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

Guest blog: Captain Shalini reviews Tortilla's Cocina Mexicana, Port Douglas, North Queensland, Australia, 01/29/08

It was so funny. While we were sitting there and eating out on the patio, there were three women who came speaking Spanish (the Texan in me recognized it) and the owner of the restaurant was intrigued. He asked them where they were from and they said Argentina, and they kept giggling looking at some of the ingredients in the menu. I looked at their vegetarian enchilada before settling on the shredded beef enchilada plate and saw that it included pumpkin, and potato and other things that don't make any sense in an enchilada, but then again it might have been good.

And the sign says it all. It's not all spicy. It really isn't. That was the drawback, and YES I could have added whatever sauce I pleased after they served it to me, but I am lazy.

The plate came, and it was a great serving, but here in Tropical North Queensland (in Australia, folks) in Port Douglas this will cost you about 24 dollar (AUD) about 22 bucks (USD); a little pricey in my humble opinion. The 2 enchiladas had generous amounts of cheese and onion which you could taste in every serving and the shredded beef was cooked til it melted in your mouth, but I like a little bit of spice in my food, and this was on the boring side. The beans and rice, for me, are usually the mark of a good meal. The refried beans were excellent and just the right amount of cheese and tomato graced it. The rice was a little bit undercooked, but it was a good flavor.



The BEST part of the whole meal were the "dessert nachos" as they called it (it was churros with cinnamon and mango puree dribbled over it) - think "crunchy sopapilla". This dessert was excellent.

Would I go here again if I lived closer by? YES. I have to say, for Australia, this was a good first enchilada for me.

~Captain Shalini



Rating: 3/5



Tortilla's Cocina Mexicana
43 Macrossan St.
Port Douglas
Queensland 4877
Australia

Kerbey Lane, 01/11/08

I have had Dave's Enchiladas at Kerbey Lane before. I can say they were definitely better at two o'clock in the morning.

This was the first time I had ordered enchiladas at the campus location. We started out with an order of Cowboy Queso - queso, black beans, guacamole, and pico de gallo. It was as good as its reputation, although Kerbey suffers from the crappy, thick tortilla chip scourge.

The enchiladas, however, were not so great. They were dry, first of all. This is not acceptable (compare to previous photograph, of Angie's enchiladas). And absolutely smothered in shredded romaine - which looked pretty, but provided a rather paper-like sensation on the tongue while adding no flavor whatsoever. The stingy portion of ranchera sauce that was provided was also dry, more like a powder than the viscous orange sludge one expects, and became more and more spicy as the meal went on, almost obscuring any other flavors. For this reason, whatever cheese that was hiding in there wasn't really at the forefront (which is, of course, exactly where it should be).The comparatively generous dollops of sour cream were its only saving grace.

The side of black beans were quite tasty, and the guacamole was also more than passable. But I couldn't really get over my disappointment at the dry, hot, blandness of the enchiladas long enough to appreciate the sides. It was like a culinary trip to the Panhandle in August.

To cap off this lovely lunchtime experience, at the end of the meal our waitress (who, otherwise, was perfectly pleasant and competent) dropped the entire plate of enchiladas (half of which were still untouched) behind my chair, getting pasty sauce on the back of my pants and shoes, while all the patrons looked on in horror, having heard a eardrum-shattering CLANG! as the plate cracked into several pieces around my feet. A fitting end.

Undaunted, and lover of enchiladas that I am, I'm sure I'll give Kerbey's one more try - probably with a different sauce next time - but that's it. I give them two stars (instead of one) because the sides were good, and the plate was beautifully presented, and looked delicious - until I started eating it.

Rating: 2/5

Kerbey Lane Cafe - Campus

2060 Guadalupe

Austin, Texas 78705

(512)477-5717

http://www.kerbeylanecafe.com