Sunday, March 21, 2010

Yay for Yelp!

Yay for Yelp! Xang and I are celebrating his birthday in Hood River this weekend. We took our time heading over here, and moseyed our way through the town. There’s not a lot to do when you have a toddler, but it’s a nice, relaxing place that’s not too far to drive for an overnight. I decided to consult Yelp for dinner recommendations and came across Hood River Taqueria. The reviews were mostly favorable, so we decided to give it a try.

It’s your pretty basic hole in the wall joint. But I figured it was a good sign that most of the menu was in Spanish first, then translated into English. After looking at the standard burritos, enchiladas, etc., I opted for the Shrimp with Garlic sauce (that was actually in Spanish, but I can’t remember what it was). And wow oh wow.



The plate arrived and I have to confess that I don’t really think that Mexican food rates all that high when it comes to presentation. But I also readily admit that looks can be deceiving. And - in this case – they can be very, very deceiving. I was pleasantly surprised to see about a dozen medium-sized shrimp floating around in the garlic sauce with some onions (I say pleasantly surprised because often times when I order shrimp plates like these, they arrive with 5-6 shrimp and lots of other filler stuff.). Refried beans and Mexican rice finished off the plate.

Anxious to taste how garlicky the garlic sauce was, I took a taste. I’m not kidding when I say that stuff *exploded* on my taste buds. San Francisco’s The Stinking Rose immediately came to mind. I sighed in delight, then promptly apologized in advance to my family for smelling up the car on the ride home. This was *seriously*good* garlic sauce. And we all know that means it will be emitting from your pores for a couple days. This is not garlic sauce for the weak.

(And as a side note, I was super happy to see my shrimp-loving Sydney eat a couple sauce-covered shrimp. That’s my garlic girl!)

I’m not sure what Mexican dining etiquette calls for, but I used my tortillas to sop up as much garlic sauce as I could. I.could.not.let.any.of.it.go.to.waste. Xang even took the onions I wasn’t eating and mixed them up with some leftover shredded beef from Sydney’s flautas and was super happy.

A great dining experience recommended by Yelp. I said it once and I’ll say it again – yay for Yelp!

Monday, March 8, 2010

Amy's Cheese Pizza


How to eat an Amy's Cheese Pizza:

First, eat all the cheese off your slice...



Then, eat the crust.


This is one nice pizza. It's Emi-chan's, and mine, favorite frozen pizza. It doesn't tast frozen at all. The crust bakes up nice and crisp, but the inside is nice and chewy. They don't pour on overly sweet sauce on the crust. Too bad the company only makes vegetarian and vegan products. I guess you can pile on pepperoni and stuff on your own.