oaxaca — Wine & Dine

This post is long overdue. I work in Pasadena and we've all been anticipating Mercado to open. Amazing art work like bullet skulls as you walk in from the commons. By them being here, it's definitely brought a lot of life to lake avenue. I'm not even kidding when I say I've been here multiple times within a week. I can honestly say the food is that good.

Here are some food from my first visit (Full menu here for Pasadena):

Guacamole - hass avocado, serranos, cilantro, red onions, Yxta salsa brava, spicy pepitas, and fresh chips. There dip duo is also highly recommended. It's basically guac and their choriqueso - melted cotija, parmesan, oaxaca cheese, white wine, house chorizo, poblanos, and mushrooms.

Enchiladas de pollo en mole oaxaqueno - pulled Mary’s free-range chicken, oaxacan mole, queso fresco, crema fresca, red onions, sesame seeds, mexican rice, and chile piquín black beans. The mole wasn't too sweet, velvety and luxurious. Probably one of the best Oaxacan moles I've had.

ELOTE - grilled sweet corn, caramelized onions, chile piquín butter, topped with queso cotija.

Tostaditas de ceviche - citrus-marinated white fish and shrimp, mango, corn, cherry tomatoes, serranos, fresno chilies, avocado, chile de árbol aioli. This is probably the best ceviche I've had in a while. Fresh, citrusy with a good balance of sweet and heat from the mango, corn, fresnos and chile de arbol aioli. This is a must order if you're here.

COLIFLOR AL PASTOR - roasted cauliflower, chile morita marinade, pineapple, cilantro. A great side dish if you're doing low carb and want tons of delicious flavors. GM Justin loves to eat this with tortillas. Man was he right.

Camarones al ajillo - mexican sweet shrimp, chile de árbol garlic butter, market vegetables. You will never find a dish that's executed like they do it here. I've had this many times and didn't know how it should taste until I had it here. The flavor is to die for. Another highly recommended dish.

Spicy Cucumber Margarita with Mezcal. Mez always gets me.

FLAN.

Other items I recommend not shown:

Carnitas. Anything carnitas but I love their tacos. From their happy hour menu, order their jicama shrimp tacos.

Cucumber salad with skirt steak (trust me it's delicious).

Tamales - I ordered their special tamale of the day. It was carnitas, but I know it changes from time to time.

tres leches - YES

Heard the fried chicken torta is a must. Stay tuned for that!

140 S. Lake Avenue #101, Pasadena, California 91101 626.345.5778 www.cocinasycalaveras.com

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Met my friend Bernadette for dinner at Pata Salada a few nights ago. It's always an exciting experience to eat together. Mainly because I try to force her to have a drink or two (or 5) with me.

Pata Salada prides in their seafood creations and dishes from the region Jalisco. With heavy emphasis on the region the food came from, they also have a big focus on the Tequila as well. Their tequila comes from 100% blue agave made in and around Tequila, Jalisco, Mexico. They not just carry 10 different tequilas, which is considerably a lot for a restaurant, but have over 70. Over 70 Tequilas to drink from. You can't tell me you can walk into a place that carry that many let alone 20. We were very pleased to taste a few of their starred dishes, tequilas, as well as a few new items they launched this week.

Our super sweet server being extremely patient as we snapped a few.

The tequila flight comes with 3 - 1oz pours.

I was relieved to taste different flavors in a crudo. This one in particular had their fish in a "Leche de tigre" or tiger's milk, which is a Peruvian term for the citrus-based marinade that cures the seafood in a ceviche. The crudo is dressed with avocados, sweet cherry tomatoes, avocado and basil.

The ceviche was packed in a cocktail glass mix with onions, tomatoes, cilantro, chili and lime. The ceviche was served with a side of blue corn chips.

Generous portions of guacamole mixed with pepitas, cherry tomatoes and ques fresco.

There is nothing I love more than the flavors of charred shellfish. These mussels are served LuLu style with chile lime butter. Mussels are served table top on a hot skillet so be careful.

Fried quesadilla stuffed with oaxaca cheese, mushrooms and huitlacoche.

2 sizeable drinks to have while we snack on our appetizers before the entrees. The blood orange one is their El Picante de Mango. Made with El Tesoro Reposado, Mango, chipotle and lime. Extremely delicious and I would even order this virgin for a nice sunny brunch. The lighter one, I believe, is their El Relajado. El Jimador Blanco with combier, agave and lime. Both super refreshing to have.

This pork shank was brined for 2 days before they slow cooked, then fried. Served on top of a chile morita orange salsa with rice and beans, and blue corn tortilla. This $59.95 handsome hunk will feed 2 or more. Depending on how many other dishes you order, I recommend ordering this with a bigger group of 4+ so you can try other items.

Their whole seabass was cooked with huacho salt, garlic chili lime butter with more garlic on top. Grilled lemons are served for a smokier citrus flavor. Rice, beans and blue corn tortillas are served.

Kahlua and Coffee Raspado is what we needed to pick us up from a night of feasting. Frozen coffee shaved like granita then topped with some creamy parfait. No complaints there.

Must come back for more tequila.

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