Amaranto (Montréal, QC)

5974 Monkland
Montréal, Québec
Notre-Dame-de-Grâce
514.510.1225

With no plans for dinner, Elle texted that she craved Mexican and suggested trying out Amaranto. Conveniently, the restaurant is walking distance from my condo so we headed out to try some authentic Mexican fare. Amaranto is located on a less busy part of Monkland Avenue, on the West side.

Elle and I first sat at one of their outside tables but it was rather windy so we went into the basement level restaurant. It's a spacious space with a small number of tables. The kitchen is open so you can see what's cooking. There's also a wall offering specialty Mexican food for sale, such as nopales (cactus) and Mexican herbs.

Amaranto.

I drank half of my hibiscus tea, or agua de jamaica, ($2.75) before I remembered to photograph it. The juice is made of dried hibiscus flower. It had a sweet and tart taste, reminiscent of cranberry juice. Elle liked it so much she bought a pack of hibiscus flowers to make for herself at home.

We were served complimentary tortilla chips with two salsa's. There's no better way to my heart than free food! Even better, when it's fried chips with great salsa's. The green salsa, made with tomatillo and habenero, was my favourite because of its spicy kick but the red tomato and chipotle salsa was also tasty.

Tortilla chips.

Elle and I decided to share a starter and ordered the cazuelita de queso fundido with chorizo ($8.25). When we topped a soft tortilla with the Oaxacan cheese mixture, the cheese was ooey-gooey, stringy and stretched for miles it seemed. The combination of the cheese and chorizo reminded me of pizza topping. How could one go wrong with that?

Cazuelita de queso fundido with chorizo.

Elle was very intrigued by the avocado soup ($4.99). The soup was as delicious as it was unique. Made of chicken stock, the soup had a generous amount of avocado purée in the middle, was dotted with pomegranate seeds and topped with crispy tortilla crisps. The soup was slightly tart from lime juice. The avocado in the soup was a wonderful and unexpected combination. My favourite part was the little pops of flavour that came from the pomegranate seeds. Outstanding soup and so original!

Avocado soup.

We also shared four tacos de pastor ($9.99). The marinated pork tucked in soft corn tortillas was delicious. The tacos were generously topped with coriander and onion, with a side of lime wedges. The tacos were quite satisfying.

Tacos de pastor.

Finally, we were in a mood to try out more new food so we decided to have dessert, and ordered the fried plantains ($3.50). Sour cream and condensed milk were drizzled and cinnamon was sprinkled on top of the plantains. The condensed milk nicely sweetened the plantains while the cinnamon gave the dessert a nice kick.

Fried plantains for dessert.

We were very happy with our meal at Amaranto. It's nice to know that you can find authentic Mexican food in Montréal. If you've never had the pleasure of having authentic Mexican food, Amaranto should be your next destination!

 

Señor Fish (Alhambra, CA)

15 W Main St
Alhambra, California
626.299-7550
website

One of my goals on this trip was to try fish tacos. I had seen them on foodtv and read about them on California blogs (The Gastronomer put together taco task force!). The idea of fried fish in a taco sounded like a great combination to me! I searched for a restaurant near my uncle's and found Señor Fish.


Salsas and accompaniment.

My uncle drove me at 11 am. I think I was the first one there. Along with the fish taco ($2.50), I was intrigued by the scallop taco ($2.95), and also ordered a fish and scallop burrito ($6.95). While I waited, I filled out containers with different salsas ranging from mild to very spicy. My uncle insisted that pickled radishes and peppers were necessary for the burrito.

I couldn't wait to dig into my fried fish taco. It consisted of two layers of soft tortillas topped with fried fish, cabbage, tomato and coriander. I put generous amount of sour cream and salsa. The restaurant does offer to grill the fish instead of frying it, for the more health conscious. However, I was willing to splurge for my one and only chance at fish tacos!


Fish taco.

The burrito was stuffed with seafood, lettuce and rice (my uncle didn't want the beans). Although I was really excited at the prospect of having scallops in my burrito and taco, I preferred the fish. I'm not sure that the scallops were fresh and were overcooked to my liking. I would just stick with the fish tacos next time.


Shrimp & scallop burrito and scallop taco.

I was really curious about the horchata ($1.25 for a small drink). Horchata is a Latin American drink made of rice. It was strongly spiced with cinnamon. I really enjoyed it at the beginning but I was unable to finish my drink - the cinnamon was a bit too strong for my taste. I would definitely add ice next time to dilute it a bit.


Sweet horchata.

I loved my first fish taco experience and wish I could enjoy such things here in Canada!



For other taco posts:
* in Montréal, La Taqueria Mex
* in Chicago, Cemitas Puebla

Quesadillas on the BBQ

When we got back from the Niagara wine region, we stopped by the grocery store to buy ingredients for dinner. We decided to have quesadillas on the BBQ. I think it's a dish that my sister L and her boyfriend D enjoy often.

Quesadillas on the BBQ
A quesadilla is a quesadilla. Nothing too exciting. However, my sister likes to add one extra ingredient to her quesadilla's. How timely we made these quesadillas after going to Olson Foods. My sister drew inspiration from Anna Olson's quesadilla recipe and likes to add a layer of cream cheese. D think it's a bit "cochon" to have cream cheese when there already is cheese (talking about cochon, Anna Olson's recipe calls for bacon!). You can't have too much cheese, can you? Otherwise, you can add whatever you like. L and D like theirs with beans. We just forgot to buy some!

* whole wheat tortilla's
* cream cheese
* chicken, cooked and shredded (my sister swears shredding the chicken makes it better!)
* green pepper, thinly sliced
* coriander, roughly chopped
* Monterey Jack cheese
* salsa
* guacamole
* sour cream

Combine chicken, red pepper and coriander.
Spread cream cheese on one side of a tortillla.
Add chicken mixture on top.
Top with Monterey Jack cheese.
Grill on the BBQ on both sides until cheese is melted and there are nice grill marks.
Serve with salsa, guacomole and sour cream.
Tada!

Cream cheese is the secret ingredient!


D volunteered his well-plated quesadilla's.


That's what I like in my kitchen: people hard at work! J making mojito's, D making guacamole and L some vegetable kebabs.

Poco Loco

131 Ottawa Street North
Hamilton, Ontario
905.545.5626

On the second day of MC's visit, it was still raining. So instead of playing tennis, we changed our plans to another racquet sport: squash. However, I needed to find a second squash racquet. My friend Superfly was nice enough to lend us his and met him at Poco Loco for lunch so we could pick up his racquet.



Even though Poco Loco is two minutes away from my old workplace, I never got a chance to visit it. It seems to be a popular lunch spot, as I found a few of my former colleagues sitting at the counter. The burrito seemed to be the most popular choice. MC and I decided to share a chalupa combo (for about $6), which includes a drink, because we did not want to overeat before our squash game. We payed an extra $0.65 for guacamole, which was definitely worthwhile.


Chalupas.

I thought the chalupas, which consisted of tostada's topped with ground beef, were good but nothing special. However, I am slightly biased after enjoying authentic chalupas in Chicago the week before. Poco Loco seems like the perfect lunch spot because the food is good, the prices are definitely affordable and the service was quick.

After lunch, we stopped by the first Tim Hortons store down the street to show MC. You probably have to be Canadian to know Tim Hortons but this is where it all started...!

First Tim Hortons' store.

La Taqueria Mex

4306 St Laurent

Montréal, Québec

514.982.9462

After shopping with my sister L on Saint-Denis St., we were ready for some lunch. My sister suggested having empanadas at Sandwichmania on Saint-Laurent. Unfortunately, it seemed that the restaurant had closed or moved. However, we did find La Taqueria Mex nearby; L had always meant to try this place out and so we decided to go for it.

The interior is just as colourful as the exterior!

I wasn't overly hungry and so decided to go for a chicken taco, served with corn chips. My sister decided to go for the taco & quesadilla combo; she picked the steak taco and the quesadilla is vegetarian. We ordered and paid at the counter. We were told where to get our own utensils and salsa's. The dishes were brought out for us.

The salsa bar provided a few selections of salsa's. We tried each. I don't love coriander so didn't really dig the salsa verde. My sister loved it! I liked the spicy salsa while a mixture of the mild and spicy salsa's was my sister's preference. She's a bit of a wimp when it comes to heat!

3 types of salsa at the salsa bar.

Salsa verde and a choice of vegetables.

My sister picked a tamarind Mexican drink while I went for the guava nectar juice.

When my sister's dish came, they had mistakenly served her combo with a salad instead of corn chips. However, my sister thought the salad looked appetizing and decided to keep it. Tacos are so difficult to eat that although we had initially decided to share, we ended up just trying each other's meat. We thought both the steak and chicken was very well seasoned. Each taco came with two soft shell tortillas stuck together with cheese in the middle, and then the meat on top! I really enjoyed the creamy avocado in my taco. I will have to start putting avocado in my tacos!

Chicken Taco, $4.95.

Steak Taco & Quesadilla, $8.95.

4 Salsas to dip in.

My sister's combo also came with a quesadilla. It was filled with cheese and guacamole. You could add chicken for a nominal fee. I like the grill marks on them. I only had a piece because I was too full but it was pretty good.

Vegetarian quesadilla.

As L and I were eating and complaining about being full, we were also eyeing the churros. We just can't resist churros so we decided to split one and bring one home for her boyfriend D. Our preference was a plain churro with sugar and cinnamon. These were stuffed with dulce de leche. Since these were not made on the spot, but rather reheated, I think the dulce de leche helped mask any potential for dried out churros!

Churro filled with dulce de leche, $1.90.

I am no connaisseur of Mexican food but I thought the tacos were pretty good at affordable prices. (One warning though, we realized afterwards that something was very garlicky.) Aside from tacos, the restaurant also offered a selection of burritos and quite a few vegetarian items. They also serve daiquiris, margaritas and pina coladas.