the pursuit of favorites: mezcal

march 18, 2011

during the day we went on an extreme hike on green mountain to get some exercise, enjoy the scenery and just enjoy the outdoors. after hiking for a few hours, handsome and i were both craving mexican food. i guess we had to fill the void we created while hiking. after looking up many places, we decided on mezcal. it was ranked #1 for best margarita one year and #1 for tacos last year so how could we go wrong. since it won best taco i decided to try them out. this is unusual for me because i never order tacos at a mexican restaurant. i feel that it is easy to make delicious tacos at home, but not near as easy to make delicious enchiladas. i always end up getting enchiladas. and ones that involve chicken, cheese and sour cream. you know, picking the most healthy option the menu. i feel if you go to a mexican restaurant, you might as well go all out. back to the point, the tacos were delicious! i really loved them a lot and plan on only ordering tacos every time i go there. i got the chicken ones, what a surprise. and handsome got one chicken, one beef and one pork. he ranked the pork taco the lowest, but i dont think he could decide between the beef and chicken. his “winner” varied based on what sauce was on it. and speaking of sauces, the different sauce choices they have to put on your tacos are all very delicious. my most favorite one was buffalo chipotle. so delicious! you cant go wrong with buffalo and chipotle in one. it was so good you could nearly drink it straight from the bottle. i did not go that far, but maybe next time. we will have to wait and see how i feel during my dining experience the next time i go.

the award winning margaritas? i was not impressed. they were not the worst i have had, but they were also not near the best. it tasted like there was far too much margarita mix. i suggest getting a beer, as long as you like beer of course, that way you will not be disappointed. we also noticed that there is a happy hour from 10pm to 1am where they may have dollar tacos (since our lime experience i am not as confident in these taco happy hours that can be found around town). i'm just saying, seems like reason enough to try it out. you know you want to!

and last, but definitely not least, the queso. i have nothing negative to say about the queso (except that i wish it was with white cheese)! this is very surprising since we have not had very good experiences at any restaurant we have tried. it was similar to my most favorite queso that is lit on fire and scooped onto tortillas. this queso wonder can be found at benitos in fort worth. benitos is definitely superior, but this one has a similar taste. it has chorizo in it (like benitos, at least i think the meat in it is chorizo..ha!) and you dip pieces of tortilla into it. it is delicious.

as a side note, for those of you who like a more attentive dining experience. like actually being acknowledged when you walk in and getting good service during your meal, this is not the place for you. i am not sure how long we were standing there, possibly 10 or 15 minutes, before anyone helped us. employees would walk by and just stare at us standing at the hostess stand. the restaurant was not even packed. we finally got a table and they placed us in the worst location ever, right in front of the entrance, and there were multiple other tables as options. i think the hostess was too lazy or tired to walk any further. dont worry though, we asked our waiter if he would mind us moving and we went to an infinitely better table. i am not sure if we just happened to go on a weird night or what the deal was. it did seem like there were only two servers for the entire restaurant though. maybe that had something to do with it. but regardless of the service, the tacos and queso are delicious and definitely worth trying. yumm!!!

another exciting feature about mezcal....they have taco eating contests! i want to enter one sooo badly! handsome has agreed to do one with me. i actually think he is just as excited as i am too haha. the most recent contest consisted of two rounds. the first round was eating 20 tacos in 15 minutes, and the second round was eating as many as physically possible in 5 minutes. i dont think i would move onto the second round, but i think i could get close. i am very interested to see how well i will do.

love.