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!