still on the search for good food in the area between my work and Joe’s, we decided to try El Potrillo Cafe. It’s a really small place, that shares a parking lot with a car wash. But they make a great milanesa torta and the people there are really nice. Feels like a real homemade foods restaurant…CASH ONLY.
another one of our favorite meals – grilled rib eye, shrimp, asparagus, and orzo rice. its just plain good.
corn, steak, shrimp, boiler onions, and potatoes all hot of the grill 
a while back we got a frozen rabbit. i had never had rabbit so Joe thought he’d make it for me sometime..a few months later we finally did it.
so we cut the guy down, and cooked the little bugger up…then made some stew with some of the meat and rabbit belly (think about it kinda like bunny bacon)
the end result – well, it was good. not great. and i hate to do it, but kinda like chicken. nothing super special about the fact that it was a bunny, and a lot more effort than a chicken would have been. I think i’m gonna have to try it again.
mmm…we really like making sliders, technically i guess they aren’t sliders, i dont actually steam them – more like griddled, so i guess we can call them mini burgers, but you get the point…and discovered that the vinegar/mustard bbq sauce i made for the pulled pork (so glad i worked out that recipe and actually remembered to write it down!!) works really well on them. of course, the grilled onions, homemade pickles, and maui onion chips were nice additions
Come on. Does it really get any better than this.
This is a terrible terrible picture; i know. But the lighting is just that bad in the dining room. We’re lucky I even got a picture off. It may not be pretty, but it tastes mighty fine. Angel hair pasta with a hardy meat sauce with ground beef and our favorite fresh italian sausage (there are crazy amounts of vegetables in there, nothing dried or canned- fresh fresh fresh. sure, stewing/crushing tomatoes is a bit of an extra step, but its worth it. Really. It has made a difference on more than one occasion. Cabbage Roll is a whole different meal with fresh tomatoes!!), garlic bread and a caprese salad.
So Joe and I ended up at ix tapa cantina after the Ferrari show in Old Town Pasadena. We actually wanted to try the hot dog place around the corner recommended by Jerry, but it was closed so we thought we’d check out what used to be Fred’s – and besides, they were offering 2 for 1 lunch entrees.
What a disappointment. Let me start by saying Joe and I had deep discussion about how this location is always going to have troubles staying open. It’s a very large space on the very edge of Old Town on a corner with banks and commercial buildings. There’s very little pedestrian traffic around here.
There were only about 3 other tables with customers and I counted atleast 5 employees working the floor. This did not equate to good service. Very Very Very slow.
Here’s the breakdown:
-Sat us, didn’t take a drink order. Came back for drink order
-Drinks arrive
-Drinks (one alcoholic, one ice tea) sat empty for minutes as we waited to order.
-Chips and salsa came. – Not from our waiter
-Still waiting to order.
-Order an appetizer (Guacamole)
-Non-Alcoholic drink refilled
-Drinks Empty
-Appetizer arrives
-Refills Drinks/Waiting to order
-non- alcoholic drink Empty
–Order another appetizer (fish tacos) – use restroom (which were not maintained very well, smelled of sewage, only 1 of 3 soap dispensers worked, and the paper towel roll was placed on the sink instead of inserted in the dispenser.) With that many employees and slow business, someone can atleast maintain the restroom.
-non-alcoholic rink still empty
-Fish Tacos Arrive
-wait to order
-order two carnitas tacos
-Carnitas Taco plate arrives
-Drinks refilled
After being there over an hour, we never actually ordered lunch.
ch-ch-ch-ch- changes:
they put some repainted the walls, put in some new furnature – took down all the weird falic cupids and art, put in some “lounge” areas in the corner and upstairs. Put in wood/red upholstered furnishings, and a blueback or bottom lit bar.
As for the food:
Guacamole – fresh, but tasted just of avocado and onion – there was no flavor/seasoning/salt – the chunks of avocado were too large- over 1 1/2 inch cubes and they do the gimmicky red/green/white tortilla chips which i’m not a fan of. Immediately doesn’t cry fresh made when there are food colorings in the chips.
Fish Tacos – (2) small, “grilled” style with julienned cucumber on top. Not bad
Carnitas Tacos- small street taco style but was not authentic at all. The carnitas were cut up into 1/2 inch cubes, not shredded/pulled and did not have that post roasting, crispy outside, moist delicious inside pork flavor that I expect from carnitas. The meat did not have good color (brown/grey) or texture. – They do not offer a la carte tacos at lunch!!!!!!!!!
rice/beans – very generic – the rice tasted like lower quality El Torito and the beans tasted like they were straight from a can.
This food + 2 margaritas (which Joe really enjoyed) and an Ice Tea = about $50 for lunch. NEVER AGAIN! We should have had our fish and chips at Lucky Baldwins!!
So, I’m kinda lame and forgot to take a picture of our awesome Saturday night dinner. Joe had planned on working on the truck all day, so I decided to make pulled pork for dinner…slow cooked with two homemade bbq sauces – one pretty classic and one mustard/vinegar based. In the end, we both went for the mustard/vinegar. mmm…i just love that tang.
So to accompany the pork I made some bite sized twice baked red potatoes (stuffed with sour cream and chives) and a cool broccoli salad (quick sauted broccoli, sweet/tangy mayo dressing, red onion, bacon). MMMM…soooo good. and easy. I just love a pulled pork sandwich on a hawaiian roll. I can’t even fake a picture, we ate all the potatoes and broccoli that night. I even made more salad the next day and joe devoured that too…he had never heard of broccoli salad before, and now he has a small addiction. oh no, here we go, my mouth’s watering again.
A few weeks back we went on a little dessert trip to Anza-Borrego. Good Times. A few old friends. A few new friends. And a few very creative songs were born that need to be edited down and posted for all to enjoy.
The point – Saturday morning we drove into town before heading out to the second campsite. Joe and I were ready early, so we headed out before everyone else and stopped at a little burger/taco place right before the circle – El Borrego Restaurant. A small joint with a side yard full of iron art – dinosaurs, horses, orangutans, mules, dolphins, etc etc etc. Apparently the artist was hired to make some for the town, and is also selling then through the restaurant. I kinda love iron art…
We stopped in and were the only customers there at the time (there are only about 3 tables inside, 5 on the patio, and a few more around the back). The gentleman working was really nice, despite our indecisiveness and changing our order quite a few times. We can be quite the annoying patrons!!
Though the cheeseburgers were just okay (there has to be a minus for the sesame seed bun) the carnitas taco’s were super awesome! So good in-fact that we ordered a dozen to take with us back to camp even though we had packed more than enough food. The homemade jalapeno salsa was SOOO good and they served beer. And the prices were moderate. Great little place.
By the way – by the time we were ready to hit the road, many more parties arrived – every table was taken. I’m thinkin’ we’ll have to stop in again next time we’re around – who needs to pack food when we can just stop in and get a good meal there?!?! more room in the cooler for jello shots!