Dinner Bites

            Growing up in New York City, I have always been lucky enough to be exposed to various cuisines. I have experienced many different types of food from Vietnamese to French and everything in between. But even after trying various dishes, one of my favorites still remains to be Mexican.

            There are an uncountable number of Mexican restaurants in the City, and even a good number in my neighborhood of the Upper West Side. However, where I like to go to get my Mexican fill is not exactly what most would call a restaurant, it’s more of a whole in the wall. Taco Grill definitely reinforced the common childhood lesson of “don’t judge a book by its cover.” This shack may not have fancy tablecloths, or even tables for that matter, but it sure does serve up a tasty burrito. Typically, I prefer to take out Taco Grill for obvious reasons but that does not make this Mexican delight any less yummy. The wheat flour tortilla serves as the protective covering for the Mexican-style yellow rice, steak, black beans, lettuce, pico de gallo, avocado, sour cream, cilantro, and of course Monterey jack cheese. Talk about a mouth full! The first bite can be a little tricky because you have to be sure not to get too excited and rip open the whole tortilla, making all the fillings fall out. Once you do manage to safely sink your teeth into this burrito the ingredients come alive. The rice, beans, lettuce, pico de gallo, avocado, sour cream, cilantro, and melted cheese all mix together to form a sort of delicious, creamy, crunchy spread. And every so often, you grab a piece of the streak, which is covered in this mouth-watering mixture. Taco Grill makes the best, and cheapest, burrito because they are somehow able to put in the perfect balance of each ingredient. They manage to have all of the items in the burrito tasted evenly, without one overpowering the rest. Taco Grill puts in enough steak to get your meat craving satisfied but not too much that with every bite you have to be tirelessly chewing. There are many small qualities about this dish that make it special: the streak is cooked perfectly to medium rare, the lettuce and cilantro are not soggy but rather fresh and crunchy, the pico de gallo gives the burrito a little kick, but nothing too spicy, and the tortilla is cooked so that it is the tiniest bit crunchy but still soft and fluffy. Did I mention that this dinnertime fiesta comes with a side of tortilla chips and guacamole?

            Now of course you all know what is coming, I am going to attempt to come up with a viable solution to my Mexican crave at college. However, this one wasn’t so easy. The only place on campus to get Mexican food is in Cox Hall at Salsa Rico. But when I tried a burrito there the first week of school, I was sadly disappointed. The ingredients were soggy and the pico de gallo over powered the meal to the point where I could did not even want to finish my dinner. So, for a long time I stayed away from Salsa Rico, and even Mexican food for that matter. But this past week I had such a Mexican craving; I decided to give it another try. This time I came into the experience with my previous knowledge about the burrito, so I stayed away from that dish. Instead, I got the fajita bowl with grilled chicken. This sizable portion comes in a large plastic bowl containing a flower tortilla at the bottom, Mexican-style yellow rice, grilled chicken, black beans, roasted peppers and onions, guacamole, pico de gallo, tortilla chips and shredded Monterey jack cheese. It was very overwhelming when I first look at what I had decided to order. I couldn’t help but think: is this too many ingredients mixed together in a bowl? So I played the first bite safe, scooping up a tortilla chip and dunking it in guacamole, which had a fresh taste to it. After swallowing that bite, I decided to sink my fork into the mixture. There seemed to be a good balance of each ingredient and nothing was soggy. Being a rice lover, I could have gone for a greater quantity of the Mexican-style rice, but the amount wasn’t too shabby. The sprinkling of the cheese was done so that each part of the bowl was covered with the melted stringiness. The chicken was seasoned and cooked well and the roasted peppers added some crunchyish texture. The flower tortilla did cause me some problems; not only was this getting in the way of attempting to eat the rice at the bottom of the bowl, but it also was just plain bad. It was clearly not freshly made and it could not have tasted any blander. However, this was a decent Mexican meal. Salsa Rico definitely did not live up to the caliber of Taco Grill, but it satisfied my Mexican dinner craving.