Meso Maya

Meal of Food Friday was an intimate affair this week as only three people made it out to dinner. We went to Meso Maya in North Dallas to celebrate National Margarita Day.

Meso Maya is an upscale Mexican restaurant featuring authentic Mexican dishes and drinks. It was similar to last week's winner, Cantina Laredo. I'm fine with it becuase Mexican food is my favorite and there are usually some veggie friendly options for lent (two meat free Fridays down, four to go).

We started out with margaritas, chips and salsa, and the Queso Fundido which is peppers stuffed with cheeses and lightly fried. I'd give the sugar-free margarita a B, the chips an salsa an A and the Queso Fundido an A++!

Good if a little bland - but that's a sugar free drink for you

May not look very attractive, but it was soooooo good! it came out boiling hot so if you order it on your next trip, watch out!

For dinner, I had the Budin Azteca De Verduras, which the waiter described as Mexican vegetable lasagna. It was layers of cheese and veggies between corn tortillas. It was fine, but much like last week, I wouldn't have ordered it if I hadn't been abstaining from meat for lent.

I probably wouldn't eat this again, but the great appetizer and salsa, fast service, and fun atmosphere more than made up for my average entree. My fellow MoFFers raved about their dishes, so I think overall, Meso Maya was a great success!

Cantina Laredo

The winner of last week's Meal of Food Friday vote was Nate's Seafood and Steakhouse in Addison. As soon as I heard that Nate's was the winner, I knew we had a problem. It's the first week of Lent, and many Catholics and other Christians do not eat mean on Fridays during this time (but fish is allowed). This means that casual fish restaurants are basically overrun with my fellow Catholics every spring for the 6 Fridays leading up to Easter.

So we had to make a last minute switch! We moved our party up the street to Cantina Laredo, which had a far shorter wait and room open at the bar. Cantina Laredo is a nice Mexican restaurant. It's not what I would call a casual place, but it's not all that expensive. Dinner is about $15 unless you order something fancy.

Photo credit: cantinalaredo.com/

I was totally fine with with the change. I don't really eat fish - the texture freaks me out. Normally when I go to a place like Nate's, I order chicken or a burger, but that wouldn't have been a choice since I was observing no meat Friday. Instead, I had no meat enchiladas! The Enchiladas de Avocado topped with queso to be specific. It is not a dish I would normally order, but it was one of the few meat free options, so I went with it. It was pretty good, but not good enough to order again. I've had the tacos and fajitas in the past and I liked both more than the enchiladas.

Despite Nate's not working out, we had a good night! I'm sure that it will win again some time - hopefully when Lent is over!

 

Nazca Kitchen

This week, the Meal of Food Friday crew visited a new addition to the Dallas restaurant scene. Nazca Kitchen is a Peruvian restaurant near Central Expressway and Walnut Hill.The place had a nice new restaurant feel to it - not very crowded, and everything had that super new look, never-been-used look.

It's a bit hidden - just look for the abandoned Dave and Buster's building

I wasn't really sure what Peruvian food was before eating at Nazca. I'm still not totally sure what makes a dish Peruvian, but I did lean that Peruvian food it tasty! We started out with the roasted pepper/cheddar dip, served with pita chips. It was a good start!

I need to work on my phone photography. The deliciousness isn't coming through in these pics!

I had the steak sandwich and grilled veggies for dinner along with a South American beer called Quilmes. I like to match my beer to my dinner - I think of it as a beer drinker's alternative to wine pairings. Everything was good! The steak was marinated well and had a great flavor. The bread was something called an Amazon Crunch Bun. It was a little sweet and crispy on the outside. It was different and I loved it. The sandwich was not huge, but it was enough food to be full. I appreciate when restaurants help me with my portion control!

Ryan had the roasted half chicken with quinoa. The chicken was good, the quinoa was just okay. He tells me that he wouldn't have try it again. I'm not sure that I would try it either, but I think it is in part because neither of us can figure out how to pronounce it properly.

I'd definitely eat at Nazca again. The food was unusual and tasty and the atmosphere was friendly and fun. You should try it out - let's help this new venture succeed!