Adios to Project Fiesta

Since it’s the first day of spring (you wouldn’t know if from the weather in Calgary!) we are winding up Project Fiesta. We started off with a scorecard of food, atmosphere, and costs but found it was more fun to simply enjoy the restaurants then pick some of our favourite experiences, over the winter or on previous occasions, as all of the locales have something great to offer.

Pam’s Favourites

Best Fish Taco – Xocolat
Best Margarita – Xocolat
Most Authentic – El Charrito
Budget Friendly – El Charrito
Socially Responsible Award – Blue Star Diner
Best Service – Salt and Pepper
Best people watching – Anejo
Best Patio – Los Chilitos
Hidden Gem – Oro Azul

Sadly, since our visit, Xocolat has closed their doors but we have heard rumor the owners are looking at a location on 17th Ave. Stay tuned to the ever-changing Calgary food scene!

Arriba,
Janet and Kristie

Oro Azul for Project Fiesta

We had heard about this restaurant on Yelp’s Taco Takeover and tried to go once only to find it closed but we were successful on our second trip.  Oro Azul is locally owned and operated making fresh corn and flour tortillas, salsas, and other great Mexican cuisine.  They also have a store Las Tortillas where they sell their products and the corn tortillas can be found a few places around the city including Calgary Co-op.  The Co-op supports and offers numerous local products, which is one more reason to shop there!  We started with avocado nachos ($6.75) and a corona, the nachos were crisp and salty which was a nice starter with our beer.  Next we ordered up some tacos.  I went with the Taco De Guachinango ($4.25), it had grilled snapper and a Taco Emperador Moctezuma (5.75), which had half a stuffed jalapeno with grilled shrimp and cheese.  My friend Elaine also got the snapper and tried the Taco Al Pastor ($4.25), a taco topped with pork with pineapple, and onion.  We had a lot of fun checking out the restaurant, chatting with the owner, while enjoying our flavoursome tacos. We both found the snapper a little fishy and not as fresh as we would have liked but loved both the Emperador and Al Pastor.  We also got a Sidral Mundet apple soda that the owner recommended as being popular in Mexico City.  It was fruity with light carbonation and very refreshing.  Check out Oro Azul for some budget friendly Tacos when you are on Memorial Drive SE!

 

Janet

Big Taste at Anejo

Had lunch at Anejo on Friday to try out their Big Taste menu. They have a fun vibe with a day of dead décor and have a steady clientele, especially on weekends. I have been previously and found the menu a bit pricy for what you get but the $15 big taste menu was a great deal. We started with guacamole and chips followed by tacos and ending with locally made Fiasco Gelato. The guacamole was fresh and creamy and I added a bit of their habanero mayonnaise, which really kicked it up a notch. The tacos came two to an order and we had a choice between adobo pork, snapper, beef short rib or pulled chicken. I choose the pork and snapper that were served with a house made salsa and tasted scrumptious. There were may flavours of gelato to pick from to finish the meal and I went with the chocolate espresso which was a contrast of velvety smooth gelato with chocolate chunks, you can’t go wrong with that! We thoroughly enjoyed our lunch but felt we might need a snack to make it till dinner as the portions were on the smaller side. Check out Anejo for some margaritas, guacamole and people watching on a Friday night, you won’t be disappointed!

Janet

Getting authentic with El Charrito Taqueria

What better way to warm up on a -22oC evening then with some spicy food? We decided we needed earn our tacos tonight so we signed up for a 5pm spin class at Vita Fitness in Bridgeland to work up an appetite before heading to El Charrito. By the time we finished spin we were feeling a bit sorry for ourselves because El Charrito doesn’t have a liquor licence so decided we should stop by Blue Star Diner which was nearby, served tacos, plus had a liquor licence! We settled in at the bar and ordered up a margarita ($11) toute suite to reward ourselves after a long day at the office. The margaritas were made with fresh squeezed lime but we found them a bit too tart and could have used some additional agave or tequila to mellow the lime acidy. We shared the Al Pastor pork tacos ($12) which are served on locally made Tres Marias corn tacos with slow roasted brined pork, a pineapple and red pepper salsa with cilantro and chipotle lime sauce. They came in an order of 3, were served with French fries and were delicious. Our favourite part was the pineapple and red pepper salsa with the cilantro on top, yum! We were disappointed that you couldn’t mix the different meat combinations in an order but had to abide by the kitchen rules. Kudos to Blue Star for being a founding partner in MealShare; they really are a good neighbour. On to the taqueria!

Pics from Blue Star

El Charrito is a casual take out/dine-in cafeteria-style restaurant on Edmonton Trail. We felt the authenticity walking in due to the Mexican family dining there, a Mexican program blaring on TV, the cook who didn’t speak English, the many coulourful and festive decorations. Tacos ($2.25 each) are served in two small corn tortillas with your meat of choice, onions, hot sauce and cilantro. I had read on Yelp’s Taco Takedown that the lengua (beef tongue) was good so we ordered one of those an Al Pastor (pork), a birria (shredded beef) and a chorizo (sausage). We threw caution to the wind and asked for them all spicy! The tacos were fabulous and the spice was great, our mouths were on fire but not enough that we were crying…a true test of heat… We also enjoyed a horachata (cinnamon rice milk) which was cold and helped cut the heat but wasn’t our favorite drink (let’s be honest, we prefer a margarita or a wine!). We rounded off the meal with some jalapeno peanuts, a de la Rosa dulce, and a flan. Wow, we had full tummies after this feast…time to sign up for another spin class! El Charrito is highly recommended for authentic Mexican cuisine and a fun experience. Also, a shout out to Ernesto who had a bookstand in the corner of the restaurant and drew a super hero book for us, we were happy to see good prevail over evil!

Pics from El Charrito

Delicioso!
Janet

The Countdown is on! Los Compadres

With another 28 degree September day Janet and I queued up our Food Truck app and hit the pavement. Of our 10 food truck goal, we are half way there! We decided to pick our food truck simply based on going a different direction which led us to Los Compadres for Mexican. They certainly are serving up authentic Mexican lunch truck bites, and some intriguing pops in a glass bottle.

Total we tried 2 different kinds of pork taco’s, each served with a lime and onions. Janet’s was spicy already and mine was so not but they included a little spicy sauce to add. Here’s our scorecard results
Food: 17/20
Service: 9/12
Cost: $
Overall: 4/5