Sunday, January 27, 2008

Sometimes you just have to be brave and say...

..."One avocado margarita please!" And that's exactly what I did (a little nervously) Friday night when Alex and I checked out Curras, a Mexican restaurant that offers Interior Mexican cuisine along with Tex Mex for the more faint of heart.

Alex was told to check out this place by a coworker who is "veryAustin" as Alex puts it. We "mapquested" it and set out in the Honda Fit. After getting lost and turnaround a bit we realized that it was much easier to find than we had anticipated. After pulling into the "dive-like" restaurant from the outside we realized that it was very popular with locals as the parking lot was filled and we ended up parking on a side street instead. There was about a 20 minute wait when we walked in so we decided to wait at the bar.

Before coming we had both read reviews of the food/drinks and had seen that their specialty rita was one involving avocado. Intrigued I asked the guys next to me who had just ordered it what their thoughts were and was assured that, "well they love it, and there are bits of cilantro in it." Hmmm....."ok, I'll give it a shot!" $7.95 and 1 sip later I was liking it. It was quirky and fun....very Austin :-) However, after about the 3rd sip I demoted it to an avocado-like milkshake because of how thick it was and felt that it would probably go better with some chips and queso once we sat down. Which it did.......final thoughts: I'm glad I tried it, but will stick with a frozen strawberry/mango rita next time!

Okay, so that was my drink experience there. My food experience was way more positive in that it is now my favorite new Mexican food discovery in town. I'm usually weary of "authentic" Mexican food because I'm so used to my good ole Tex Mex. I've tried several other authentic Mexican restaurants in town that I dubbed as boring and forgettable.

I took our waitor, Mateo's, recommendation and ordered the Carnitas for my entree. Get this, it's pulled pork marinated in Coke, Milk, and OJ......gross sounding, delicious tasting. The pulled pork came with my choice of beans (charros with bacon of course), rice (which was the best rice I've ever had at a Mexican restaurant), an avocado salad, and this kick ass sauce that topped the carnitas tacos which I wrapped in red corn tortillas. There was so much food leftover on my plate that Alex ate the rest of my meal for dinner tonight.

Alex ordered the Mole Enchiladas with ground beef.......I tasted and we both put our stamp of "Best Mole Ever" on them. It was so rich, tart, and flavorful. Basically the place rocked. And their north location is no more than 5 min. from our apartment. We'll be back soon.....I'm dying to try their Chile Relleno and Tres Leches!

So here's to being bold and brave and trying what others recommend :-)

7 comments:

Roam2Rome said...

Ayayay!!! You're making me sooo very hungry with this post! Yum-o!

I love Mexican food, ahm, maybe because that's all I usually have, hehe...

Chiles rellenos! Mom made this for me because I craved them so much in Italy, and she had them ready for me as soon as I arrived home from the airport :)

Brian Kirk said...

avocado margarita - i'll have to try that!

erin said...

yum yum yum! and that avocado drink sounds interesting. I'd try it!

Eryn said...

r2r: alex and i have been on a mexican food kick lately, it seems to be all we've gone out for lately. and chile rellenos are alex's all time fav dish!

bk: yes give it a try, there were at least one per table while there....they seem to be a hit!

erin: yes very interesting. it pays to be brave with culinary experiments :-)

Alec said...

You totally blew my "TexMex" Friday experience out of the water (Boston Harbor, specifically.) Sounds amazing - I am a sucker for pulled pork, and the coke inclusion sounds oddly enticing. And while I'm jealous that you're within spitting distance of amazing Mexican food (not a New England strong suit), to get legit Italian (along with all the mannerisms and then some), you've got to get your hotness up here!

Eryn said...

alec: as we do have some very amazing italian restaurants down here.....i've been to a few, i'm sure there are more in your "hood"

p.s. there's a new hip hip song out whose chorus goes, "I'm so hood!" anyway, we pretend that that's Saci's theme song.....funny how i'm not embarrassed at all to just throw that out there!

Alec said...

Saci is a gangSTAR, so I think it's an appropriate theme for her.