Review: Salsa Fuego

This review is long overdue.  I tried desperately to get my amigos Lori and Hastings to write this review for me because they are definitely the experts when it comes to Salsa Fuego.  If you keep up with Texas Monthly’s restaurant reviews then you know that a year or so ago they declared Salsa Fuego one of the five best Mexican restaurants in Texas.  I think they got it right.

And I also think they need to try La Familia.

BUT this is not your typical Mexican restaurant.  Check out the menu on their website and you’ll find duck confit tacos, ceviche, a fuego ribeye, ahi tuna nachos among many other items including a fuego burger that could go up against any of the popular burger joints in town.  And you’ll find all of this delicious food in a renovated KFC.

So I am currently on a low carb diet which is ridiculous because I love Mexican food and have you tried eating mexican food without eating chips and salsa?  Without eating corn and flour tortillas?  It’s impossible.  However, the chef at Salsa Fuego has a chili relleno on his menu that is roasted, stuffed with chicken, and served over ranchero sauce (hold the rice) and it is delicious.

Lori likes the chicken enchiladas with poblano cream sauce and I tried a bite of hers and it is muy creamy with the perfect amount of spice.

And because Lori likes to sabotage me she made me try a bite of the hamburger bun.  The bread is so good that it makes me want to eat only carbs for the rest of my life.

Guacamole burger.....obviously

Give it a shot.  It is on the traffic circle mess that is Camp Bowie/377/Alta Mere – across from Camp Bowie Mercantile that I mentioned in this post.

It might not hurt to make it a mid-day meal because seating is limited and it getting more and more popular because the food is outta this world!

Tell them you know VIP’s Hastings and Lori and you might get free queso 🙂

Road Trip: West Coast Style

I have a list of national road trips that I want to take and last week I took one of them.  My dad and I road tripped up the PCH.  We flew into San Diego and didn’t stop until we got to San Francisco.  There were plenty of sights to see along the way and lots of fresh seafood to eat.  Check back for a post with a recipe for fish tacos with a little Hawaiian spin!

Los Agaves in Santa Barbara, CA - definitely worth trying

espcially for the salsa bar

One day I’ll take the road trip from San Francisco up to Seattle.  Let me know if you ever have.

Big Sur

I usually try to read a book that relates to whatever part of the country I’m in, but this week I was sucked up in the “Hunger Games” series.  Have you read it?  I read all three books in two weeks, which has nothing to do with my reading abilities but how obsessed I was with the books.

Back to the real reason we’re here, San Diego to San Fran – a fun trip with lots to see.  Coming soon – fish tacos west coast style.  Let me know if you’ve ever been.

You HAVE to road trip it in a convertible 🙂

Random: Laissez les bon temps rouler

HAPPY FAT TUESDAY!! Oh how I wish I was celebrating in New Orleans chowing down on some Cajun cuisine and listening to Zydeco music.  On my most recent trip to the Crescent city, I was lucky enough to go with two of my favorite people and boy did we laugh our aces off.  And we sure did eat some fine cajun food.  Jenn and Brandon know where to go and what to do in the BIG EASY and if you ever want to go, you should go with our crew.  We visited the grave of voodoo queen Marie Laveau, ate a peanut butter burger at Yo Mama’s, and had some killer red beans ‘n rice.  This Fat Tuesday I cheated and just made the packaged version, but it sho’ was good.

And I bought it in N’awlins so that counts, right?  Next time I’m going to try the king of cajun cuisine’s version.

I don’t know if I could live in Louisiana, but my love for the people continues to grow thanks to Swamp People.  My dad told me about this show and it is hilarious.  I’m Team Troy all the way.  I pretty much love any show set in Louisiana that features a Cajun.  Even more than a deep southern drawl, I love to hear Cajuns talk.  When I was a waitress, I waited on a Cajun and I had no clue we were even speaking the same language.

Beignets from Cafe du Monde - a must when visiting Nola

And while I’m on the subject of Louisiana food, I would like to mention this cookbook.   I found it at Borders and it is one of the best cookbooks I have come across.  After Katrina, the author wanted to put together a collection of Cajun and Creole recipes since so many families probably lost recipes that had been handed down from generation to generation.  It is full of delicious recipes and anecdotes about growing up in Louisiana.  Also, there are multiple recipes with okra in them and I love okra.

Roux Memories by Belinda Hulin

So chive on and Fais do do, but most of all LAISSEZ LES BON TEMPS ROULER!!!

Retail-Antique shopping in Fort Worth

This little post is about a special kind of shopping – the kind that men especially hate –  antiquing!  I don’t know what they don’t like about strolling through aisles of booths filled with “hidden treasures.”   Actually I totally get it.  Even I have to be in the right mood to go to these places, but when I do feel like doing some digging I like going to the following stores because it’s like finding all the best items from a garage sale in one clean, organized place.  I love looking through all the dishware and I usually find some great little necklace or purse.  I have some friends that have found some great deals on furniture.

Montgomery Street Mall

This is the place I usually go because it’s so close to where I live.  It is just north of I-30 on Montgomery Street.  I don’t have any kind of numbers on this, but it definitely feels like the largest of all the shops I visited.  It is probably the best to go to if you are in the market for furniture.  There are aisles and aisles and aisles of clothing, dishes, furnitures, new things, old things, jewelry, collectibles, etc etc etc.

Benbrook Antique Mall

This spot is in an old Wal-Mart and it is organized very well and brightly lit.  Same kind of things as the Montgomery Mall and I also  spotted a few Barbie dolls in their original packaging, if you are a doll collector.  My holiday barbies never had a chance to become collectibles.  She was out of the box as soon as she was unwrapped.

I wish I had a picture of the cute purse I found here. I'll add it later.

As promised

Camp Bowie Mercantile

I have driven by this place countless times and finally stopped.  For those familiar with Fort Worth, it is located on the Camp Bowie circle near Edelweiss restaurant.  If you are driving on Camp Bowie from downtown, stay to the left where it splits before the circle and it will be on your right.  Look for the building with the mural.

Best organized,  brightest, but I didn’t find anything on my trip.  It seemed to me like it had a lot more clothing than the others.  Molly found a great little table for $25 that she is going to use for a coffee table.  It doesn’t have the same flow of endless rows as the others, but I have a feeling you will be able to figure it out.

Is there really a market for these cd's?

The next two shops aren’t like the above, but they are great places to go if you like the look of vintage items, but not the digging.

Golightly’s

My friend Erin told me about this place and it is so close to North East Mall that if you are over there shopping you should drive over to this little spot on Davis Blvd.

I think you will find some really great things.

Like this desk

and this mirror and chairs

All of the above stores have tearooms, but I haven’t eaten at any of them.  Erin said Golightly’s has a great little restaurant in back, but they were closed for a private event when I went.  I will definitely go back and try it because it smelled delicious.  Erin said the popovers are her favorite thing to get there.

Wrare on 7th Street

You have to check out this shop.  It is a small boutique near the Movie Tavern and I have taken 3 groups of friends and everyone loves it.   The shop is full of items that can’t be found at most decor shops around town.   Trust me, you’ll find something you have to have.

While we’re on the subject, let’s talk antique festivals.  The biggest antiquing festival that I know of in Texas also came recommended to me by Erin.  In the spring and fall you can find acres and acres of antiques at the Marburger Farm Antiques show in Round Top, TX.  I haven’t had a chance to check it out, but if you’ve been you will have to let me know what you think and if there are any tricks to navigating through it all.

Happy antiquing!!! Where do you like to go?

Abilene Abilene prettiest town I’ve ever seen

I had a guy recently ask me where I was headed and when I said “Abilene,” he said “Oh I’ve heard it’s very pretty there.”  I told him he had been lied to, but it is a pretty nice town to visit.  A few of my favorite things are in Abilene – La Popular breakfast burritos, Sayles Boulevard, Beehive steakhouse, Betty & June boutique, and a sweet baby girl named Mamie Jane.  My friends Jamie and Knox live in Abilene and let me stay a week with them and it was so relaxing.

To earn my keep, I made them dinner and I made the following recipes:

Pork tenderloin, poblano cheese grits, and asparagus

Braised shorts ribs, mashed sweet potatoes, and asparagus

And they think I’m a pro.  Totally have them fooled.  You should really try these recipes.  My friend Hastings introduced me to the first recipe and the second came after watching Anne Burrell do it on Food Network.  I have wanted to give braised short ribs a try and finally had the chance. Braising is a good way to take a cheap, tough cut of meat and make it melt-in-your mouth delicious.

For the poblano cheese grits, I roasted a poblano and used quick cooking grits.  I added 1% milk, cheeese, S&P, and butter to taste and then threw in the chopped poblano pepper.  Pretty simple and it complimented the spice in the tenderloin perfectly.  For the asparagus, I tossed it with olive oil, S&P, and cooked it for about 15 minutes in a 400 degree oven.

For the mashed sweet potatoes, I covered the sweet potatoes in foil and threw them in the oven with the short ribs about midway through cooking.  Then I scooped them out of the skin and mashed them up with a little salt, butter, brown sugar, and a pinch of cinnamon.

*Sorry for the lack of measurements.  Really you just have to add a little of each ingredient until you get the flavor you like.  And you don’t have to use a whole stick of butter, but if you want to I’m not judging.

Give these recipes a try and let me know where you like to go when you go to ABILENE!