Saturday, February 9, 2008

Chowhound debate: best enchiladas in Austin?

The food message board Chowhound features a topic all about who serves up the best enchiladas in Austin - put in a word for your favorite!

(Having tried only a fraction of the possibilities, I'm going to have to say Polvo's cheese enchiladas with poblano sauce, or - shock, horror - Doc's cheese enchiladas with chipotle sauce, which contains brown sugar.)

Friday, February 8, 2008

Guest blog: Captain Shalini reviews Montezuma's, Cairns, Queensland, Australia, 02/06/08

We drove down to Cairns from Port Douglas on Saturday, February 2. The drive is amazing! The Captain Cook Highway lead us all the way down the coastline (with spectacular ocean views not marred by high rises and condos) and into the city of Cairns. Now, this is much bigger than either Port Douglas or Alice Springs, but is comparative in size to say Round Rock (but not as cookie cutter), outside of Austin. The Captain Cook Highway actually turns into the street that spits us out in front of Montezuma's. It's got an open-air feel that lets you remember the ocean is close by, and even though it is about 10 mintues after the official start of the lunch hour, we are going to be the first ones there to eat. We love the atmosphere, as there is a lot of color and "Mexican" decorations (colorful parrots, huge fake flowers) We get a nice table and proceed to devour the menu.

We know that we must partake of the appetizer (queso fundido); it was really good and creamy, the chips were perfect (I can't stand overly salty chips), and, as you can see, my two and a half year old didn't let us have much.

We then proceed to order. Dennis orders the steak fajitas, I order the cheese and onion enchiladas. Again, here in Australia they do have weirdo varieties of enchilada stuffing, but I request just the cheese and onion.

I get two enchiladas; one does look slightly deflated, but the taste is quite delicious. The onion and cheese has melted together. The enchilada is a bit crispy - as is the rice, but it melds well. The flavor is not very cheddary, which is what I am more used to back in the States. The sauce on the beans and the flavor of the rice complement each other well. I had a lemon iced tea (not brewed there), and it cooled off the meal. Yes, this place had many more spices in their sauce than our last Australian foray into Mexican food, and it wasn't as bland. But I guess the next time I need to carry my own hot sauce with me.


Montezuma's
45 Sheridan Street
Cairns 4870
Queensland
Australia
07 4050 4600

Rating: 3/5




Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Lenten hiatus

Dear friends, Romans, countrymen:

I have decided to today on a whim to give up dairy for Lent (I always give up something for Lent, though I skip the fasting and "believing in Jesus" part), so this blog will suffer a resultant reluctant 40-day pause.

I welcome any guest blogs in my absence. My only criteria are that they are about cheese enchiladas (any topping you like), and at least one close-up photograph of the dish is included. I reserve the right to edit the shit out of your writing.

Please submit them to thefieldmarshal at gmail dot com.

See you on Easter Sunday (when I will celebrate bunny sex and the resurrection of daffodils by eating a huge plate of cheese enchiladas).

Little Mexico, 02/04/08


After much deliberation, and even a quick consultation of the Fearless Critic, Deputy Mike and I decided to try the cheese enchiladas at Little Mexico, on South First. We met there at 6:30, and managed to sit out on the colorful patio - yes, in February (reason no. 3,904,288 to love Austin).

Now, I've been to Little Mexico once before, on Easter Sunday, 2006. T and Jason and I went there for Easter lunch, and I had cheese enchiladas with regular chili con carne sauce, and they were good.

This time, my vegetarian brain noticed that their menu featured three different types of vegetarian, cheese enchiladas: regular (with ranchera sauce), queso fresco (with ranchera sauce), and Monterey Jack and poblano pepper (with ranchera sauce). My stupid, hungry brain mistook "queso fresco" for "queso blanco", so I ordered them, hoping the cheese would approximate the warm white meltiness of La Hacienda queso. Of course, when the enchiladas were delivered, I could see immediately that they were not queso blanco, but nevermind: they looked very tasty nonetheles, with their crumbly white cheese and pool of ranchera.

Meanwhile, Mike had joined me in an act of solidarity and ordered the Jack and poblano enchiladas, which, upon arrival, looked just like a typical Tex-Mex enchilada plate, all melty cheese and gravy-like sauce.



I dug into my dinner, and was immediately disappointed. We got three enchiladas, which was great (although they were small, and I wasn't really full after my meal - which I attribute mainly to the flavor void which I shall describe next). The first bite was only tortilla, and the tortilla wasn't great (though it was soft and had that prominent maize flavor I look for). The sauce proved thin and without courage. The cheese was flavorless - it might've been soy cheese, honestly. Looking at it, seeing its ricotta-like crumbliness, I had expected something fresh, sweet, creamy, maybe even a little tangy to complement the expected piquantness of the sauce - but it was nothing more than a tasteless mucilage swimming in a rust-colored, dilute pool of savorless anemic liquid.

Then there was the cheese. I assume it was actually cheese, though it exhibited few qualities of that fine, fine foodstuff. Each rolled up tortilla, usually so teasingly full of greasy promise, was filled with a mysterious, spongy stick of whiteness that I can only assume was baked queso fresco. It was dry, slightly rubbery, and - yes - devoid of flavor.

The beans, however, were very good - clearly containing some sort of swine byproduct. The rice was slightly better than average, and gave hints of having been fried, which is a method that improves pretty much any dish. Also, the salsa was great - hot, cilantro-infused, with some surprising sweet undertones. (Looking back on it, I probably should've drowned my whole sorry plate in the stuff.) The chips were of Polvo's quality - i.e. thick and crap (but fresh-ish).

Nevertheless, after twenty minutes, my plate was empty.



I would be tempted to give this plate only one star, I was so disappointed, except for the fact that Mike's Monterey Jack and poblano enchiladas were rather good (not great, but solid). They had the requisite melty cheese, a slightly more serious sauce, and the addition of the poblano peppers provided a slight twist on the typical Tex-Mex version. I would be willing to give Little Mexico a try again in a few months, to try a different dinner.



Rating: 2/5



Little Mexico
2304 S 1st St
Austin, TX 78704
(512) 462-2188