Taco Tuesday Deviant :P

Iron Cactus
683 4th St
San Francisco, CA 94107
Type – Mexican
Price $

*They have $1 Tacos and $2 Coronas – Taco Tuesday Special
*They are connected to the Creamery restaurant
*They are located right next to last Cal-Train stop (4th & King)

Iron Cactus Enchiladas Plate $10
(Beans, Rice, 2 Enchiladas – chicken/cheese, sour cream, salsa, tomato, lettuce and guacamole on the side)

Everyone decided to go with that $1 Taco special. They make pretty decently big tacos as seen in my other posts.
However I decided to be a deviant and I choose some tasty enchiladas.

You can choose what type beans you want and what you want for meat in your enchiladas.
The portions are large and filling.
You also can get some complimentary chips to munch on beforehand.

This is a pay first and then sit down restaurant.
The environment is friendly and casual.
…if you want dessert, you can even order crepes next door at the Creamery. < I did a post on them. >

Yep it was pretty tasty!
I know I’ll be back at the Cactus for Taco Tuesday so very likely chance I will have these again soon 🙂

Alex’s Mexican Cornbread Casserole Recipe (picture heavy)

Our friend Alex had brought this dish to one of our weekly Sunday Night Dinners and it was such a hit! It’s a  dish that is easy to assemble, has relatively “normal” ingredients, and is really, really good. Perfect for a potluck, rainy day or just  a pick me up.  (5 stars!)

Ingredients:

Serves 6-8

• 1 (8 ounce) package cornbread mix
• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 1 1/4 ounces packaged taco seasoning
• 1 jalapeno, diced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1/2 green bell pepper, diced
• 1 (10 ounce) can rotel
• 2 ears corn on the cob, boiled and cut off the cob
• 2 cups shredded reduced-fat Mexican cheese blend
• 1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 (8 ounce) can creamed corn

Read more: http://www.food.com/recipe/mexican-cornbread-casserole-246529#ixzz1Ihs8FIz5

Ta da and it’s done! If I can do it, you can do it too ^_^

Lolita’s – Chula Vista Location

Lolita’s Taco Shop
413 Telegraph Canyon Road, Chula Vista

We normally eat  at the Clairemont location but Rod assures us the first store is much better. It’s tucked away in the corner of a small strip mall location. The restaurant is brightly lit, clean, but it’s only about a 1/3rd of the size of their other location.
Pricing at this location is pretty much the same ($ under $10). Rod’s California burrito does look  bigger than the one’s we usually get. He informed us that his favorite part is the Lolita’s taco sauce. Which he says he can consume by the bucket! If you have not had the pleasure to experience a California burrito, it’s basically a burrito with the added deliciousness of french fries wrapped in.
Carne Asada Fries $7
I think it is another California speciality. I guess we just love our fries! The entrée consists of carne asada, guacamole and shredded cheddar over a bed of crispy french fries. (the guc is on the side). The carne asada was very tasty and not too chewy. The portions are more than enough to satisfy.
Two Cheese Enchiladas $4.5o
I love enchiladas since I discovered them when I moved to California. They are basically tortilla wrapped usually in beef, chicken or cheese. Then it’s drizzled in taco sauce and topped with lettuce and cheese. It’s incredibly good while being simple. I liked my enchiladas here but I think next time I will get 1 cheese + 1 chicken. I also really like mexican rice which you can add $2 (sides: beans & rice) but I was already stuffed so maybe next time too.

Verdict
However, I’m uncertain that it is considerably better than the Clairemont location since I only got to try a few items. The items I tried where comparable. Only con about this location is that farther than I where I usually dine.

Overall, food was affordable, delicious and filling.

Freebie Foodie Weds: Rubios, Tacobell, & TGI Fridays

Rubios -Tacos (Special Day Promotion)
This was a epic day of freebie consuming near the Fashion Valley mall area on a Wednesday. Max and I had stopped by Rubios for delicious free tacos (Rubio won best fish taco in San Diego). Max had the regular fish taco and I tried the mahi mahi taco with seasoned corn.
*Image from Orange County Register

Taco Bell-Fruitista’s (Online Coupon)
Ironically after first being denied at a Taco bell Food court since they didn’t have the new cream shakes and I thought I”d never find another Taco bell in the area. We found a Taco Bell store right next to the Rubios. We got to try their new fruitista orange cream shake.
It tasted just like a melted orange cream Popsicle! It was too sweet for my tastes. But we also got some cinnamon twist -throwback to my highschool days and Max got his nachoes.
*Image from Living Social Blog

TGI FRIDAYS – Vanilla Bean Cheesecake (TGI Rewards Card)
Finally we topped off the night with some free dessert at TGI Fridays. I was planning on going to TGI before our Copley hall concert but never got around to it. So we thought why not? The service was friendly and we got free ice cream with the cheesecake. It’s pretty cool you can make any dessert a la mode (with ice cream) for free at TGI Fridays!
The vanilla bean cheesecake was good and it had this mousse topping and plus the ice cream was really good. 😀

KalbiQ- San Diego’s Korean BBQ/Mexican truck

KalbiQ
-rotates in different San Diego locations

We were driving on our way home from the USPS store when we saw this food truck parked on the side of the road.
We had to stop and try some! I hear so much food buzz about these fusion style food trucks and I wanted to know what the fuss was all about.

Anyways KalbiQ has menu mainly featuring mexican style food such as tacos, burritos, something similar to carne asada fries but with a korean twist. They use korean marinated meat like short ribs & bulgogi instead of carne asada.
The prices range from $2-6. They also have Taco Tuesday promotion for $1 taco between 4-8pm.

I tried their bulgogi tacos. They came with nacho cheese sauce, onions, and
dollop of guacamole (guc which I took out). $1 (normally $2)
-portion very small
-disappointed by limited toppings
-meat was marinated ok but chewy

Short Rib Fries $6
-Average size portion (perhaps because we are use Lolita’s)
-Good amount of toppings, sour cream, cheese, tomato, bit of guc
-Short ribs were tasty
-I LOVED their french fries. They were on the thinner side and very crisp! Hands down best part.

Yet after my first experience I don’t see the hype about Korean & Mexican fusion.
It interesting concept but I think it still taste ordinary. (except for the fries)

[PRO] Location, speed, they do accept cc, delicious fries
[CON] Portions, limited condiments, meat taste*

El Torito 3 Course Mexi Meal

El Torito Restaurant
8910 Villa La Jolla Dr
La Jolla, CA 92037

El Torito is a Californian based sit-down Mexican restaurant. I use to eat here quite often because it’s so close to the UCSD campus and I like the atmosphere. Anyways the price range is $10-15 a entree, they do have a good happy hour on tuesday nights, and all you can eat salsa & chips. But it does seems that now that they have more coupons in the mail their plates are getting smaller and going more “healthy”.

Right now they are hosting a 3-course meal Mexi Meal for $11.99/person. It seems that 3-course meals are becoming more popular and great option to try a little bit of everything. Their Mexi Meal deal includes:

Course 1: Homemade Tortilla Soup or Mexican Caesar Salad

Course 2: Chicken Flauta & Beef  Taquitos Combo or Taqueria Taco & 2 mini-Cheese Enchiladas or Chicken & Sour Cream Enchilada & Crispy Beef Taco or Mexi Chicken Fajitas with frijoles de la olla rice & warm tortillas

Course 3: mini flan or mini deep fried ice cream

For my first course I choose the tortilla soup and I was happily surprised it came out so fast.
It was pretty good but it was a small portion.

My second course was chicken and sour cream Enchildas & Beef Crispy Tacos. I enjoyed the enchilda, rice, beans, and the tiny but delicious corn cake (not seen in pic). But the beef crispy taco was not to my taste, it was hard to eat since it was so hard and flavorless. I don’t know what that brown salsa-sauce was but I didn’t like it much either.

Finally for dessert I choose my favorite: home-style flan. It was really cute, mini-size with whipped cream! I think this was my favorite part of Mexi-Meal because usually the big size flan is $5-6 but I never able to finish it. But it was sweet ending to my meal. Plus it does taste like flan, good custard, and sweet to creamy ratio.

Overall I was pretty satisfied with my meal though I did dine by myself on a tuesday night so service was caught up in the happy hour crowd so it was hard to get my server. I personally like the portions but I think other people would find them a bit small because even after 3 course I was full but not as full as I usually am when I just have their full-size entree.

Yet for authentic Mexican food I would probably adventure farther south of the border but for nice sit-down mexican-style restaurant El torito isn’t half bad. (MEXI MEAL deal ends OCT 3rd 2010)