Sal y Limon

Sal y Limon is located in the heart of the Mount Pleasant community, right by Kingsway and Fraser St. I have passed by this restaurant so many times on my way downtown and have heard great things about their tacos from a number of people.

Sal y Limon translates directly to "salt and lime" - how fitting for a Mexican restaurant! The joint is co-owned by two couples - Carolina & Sebastien and Adriana and Pepe. The restaurant is well-known for its authentic Mexican cuisine and exuberant wall decor. As you can tell from the picture below, the interior walls play host to a colourful display of artwork by Mexican artists. They also have a small area towards the back that is designed as a play area for children (so yes, I would categorize the restaurant as being "kid friendly"). I loved the bright colours and openness of the seating area.

I am told that the place has been renovated relatively recently and wasn't always like this.

You order your food up at the front and then wait at your table for them to bring out your food. There is a stack of menus at the front where you place your order. Luckily, it wasn't that busy when we (Sameer and I) were there because I took me quite a while to navigate through the menu. We came here this past Sunday for a late lunch. There was a steady of flow of customers going in and out, but overall, it wasn't too busy.

They had this trophy proudly showcased on their front counter.

In case you are wondering (because I wondered too) ... Taco Wars is a series of episodes from the show Best in Chow from the Cooking Channel. The show features Chris Nannarone, a standup comedian, who travels to different cities and tries different restaurants in search of the best burger, pizza, taco, etc.

Now back to the food ...

We ordered the Shrimp Ceviche (it's a weekend special) and 6 tacos:

- 1 beef tongue
- 1 beef
- 1 pollo pibil (slow roasted chicken breast)
- 1 fish
- 1 cochinita (slow roasted pork)
- 1 chorizo (pork sausage)

Pretty reasonably priced ... me likey!

There was hardly any wait for the food ... which is always a plus for forever-hungry-Cynthia!

Shrimp Ceviche

The Shrimp Ceviche was yummy. I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of shrimp that came with it. You can't tell by the picture because they're all buried underneath the surface. The shrimp  was pretty fresh and well-textured. I always enjoy the limey tang of ceviche. My only critcism would be that it could've come with more tortilla chips. We had to finish the remainder of the ceviche with a spoon after we ran out of chip for dipping.

From the top, going clockwise - Beef tongue, pollo pibil, and fish.

From the top, going clockwise - Chorizo, beef, and cochinita.
Note: these tacos were stripped of cilantro because Sameer is not a fan.

The tacos were delicious. The tacos were made from two soft corn tortillas stacked directly on top of each other, with no shortage of meat on top. The meat was very juicy and tender (likely due to the slow roasting). I would give the marination two thumbs up.

I especially liked the variety of salsa there was to choose from: avocado, chunky, arbol, chipotle, peanut, chef, jalapeno, diabla, and sweet diabla. The salsa are all spicy, ranging from 1 to 3 chili peppers. I secretly wanted to try them all, but I didn't want to over do it. We decided to go with avocado, chipotle, and peanut (all of which tasted fantastic). 

We gobbled up everything in a fury, including any over-spillage of meat that might have escaped from the taco. I really like the whole atmosphere of the restaurant, friendliness of the staff, and the authenticity of the food. Needless to say, I will definitely be coming back.

Honourable mention:

This is a random observation that is not food-related. They have beautiful bathroom sinks! Fits in very well with their Mexican artwork decor.

Burgoo

Burgoo. What a cute name??? I've wanted to try this place out ever since I drove by it on Main Street the first time.  I've since learned that there are two other locations in Vancouver - one on West 4th and one on Londsdale Avenue, in North Van. "Burgoo" sounds like a fictional baby-talk term. However, Google and Wikipedia tell me otherwise. Apparently, "burgoo" refers to a type of thick stew, often prepared communally as a social gathering.

The restaurant's slogan is, "food for comfort". Their menu seems to say the same thing. I recently read a Daily Hive article titled, "101 things to eat and drink in Vancouver before you die"...

"82. Mac and Cheese at Burgoo
Beloved for their comfort foods, Burgoo's Mac and Cheese always gets top nods for being among the best in the city."

MAC AND CHEESE??? BEST IN THE CITY??? YES PLEASE. (Yes, the capitalization and punctuation is absolutely necessary to properly convey my level of excitement.)

Sameer and I came here this past Sunday for a late lunch and was lucky enough to score a seat on the patio. It was already 3 pm by the time we still had to wait about 15 min to be seated. As usual, I was famished by the time we were seated. Luckily, I didn't have to waste any time deciding what to order ... because MAC AND CHEESE. I took a sneak peek at their menu anyway, just to see what other yummy selections they had to offer.

I made a mental note of the items I wanted to try on my next visit: Jambalaya, Chicken Pot Pie, Beef Bourguignon, Burgoo Biscuits, and Queso Fundido ... to name a few. And that's obviously subject to me being able to restrain myself from ordering the Mac and Cheese again.

Our waitress told us right off the bat that all of their cheese dishes were very popular. This made me very happy. I proudly ordered the Mac and Cheese and a Caesar (because why not? And because they have $6 Caesar specials on Sundays!). Sameer ordered the El Cubano Sandwich that was stuffed with braised pulled pork, spicy Capicollo ham, mix cheese, grainy mustard, and garlic pickle relish. It also came with a side of kale salad.

El Cubano Sandwich

I took a couple of bites of his sandwich to try it out. The meat was very flavourful and soft and the sandwich was good overall ... but didn't come close to my  Mac and Cheese.

Mac and Cheese - star of the show!

My Mac and Cheese was piping hot and fresh out of the oven ... just the way I like it! I like having Mac and Cheese while it's H-O-T (hot to the point where you could burn your tongue if you're not careful). That way, the cheese is ooey gooey and melted just right. This Mac and Cheese was loaded with aged white Cheddar; simple and classic. A common criticism I have for mac and cheese is that it's dry or it doesn't have enough cheese. The macaroni here was soft and very moist, but not mushy. There was just the right amount of cheese and the taste of cheddar was not too overpowering. I also loved that they had bottles of Sriracha sauce readily available. If you are a fan of mac and cheese, please do yourself a favour and try this one!

Cynthia Approved Mac and Cheese Rating (CAMCR*)

*Percentage weight of each factor in calculating the total CAMCR - Macaroni 20%; Cheese - 30%; Presentation - 5%; and Overall Taste - 45%.

Category: Gourmet**/Classic? - Classic

**Note: Toppings/Ingredients would have been a factor if it was categorized as "Gourmet".

Macaroni - 4/5

Cheese - 5/5

Presentation - 3.5/5

Overall Taste 4.5/5

X(perience) Factor*** - 2/2

***Click here (and scroll down to the bottom) for an explanation.

Burgoo gets a CAMCR of 92.0%

Tableau Bar Bistro

This post is long overdue considering that I came to this restaurant about a month ago. My friend Cory and I decided to try Tableau Bar Bistro for dinner on a rainy Thursday night. The restaurant is located downtown Vancouver, just west of Thurlow Street, on Melville, and is connected to a boutique hotel (Loden Hotel).

Since it was raining fairly hard that day, I didn't take a picture of the entrance to avoid being outside for longer than required.

From doing some quick research on the restaurant, I discovered that Tableau and Homer St. Cafe share the same executive chef - Chef Marc-Andre Choquette. Chef Choquette is well-known for his extensive training in French classical haute cuisine. Seeing that I had a fairly pleasant experience at Homer St. Cafe several months ago, I was excited to see what Tableau had to offer. Unlike Homer St. Cafe's focus on offering upscale comfort food, Tableau's menu features classic French bistro fare prepared from locally sourced and seasonal ingredients.

The interior of the restaurant is decorated with dark tones, wood-framed furniture and black and white square tiles. It gave off a very classic vibe with a hint of French charm (but not so much that it was overbearing). There was an Escargot Special on the day that we went. The dish was only $5, so it was a "must order" for me. I was a little torn on what to order for my entree, so I defaulted to asking our waiter for his favourites on the menu. I find that this always works in my favour. He suggested the Steelhead Trout without any hesitation ... so that's what I went with!

Escargot on special

The escargots were so delicious, to say the least. This was my first time having escargots prepared in a cream sauce ... and I loved it! The sauce was a tomato-based cream sauce that paired very well with the escargots. The dish was served with chopped potatoes, blistered orange tomatoes and BC morel mushrooms (which I thought were sea cucumbers at first) and garnished with a sprig of parsley. The escargots were quite size-able and the texture was soft and chewy. Two thumbs up!

Steelhead Trout

The trout was served over a medley of quinoa, almonds, dill, and capers with lemon yogurt sauce on the side. I'm always reluctant to order fish at restaurants because I've had too many experiences where the fish was overcooked (and we all know that overcooked fish ruins everything). The waiter was not wrong to recommend this one though! The trout was perfectly cooked and the skin was delightfully crispy. The lemon yogurt was probably my favourite part. It gave the fish even more moisture and served as a good "adhesive" for the quinoa mix. I did notice that the trout looked and tasted eerily similar to salmon.

Fun fact (that I discovered afterward): Steelhead Trout actually belong to the same family of fish (Salmonidea) as Salmon. 

Overall, I had a very pleasant dining experience. The service was good - our waiter was very knowledgeable about the menu (he was the one who identified the BC morel mushrooms). The ambiance was charming and comfortable. Since I was here last, I've heard a lot of good things about the restaurant's brunch menu. So, it looks like I'll have to pay another visit sometime soon!