Taco Rosa - Review #6 (Guided Tour)

IMPORTANT INFO:
If you are looking for information on Taco Rosa's new Irvine location in the Tustin Marketplace then
→CLICK HERE←.
The entry you are looking at now is about their Newport Beach location.

Date of Visits: August 9, 11, 18, and 31; September 1, 11, 21, 26 and 28, 2006

Taco Rosa 2632 San Miguel Dr Newport Beach, CA 92660 (949) 720-0980 Listing on Yahoo! Local Listing on Ask.com's Citysearch Official Site

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Okay, here I am with my sixth review (depending on how you count them all) of Taco Rosa in Newport Beach. Every place I've covered in this blog has something good to offer but Taco Rosa is easily my favorite Mexican restaurant in the county overall. They are so good that I constantly tell people about it or get people to go there with me and everyone seems to love it and many go back and bring other people along with them who then start going on their own. Why am I giving them tons of free marketing? I don't know. I guess I'm just loco enough to do something like that.

On your way in make sure to check out the area where one chef makes nothing but appetizers and desserts and the nearby chocolate fountain.

One shot from inside

Taco Rosa is tucked away in the corner of the Newport Hills Center which is dominated by a Pavilions supermarket. There's also an Ace Hardware and some other shops. This shopping center can be a little hard to find. When you are driving on Bonita Canyon Drive, which itself is a continuation of Culver then eventually becomes Ford, and you come up on the LDS temple (it has the big angel statue on top) turn south onto Prairie and keep going straight until you head into the parking lot. You won't be able to see the shopping center when you first make the turn, you'll feel more like you are heading into a residential area, but just trust that you are going the correct way. Right before you head into the shopping center's parking lot you'll actually need to be in the far left lane to go straight across the street. It's a little weird because the far left lane allows you to turn left or go straight, but the other two lanes only allow you to turn right, so be warned. Simple rule: just do whatever it takes to go straight once you turn on to Prairie. At least that's the way I go from where I live. If you are heading to it from the Fashion Island area just make a right into the last shopping center on San Miguel before hitting Bonita Canyon Drive.

Geckos!

The problem is I haven't taken very good photos of their food before compared to pictures I've taken at other establishments. So a couple months ago I decided to go on a big Taco Rosa photo-taking binge amassing pictures taken over numerous visits. I took so many I think they started to think I was doing it to help out competition or something. Sorry, I'm not competition, just your friendly neighborhood food blogger.

Don't walk past the specials board and ignore it. Pay attention to it. It'll tell you the specials of the day (usually a soup or two and one, two, or three special entrees) as well as the two aguas frescas flavors for the day. A new flavor of aguas frescas I have seen them offering recently that I hadn't seen before is coconut. Other flavors include strawberry (fresa), cantalope, watermelon (sandia), honeydew (excellent!), mango, jamaica (hibiscus; go ahead, give it a try), tamarind, horchata, and I believe papaya and raspberry. There is also the elusive grape flavor that I have heard so much about but I have yet to stumble upon a day that it is being offered.

Appetizers

For appetizers each party gets a complementary "botanas tray" with one item for each member in their party. These are usually mini-tostadas but could also be chimichangas or sopes. Each tray also comes with a helping of escabeche, a mixture of pickled carrots, cauliflower and jalapeños. They do serve chips and salsa upon request for when you are in the mood to be a little more Americanized.

Botanas Tray

There's also an appetizer sampler platter (Platon de Botanas, the first item on the menu) which features, "steak nachos, zucchini with blossoms quesadilla, taquitos de pollo a la plancha & stuffed shrimp jalapeños. Served with fresh guacamole, escabeche, pico de gallo, sweet corn tamalitos and real sour cream."

Platon de Botanas

Soups

The lobster bisque is their house soup served ever day. Other kinds of soup I've seen there include Caldo Tlalpeña, or chicken and lime, or seafood pozole:

Following are photos of assorted entrees from Taco Rosa:

Regular Items

These are items that can be found on Taco Rosa's regular menu:

Alambre Quesadilla

Carnitas Pibil

Blackened Chicken Taco

Chile Relleno en Caldillo

Enchiladas

Enchiladas Oaxaca

Salmon Tacos

Salmon Tropical

Special Items

The following are items found on the specials board at various times. Any of them could be featured again:

Empanadas

Yellowtail Tacos

Chile en Nogado

Lunch Specials

The following are items only available during lunch hours (11am-4pm):

Milanesa de Pollo

Enchilada Platter

Steak and Chicken Tacos

Sopes Rosa

Salmon Enchilada

Desserts

Taco Rosa offers four kinds of desserts (postres):

• Churros
• Baked Cream Cheese Flan
• Chocolate-covered Strawberries
• Fried Sopapillas

When you're done with your meal help yourself to some postres. Make sure you save some room for them.

Fried Sopapillas

Baked Cream Cheese Flan

Chocolate-covered Strawberries

The dessert sampler platter comes with flan, churros, and chocolate-covered strawberries:

Taco Rosa now has a MySpace Profile. I'm guessing it is not official but thought I'd point it out (UPDATE: found out later that MySpace page is not official but run by a Taco Rosa fan who no longer lives in California).

My most recent visit to Taco Rosa was with Joy and Carter, Omar from SqueezeOC, "Chubby Panda" from the Epicurious Wanderer blog, and "Elmo" from the Monster Munching blog. Read Omar's report on the experience. Reports from Elmo and Chubby Panda are pending.

Taco Rosa still maintains its five Speedy Gonzales rating:

UPDATE (October 18, 2006):

Went back recently and got an Ensaladas de Frutas (fruit salad) to go. It has vanilla cream dipping sauce:

UPDATE #2 (October 30, 2006):

Went last Saturday for an impromptu lunch and got a pork pozole soup and huevos rancheros, neither of which I had ever seen before at Taco Rosa:

Important note: When people use Google to search on "taco rosa tustin" it is, for some reason, sending them to this entry (Taco Rosa - Review #6) which is about Taco Rosa's Newport Beach location and NOT about their Tustin location. To read about the Tustin location CLICK HERE.

El Cholo Cantina - Review #1

El Cholo Cantina 5465 Alton Pkwy Irvine, CA 92604 (949) 451-0044 Listing on Yahoo! Local Listing on Ask.com's Citysearch Official Site

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Since I live and work in Irvine (don't ask how that happened) it's very easy for me to get to Mexican restaurants in Irvine. I try not to focus on them too much to the detriment of restaurants in other cities but I think El Cholo Cantina may be one of the last Irvine Mexican restaurants to cover.

El Cholo Cantina is part of a chain of Mexican restaurants that began in Los Angeles in 1923. If you read the history on their website you can learn from an interesting anecdote how the chain got its name, and see their claim to have started the nacho craze in America.

While snacking on their chips I was thinking that I should describe the corn chips at various places in more detail. Shortly after that I got an e-mail from somebody requesting that I describe chips in more detail. So here goes: El Cholo's chips were a little on the thin side and a little on the dry side. On their own they were a little bland but with El Cholo's salsa they perked up pretty good. Most of the chips in the basket were of the standard yellow variety but there were a few red corn chips as well.

Blue Corn Chicken Enchiladas

I went on this visit with two co-workers: Michael and Eugene. We were intending that at least one of the three of us would order El Cholo's signature green corn tamales but after we placed our orders we realized none of us had. Michael ordered a veggie burrito which he said was excellent, Eugene ordered the chile relleno/chicken enchilada platter, while I ordered the blue corn chicken enchiladas. Eugene asked if they were tacos when he saw them and I don't blame him as their tortillas were folded in half rather than rolled up. My dish was $13 plus change on the menu but I was only charged $9.95 for it. I later found out that it is on special on Mondays and Tuesdays.

When your check comes you get a complimentary little pecan praline cookie for each person in your party. You can also buy bags of these cookies on your way out.

Veggie Burrito

Speaking of their green corn tamales, these are a famous item but they are only available between May and October each year so you still have about a month to get them before they go out of season again. You can try them at the restaurant or even have them shipped to you.

El Cholo Cantina earns a four Speedy Gonzales rating:



Click on the 'el cholo' label to read our complete coverage of the El Cholo chain in Orange County (we have a separate review for each of their locations):

Mexi-Casa - Review #2

Mexi-Casa 1778 W Lincoln Ave Anaheim, CA 92801 (714) 635-2612 Listing on Yahoo! Local Listing on Ask.com's Citysearch No known official website

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Here we have our first guest review in a while, this time of Mexi-Casa in Anaheim from guest reviewer "GrindzHound." Like James, who reviewed Mexi-Casa for us before, GrindzHound also thought Mexi-Casa's mild salsa tasted like V-8 juice even though they each made their appraisals without being aware of the other's report. Still, they each sing high praises for this long-time, inexpensive Anaheim eatery.

Since the 1960's or thereabouts, Mexi-Casa restaurant in Anaheim has been serving up generously portioned meals at pauper's prices in what was once an area with few Mexican eateries unless of course Taco Bell is considered real Mexican food. They've been doing it long before anyone in OC could even pronounce the word ta·que·ría. It started out humbly enough 40+ years ago down a dark industrial street in a small shack of a restaurant with a close-up view of Interstate 5. More recently Mexi-Casa moved, continuing it's humble journey down to West Lincoln Avenue. Yeah, this is Americanized Mexican food but its consistently tasty and an EXCELLENT value or dare I say cheap? It would be doing a disservice to this not often talked about institution to call it cheap food. Mexi-Casa has been quietly feeding hungry families and college students since LBJ and the Beatles.

Mexi-Casa's loyal following shows up every day whether its faded neon sign happens to be lit or not. This is the type of neighborhood place that I wish were everywhere but then again if it were, it would be called El Tor-eat-oh. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy eating at some corporate dining establishments, but my heart, soul and stomach rumbles for neighborhood joints. Mexi-Casa has "that" character and is a great value, those are two attributes that any hound can admire.

Some menu highlights include (Prices are from memory and are approximate):

*Combination Lunch $3-$4 most are two items with rice and beans. The price, I kid you not!
*Combination Dinner $4-$5 most are two items with rice and beans.
*Cheese Chips - Roasted in the oven to a toasty bubbly perfection. $2.50-$3.25
*Chili Relleno - Cheesy saucy good. $2.75
*Guacamole - Just plain old Hass avocados. $2.25-$3.00
*Albondigas soup - Mild and soothing. $1.75-$2.75
*Side Salad - with homemade blue cheese dressing. (Request that the lettuce is well drained or you’ll get a soupy mess) $1.75
*Chile Verde with tortillas- Mmmmm, clear my sinuses. $4.00
*Beef Tacos - Shell and meat are deep fried together for a meaty roasted flavor. $1.75
*Bean Tostada - Large, simply a tortilla overpiled (if that’s a word) with lettuce cheese and salsa. $2.25
*Meat Tostada - Same as bean tostada (or meat & bean) $3.25

Chowhounder's note: The mild salsa is like a mildly spicy and slightly chunky V-8 juice. The hot salsa is a chunkier, hotter version. Neither will be mistaken for salsa fresca or pico de gallo but they accompany the food well.

More Mexi-Casa entries:

• Mexi-Casa Cinco de Mayo Review