Casa Brava

For my first post on the Taco blog, I decided that I would keep with the stuff that started it all - Mexican. I love Mexican food, which is good since Bloomington has no shortage of Mexican restaurants to try. I've tried many of them, but my favorite remains Casa Brava.

The menu is a great mix of traditional Mexican fare and some specialty plates that are sure to appease any appetite. I've tried many things on the menu, but my current favorite is the Combo Plate #29 - a mini beef taco salad, chicken enchilada, and soft taco. Paired with hot from the fryer chips, spicy salsa and spicy but not too spicy white cheese, it's the perfect meal when you're craving something with a little kick and a lot of flavor.

The taco's are great - and here's my advise about eating them. If you order a hard shell, eat it right away because the meat tends to make the bottom part of the shell soggy if you wait too long to eat it. I like my hard shells with lots of crunch! On the other hand, though, if you go for the soft taco, let it sit awhile. It comes to your table wrapped in foil - and the longer you let it sit, the more gooey and wonderful the cheese inside the taco becomes.

I'm not a big beef person at restaurants - i tend to go for chicken fare. But, the beef taco salad is a wonderful combination of flavors - and the mini size is just enough flavor and food without being overwhelming.

In the mood for something a little less 'normal' Mexican? Try the Pollo Bravo Tapatio or any of the chicken dinners. This one comes with cheese, bacon and mushrooms all smothered on top of grilled chicken breasts. It's accompanied with lettuce, tomato, sour creme, and tortillas.

It's not the cheapest place to eat Mexican in Bloomington, but it's far from the most expensive, either. Because of the price and because I seem to crave it ALL the time and have never found a dish there I didn't want to eat again, I will give Casa Brava 4 and 1/2 tacos (because sometimes the chips aren't as good as I think they should be!)

Kinnaree

Have I mentioned that I love Thai food?

In Tulsa, Krista and I used to frequent a place called Lanna Thai. It was because of Krista and Lanna Thai that I started eating Asian food again. But this post is not about Lanna Thai, is it?

Kinnaree is a little independent Thai restaurant in Joplin. My parents actually discovered it, because they love Thai food as well. Well, we tried it one day, and we loved it!

We started off with the Chicken Satay. It was served with a peanut sauce, and a sweet, clear sauce with cucumbers. I think this is my favorite thing they make, at least of what I've tried so far.

I ordered the Cashew Chicken. Most everything they serve has some cilantro in it, which I don't like; so, of course, I ordered it without. The dish is delicious!

Kinnaree has a very basic, yet cozy atmosphere. The people that work there make you feel like an old friend, even if it is your first visit!

I give Kinnaree 5 out of 5 tacos!

Wings N More

Wow, it's been a long time since I've done a restaurant review, hasn't it?

I decided to start reviewing again because I have several restaurants I want to tell you about!

The recent storm that swept through Oklahoma and Missouri caused this particular restaurant to close for a week. Stan and I kept driving by during that time . . . waiting . . . hoping that they would be open.

They finally did, on Monday, and we were there on Tuesday, and we're both craving it again today.

What is this wonderful place, you ask?

It's called Wings N More, and it is located in Joplin. It is delicious. They serve chicken wings and Chinese food. Plus, I just recently found out that it is run by the husband of a woman I know from work.

Stan and I tried their chicken wings because I'm always craving wings. We had tried Buffalo Wild Wings a few months before trying Wings N More. (You can read my review on that here.)

Wings N More has 20 different flavors of wings, which you can also order boneless. My favorite flavors are the Buffalo (of course), Lemon Pepper, Garlic Pepper, and Sweet Thai Chili.

We usually order a combo meal, which comes with 8 wings and your choice of chicken fried rice, shrimp fried rice, plain fried rice, lo mien, and fries. I recommend the chicken fried rice; although Stan would recommend the shrimp.

Their Chinese food is also good. They make two different types of cashew chicken. One they call American style, and the other is traditional Chinese style. Personally, I prefer the traditional Chinese style. It has more vegetables.

Stan and I love this little place. It gets 5 out of 5 tacos! If you live in or around Joplin, you should definitely give this place a try!

Yummy Margaritas!

So since work was footing the bill, my coworker, her husband & I decided to take our guest from El Salvador to a new restaurant our dietitian recommended. She said it had homestyle food with a gourmet twist. It's on the east bank of the Arkansas River in a new shopping center. It has a great outdoor eating area & even has some porch like swings facing the river. At sunset they ring a bell & everyone claps & cheers, then the window shades go up. The decor is ecclectic & inviting. We had to wait about an hour on a Friday night but it was well worth it. The area in front of the restaurant has a fountain & seating area as well as the outdoor seating area in the back, which made the wait seem less boring. It's kinda pricey, but the entrees are definitely shareable.
We started out with cocktails. The waiter encouraged us to try their margarita, which is called "the best". I believe it now! I don't drink that often but do have an affinity for margaritas. This is definitely the best one I've had yet. They bring an empty martini glass along with the full shaker so you can self-serve. It's flavor was mild & smooth, just right for me. My coworker said it's the Grand Marnier in it that makes it so yummy. As far as the wait staff, they introduce themselves & tell you that you can grab any one from the staff for help, you don't have to wait for your waiter (no pun intended!). Nicole I know you'd love that.

They also recommended the daily special for our appetizer, the quesadillas. As you can probably tell from the title of this blog, I eat Mexican food regularly, had my fair share of quesadillas. These were by far the best I've ever had. I'm not sure what flavor the cheese was, but it was delicious, as was the guacamole that came with it. It was hard to decide on an entree, the salads sounded good. I went along with the crowd & ordered something hearty. Love the name of my entree, The Cluck & Oink! Obviously it included chicken & pork (ribs). Their rotisserie chicken is their specialty. I usually am not wowed by this type of chicken but wait until you've had it. It was tender, juicy & had wonderful black pepper seasoning. The ribs were fall off the bone tender & had a delectable sauce on them. I found myself wanting more sauce, just forgot to ask. The mashed potatoes were also delish, with the skins included. If you don't like carrots, you won't enjoy the sweet glazed carrots served with most entrees. But I loved them. If you prefer chicken & steak you can order the Cluck & Moo!
My dinner mates enjoyed theirs immensely also, one having the same thing I did. The lady from El Salvador ordered the ribs at my urging, I told her she should eat Southern food. As we were waiting for our food I saw a cook leaving his shift & heard him recommend the skirt steak to someone. My coworker's husband had it & a chicken enchilada. He said it was good. We tasted the enchilada, which was good, but nothing specatular. We were too full to order dessert, but the menu said they had a homemade key lime pie which I want to get the next time I go. If you've stayed with me through this entire description you understand why I've definitely given this one five tacos!!

Too hot, even for me

On Sunday afternoons, Stan and I have kind of started this tradition of going to Joplin for lunch, and maybe a little shopping.

Last Sunday, we decided to try Buffalo Wild Wings. I've been craving hot wings lately, so I thought this would be the perfect place. It's their speciality, right?

WRONG!

We decided to order an appetizer because their wings come with no sides. None. Plus, if you order wings, you have to pay an extra $.40 for Bleu Cheese Dressing. It doesn't come with it! That almost caused me to walk right out of the restaurant. I have never been served Buffalo wings and had to pay extra for the Bleu Cheese.

For our appetizer, we ordered their Chili con Queso. Believe it or not, I was pleasantly surprised. Granted, the dish isn't much to look at. It is basically a paper cup of cheese dip with a little chili on top. They don't even mix the two. However, it was really good. I found out that their tortilla chips are cooked in house, which meant that they were really fresh and crispy. The queso was spicy, but not too much, and had wonderful flavor. I highly recommend it.

Unfortunately, I can't recommend their hot wings. First of all, all of the wings (we got boneless) were just fried bits of chicken that had been dipped into the respective sauce. They were obviously not immersed in the sauce because there were so many parts of the chicken left untouched by sauce. I ordered two flavors, classic medium and mango habanero. The medium was okay. It was hotter than I expected for a medium sauce, and I didn't really like the taste all that much. The mango habanero was so hot that I couldn't even taste the flavors, which was the reason I ordered it, you know, for the flavor. It really seemed that this place is more concerned about serving "hot" wings than serving good hot wings. If we visit again, I think I'll skip the hot wings and order a cheeseburger.

I am rating them at 3½ out of 5 stars strictly because the chips and queso were so delicious.

Just Over in Oronogo

I discovered this little place when I had lunch with a friend one day last year. It's called Pappa's Pizza, and it is wonderful. I took Stan there, and he's hooked!

We visited last night, and usually we just get a pizza. However, I had been feeling sick, so I decided that what I was really in the mood for was pasta. We were at a loss as to where to go, when Stan remembered that Pappa's served pasta. So, we decided to head on over to Orogono to give their pasta a shot.

When you visit Pappa's at lunch time, you order at the counter and then find a seat. However, when you visit at night, you are seated and given menus. We discovered that the reason they do this is because they have a number of lunch customers that always seem to be in a hurry.

Anyway, we decided to try their Spinach dip, even though the waitress couldn't recommend it (she doesn't like spinach.) They actually don't make it fresh there in the restaurant, but it was very good. They do cover it with cheese and then bake it, so it has that crusty cheese top that is so good.

For dinner, Stan ordered their Lasagna, and I had the Chicken Tetrazzini. May I just say that it was excellent! I didn't try the lasagna (mushrooms) but Stan did enjoy it. My dish was good. It was very creamy, and had that delicious, crispy baked cheese on top. Yum.

I did decide to give them 4½ out of 5 stars. Mainly because they do not always use fresh ingredients on their pizzas.

I Do Love Salsa!

Today, Stan and I tried a new local restaurant. It's a little Mexican place called San Martin.

I'll admit that I was hesitant to try it. Number one, it has never looked too busy. I have this idea that if a restaurant is not very busy, it must mean it isn't very good. Number two, if memory serves me, this place has been in a couple of other locations in town with little success. Number three, the door is always open, literally, so that, like, anything can come inside.

Still, curiosity won out, and today we took the plunge. My first impression upon walking in is that it was very clean. The floor was nicely carpeted. The tables were all cleared off and ready for the next customers. That impression was confirmed when I looked into the window between the kitchen and dining room and saw that all of the cooks were wearing shower caps on their heads. This was a very comforting sight.

Our waitress brought out the chips and salsa and as soon as I saw them I was excited. The salsa was delicious! It reminded me of a place in Texas that I used to frequent. Yummy. The chips were a little cold, but good.

I ordered tacos. While we waited for our food, we were only visited by the waitress once. She didn't refill our chip basket, and didn't refill our waters until we were halfway through our meal. I would have given her the benefit of a busy lunch hour if there had been more customers. However, considering that there were less than ten customers in the entire restaurant, I just can't.

Still, the food was good. The beans had a very rich flavor, and the rice was perfectly cooked. The tacos were not what I expected. Oh, they were good, don't get me wrong. But they weren't ground beef, nor shredded. They were really more like a steak taco. They had excellent flavor, but the meat was a little on the tough side.

Overall, it was a good experience. We will definitely go again.

However, because of the ridiculously slow service and the cold chips, I think I have to give them 4 out of 5 tacos.