs and aahs from the other nearby patrons, with one of them (not Robert, somebody else) wanting to know what it was called. It was very good and very rich, probably a two-person dessert. I had to take half of it back with me, but every single bite transported me dreamily to Homer's Land of Chocolate:

Gabbi's easily maintains its five Speedy Gonzales rating:



Also see the review in Greer's OC (a site pointed out to me by Rafael, another customer I visited with earlier today while at Gabbi's).