Mexicana Mavens

It seems that we are creatures of habit because on every cheat day there is one thing that we always crave and must have… Mexican Food and Margaritas. Well, technically that's two things.  Anyway, we (the Black Box Wine Mavens) are simply and utterly loco (crazy) for Mexican Food. There are a ton of Mexican food places everywhere you turn because we are, after all, living in el gran estado de Tejas (the great state of Texas). There's practically one on every corner - kind of like Starbucks in Nueva York (New York). But when placing an order at Starbucks, say, for a caramel macchiato, you know you're going to get a delicious caramel macchiato. Well that doesn't ring true with Mexican food restaurants, especially if they are a chain. Of course you have your fast food staples that may satisfy your need when you are in a pinch, like Taco Cabana, Chipotle or Taco Bell - but nothing beats that true Tex Mex restaurant experience. There is something to be said about stopping into your favorite restaurant and being served the most flavorful, mouth-watering, consistently delicious food you have been craving and go back for over and over again. But unfortunately, it's not possible to walk into any old Tomas, Ricardo or Enrique (Tom, Dick or Harry) restaurant and expect good food because there are a lot of bad ones out there. We wish they were all good because if they were, we'd be living in our own little Mexican Willie Wonka dream world. Can you imagine being serenaded by little Oompa-Loompa-Mariachis? We can hear them now... oompa-loompa aye yi yi yi do-ba-dee-dee,

as the server places a gum-like piece of candy on a plate in front of you and when you pop it into your mouth it tastes like a three course meal of cheese enchiladas, rice and beans!!  Not to mention being served an ever lasting gobstopper margarita that not only can never be finished, but never seems to diminish as you continue to suck on the straw. Que? (What)? And then to top it all off you take your turn at the piñata and out falls the golden ticket that reads: comida gratis para toda la vida (free food for life)!!!  Holy Guacamole!!! (everyone knows this meaning)!!! We'd be in homemade tortilla heaven. But sadly (or maybe sickly- hee-hee) this is just a couple of gringas (white girls) having a far-out psychedelic mexican food dream. Earth to Mavens... OK, reluctantly we're back from our mexi-wonka dream world. That's why we have composed a list of our favorite restaurants to share with you because, in our opinion, que son los mejores (they are the Best).  We believe there are 2 sure fire ways to tell that you are going to enjoy your Mexican food experience: 1.) Chips and Salsa – if the chips aren't homemade and salsa flavorful then you might as well leave. No use even trying the rest of the menu for it will most likely disappoint, and you’ll be mad that you wasted your dinero (money) on crappy food.  2.) Margaritas - Hola! (Hello)! No Mexican food meal is complete without uno (one), dos (two), tres (three) or catorce (fourteen) -hahaha yes we meant to say catorce (fourteen). 

Here are our top 3 Mexican Food Restaurants (not in any particular order):

Vivo's Mexican Restaurant located @ 201 Manor Rd. Austin, Tx

Located off of IH 35 and Manor Road, they create flavorful food that is delicious and good for you (as far as Mexican food can be). It’s pretty hard to order anything bad off the menu because everything is tasty. The chips and salsa ROCK and so does the queso (just add the salsa to your queso for an added kick). The Margaritas are damn delicious and beautifully presented with an edible orchid flower and lime. We order ours frozen without salt -might be our favorite Margarita of all time.

Our favorite dishes are: Vegetarian cheese enchiladas (Jenn’s favorite),

Chile Enchiladas (Richelle’s favorite), puffy tacos – we usually get Emma’s Choice combo for one puffy taco and one enchilada,

Quesadillas, Pollo Vivo, and the Fiesta Salad with a zesty chile-lime vinaigrette (on the side, please).  You absolutely cannot go wrong with any choice on the menu.  As for dessert the sopapillas are delicious and the Mexican Cannoli is pure heaven. Viva Vivo’s!!!!

Angie’s Mexican Restaurant located @ 1307 E. 7^th St. Austin, TX

Located on the East side of 7^th & IH 35, this is our Favorite Authentic Tex Mex food. Again, the chips and salsa and queso rock! 

Some think their salsa is a bit spicy, but not for us. In Richelle's opinion, this is the best salsa ever! The Guacamole salad is fresh and delicious. It’s not really a salad, but it’s served over shredded lettuce for dipping your chips. Our favorite dishes are the Platillos Especial and the Mexican Plate. Not much difference between the two just depends on whether we want one taco and two enchiladas or two tacos and one enchilada that day. We love these dishes so much that we have never even tried anything else on the menu - once you’ve tasted the enchiladas and tacos you probably won’t either. But we are sure everything else is just as delicious.

The tacos are out of this world made on their homemade corn tortillas.  In Jenn's opinion, they are hands down the BEST!! That’s another thing, no store bought tortillas for us so we skip the flour and order the corn. Richelle likes the beef or chicken tacos and Jenn loves the bean.  Don’t freak out when your tacos arrive solo and scream where is the rest of my meal? They are usually delivered first before your meal and then the rest of your food follows. 

And of course we love their mexican martinis and margaritas. We always ask for a side of fresh jalapeños and throw them in for a delicious, spicy, marg, OK??  No really it's the Bomb!

Angie herself is usually there and who knows, she just may end up serving you.

Guero’s Taco Bar located @ 1412 S. Congress Ave., Austin, TX

Located downtown on SOCO (South of Congress) the wait staff is friendly, cool and eclectic. Chips come with 3 different kinds of salsa – all are good. Frozen margaritas are good, but they also have just about every kind of Mexican beer you could want served with cute little glasses. 

Our favorite appetizer is the Queso Flameado - which is broiled jack cheese served with tortillas (again, make sure to ask for the corn as they are homemade) and other options to add like our favs: chorizo, onion, jalapeño and mushrooms. Put some cheese in your tortilla then roll it up and enjoy!

The Fish tacos are yummy and come topped with a chipotle tequila mayonnaise (an extra side of mayo is a must - you’ll want more for dipping). 

Al Pastor tacos are also a favorite as well as the quesadillas. Dessert is Classic Vanilla Flan - Aye Dios Mio (OMG) it's simply delicioso (delicious), but look for the Pumpkin Flan during the fall season - usually in October & November - it's AMAZING!!

So now that we have you craving Mexican food, head on down and try one of our favorite restaurants or suggest yours for us to try.  We are always up for a good Mexican Food experience. Who knows, you might just catch us wearing sombreros, drinking margaritas and licking our plates clean at one of our favorite little haunts (if you happen to be there on our Cheat Day Monday’s) OLE!!! (Hooray)!!! Comida Mexicana es muy deliciosa!! (Mexican food is so delicious)!!

Down the Rabbit Hole

We woke up Easter morning, got dressed and were ready to start cheatin' on this glorious Sunday. Of course no Easter would be complete without bunny ears and a few mimosas, so we hippity-hop off to a restaurant called Soleil on Lake Travis 

to meet some friends for brunch and listen to the music of Bruce Smith (www.bruce@brucesmithband.com). We arrive and as soon as we park the car, a valet on a golf cart shows up to whisk us away to the restaurant. Wow!  We feel special (it must be the bunny ears) although we don't live in a mansion or pose for magazines or party in the grotto or share the same boyfriend. However, we do live together, call each other sista wives, pose for pictures for our blog, swim in our pool and take care of one hubby - doesn't that count for something?  We can pretend it does, right? As we hop into the restaurant we spot our fabulous friends Elaine, Rese, Kenneth and Christy sitting front and center waiting for us to arrive. We sit down at the table and Jenn starts pulling out ears and headbands of flowers and even brought a boutonniere for Kenneth, the only dude at the table, to wear.

She loves her props and uses any excuse to bring and share them (i.e. holidays, birthdays, baby showers, protests, music events, weddings, etc...). She's always ready to have fun and get people involved and says that props can make even the scroogiest of people put a smile on their face. As she pulls them out of her purse our table mates are excitedly deciding who gets to wear what - except for the dude - he only has one choice but is willing and able to put on the boutonniere and is appreciative that she thought of him. But we are with some fun and talented people so it's no surprise that they are on board with our craziness.  As our waiter approaches he informs us that because it is Easter they are offering a buffet only - all you can eat for $25.00 - and since we don't have a choice, we all opt to eat and get up and grab a plate. Surprisingly, it ends up being a damn good buffet. A few food items we ate: challah french toast, crepes, omelets made to order, pizza, fruit, roasted veggies, artichoke dip, ham, prime rib, oysters on the half shell and smoked salmon.  There was also a bloody mary and mimosa bar - how fun!! But we didn't do the mimosa bar because the southern fried chickie, Christy (check out her one woman show and her website @ www.southernfriedchickie.com ) wanted to order table service mimosas and heck yeah we were all on board because time spent walking to and from the bar making mimosas was time lost on actually drinking the mimosas. Come to think of it if we had done it that way, walking back and forth to the mimosa bar, we wouldn't really have lost time drinking them because we'd have taken a sip then another and another as we walked backed to the table and the next thing you know our glass would be empty and we'd have to turn around and do it all over again. It would result in us walking a not so straight line back and forth like the energizer bunny and never getting a chance to sit and enjoy the company we keep and ain't nobody got time for that. So, bring on the table service mimosas!

We talked, ate, drank, listened to Bruce Smith's music and laughed for three plus hours. Southern Fried Chickie even got up on stage with Bruce and tried to sing a few songs. Let's just say it was entertaining to say the least.

It was a perfect day and then the bill came - $312.00... what the what???  Turns out the table service bottles of champagne we ordered were about $42.00 a bottle and after five bottles and five buffets, the bill blew up. Are we mad? What were we thinking? We aren't  P. Diddy Bunny or Jay Z Rabbit who can afford to throw away money like it grows on trees. And then the reality sets in that, hey, we really aren't celebrity bunnies at the Playboy Mansion being served all you can drink champagne. Turns out that we are just a couple of middle class, hard working, pay check to pay check living, $1.00 Target bunny ear wearing, Black Box Wine Mavens.  But the damage was done so we forked over the dough (or in our case, the carrots) happily because, after all was said and done, we made the choice to jump feet first down the rabbit hole without thinking clearly. How can anyone be thinking clearly after two bottles of champagne let alone five? What? The bottle is empty? Well, yes of course, please bring us another. Silly Rabbits - but you know what? We're cool because life is too short not to view it through a looking-glass world, so we might as well enjoy it, and we must admit - damn... what a good time we had(ttered).