I looked at some fellow bloggers’ posts on this place from 2-3 years ago before I started writing and saw a few hits, but a lot of misses. However, on our recent visit to Bone Garden Cantina the restaurant seemed to have made it past its “awkward stage” and come into it’s own. Located in a mostly industrial area off Marietta Blvd. (on Ellsworth Industrial, fittingly), you could easily miss Bone Garden’s warehouse-like digs…or you could just keep an eye out for the giant skeleton out front. The restaurant markets itself as one of the only authentic Mexican restaurants in town (i.e. not Americanized and drowning in cheese) and touts its fresh, made from scratch dishes.

We started with our free basket of warm chips & salsa, which we both enjoyed. Both elements tasted very fresh and we kept snacking on them throughout the meal.

Chips & Salsa

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Every time Mario and I visit Charlotte’s NoDa neighborhood (kind of a littler Little 5 Points, Atlantans), Cabo Fish Taco has a crowd milling outside and a wait time of an hour-plus. To me, this says, “must be good.” It could also be due to the fact that the place was recently featured on Food Network’s Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives (although I really don’t think that it would qualify for any of those monikers):

Cabo Fish Taco

We waited patiently for hour hour-plus wait, alleviated slightly by the opportunity to peruse the gallery crawl held in NoDa on the 1st and 3rd Friday of every month. When we were finally seated on the patio, we quickly made our choices for dinner. Mario went for the signature beer battered shrimp tacos (cheese only, yawn) and I had the BBQ Mahi Tacos (Grilled mango BBQ Mahi-Mahi tacos stuffed with Cabo slaw, tomato, avocado, mixed cheeses & finished with cilantro white sauce):

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Last week I convinced Mario and his business partner to meet me for lunch at Hankook Taqueria. This Korean/Mexican hybrid is located in the industrial area of Collier Rd. off Chattahoochee Rd.

Hankook Taqueria

None of us really knew what to expect from this strange mix of cuisines, but I had heard great things about the taco stand and they decided to trust my judgement (thanks guys!). One thing I appreciated about Hankook was the friendly girl working the counter. It bothers me when places that serve ethnic cuisine aren’t accommodating to customers interested in trying out something new, but the hostess that day apparently recognized apprehension on my companions’ faces and made suggestions for first-timers interested in something “safe” or in getting a good idea of what a Korean taco stand has to offer. We got a variety of tacos: chicken (“dak gogi”), beef (“bull gogi”), and shrimp (can’t find the proper name for it); along with tempura fried Korean sweet potatoes (“ko-kuma”) and gogi-nachos(chips, jack cheese, & ribeye beef):
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Lately, I’ve been trying to act like the grad student that I am and respect the fact that I should be living and eating on a budget. This means more cooking at home…for now anyway. In addition to being a budget-friendly meal, this is also my “meatless” Lent post for the week. These shrimp tacos were very quick and easy to put together and also crazy good:

Shrimp Tacos

I was purposely looking for a taco recipe with a mango accoutrement after my successful foray into avocado salsa, and these did not disappoint.
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On my Mardi Gras trip, I decided to look for something a little different to try in NOLA. There are of course many places I haven’t visited, but Juan’s Flying Burrito was an intriguing (and cheap) option. We stopped by the “Creole Taqueria’s” location on Magazine St. in the Garden District for lunch.

Juan's Flying Burrito: Creole Taqueria

We were seated promptly and had a while (too long, unfortunately) to look around before our server stopped by. The interior is “interesting” (Vortex-like, for ATLiens) with a ton of eclectic art-for-sale lining the walls, much of it featuring skulls or bleeding hearts. Food and drink specials are written on chalkboards around the room, and like any legit New Orleans eatery, they sport a full bar.

Spencer and I deliberated over the menu for about 5 minutes, and then waited another 15 before our waitress came to take our orders. When she returned 10 minutes later asking Spencer, “Oh, your drink hasn’t come out?” we gave each other blank stares because…isn’t that HER job (especially because she had brought my drink 5 minutes earlier)? Sketchy service aside, our food [me: Flying Enchiladas (steak, chicken, and shrimp grilled together, then stuffed inside our cheese enchiladas served with all three sauces, topped with sour cream and guacamole) Spencer: Super Nachos Grande (ground beef and chicken, with black and pinto beans, melted cheese, guacamole, sour cream, salsa and jalapenos)] was good:
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One evening after a gauntlet of classes, I was racking my brain for something quick to throw together since cooking and a lecture-fried brain really don’t mix. To any teachers/profs out there: if students aren’t specifically signed up for night class, we don’t want to be in class at night! Ok, off my soapbox. I decided on chicken tacos, but had no condiments aside from store-bought salsa. I used the magic of cell phone internet to find a recipe for avocado salsa in the last 10 minutes of class and stopped by the store for a few things on my way home. The super easy recipe required a lot of chopping, but in this case, “rustic” looking is ok:

Avocado Salsa

This is, of course, pre-mixed, but afterward this salsa made a wonderful taco accoutrement.
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My birthday was this past weekend, and for some reason I was craving enchiladas. I found a recipe by Tyler Florence on foodnetwork.com for green chile enchiladas and decided to try it out.

Roasted Green Chile-Chicken Enchiladas

This recipe was an interesting one to put together–I’ve never made enchiladas or salsa and never worked with a few ingredients used here, but I think they came out great.
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Finally got back to eating Baton Rouge this week.  It took me forever to decide what I wanted for lunch Wednesday, but I finally settled on Izzo’s Illegal Burrito.  Izzo’s is Baton Rouge’s answer to quick-Mex (I just made that up) eateries like Moe’s, Chipotle, and Qdoba; especially since, to my knowledge, neither of the three have locations in town (Edit: There is a Qdoba in the Towne Center shopping area).  However, Izzo’s sets itself apart by offering massive “illegal” burritos filled with fresh, flavorful ingredients.

Izzo's

Burrito Sizes

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Last night we visited local hotspot Taqueria del Sol to try some trendy Mexican. The restaurant uses lunch counter-style ordering, meaning you wait in line at the counter, place your order, and then find a table. The wait to order was long.  Very long.  But the restaurant offers single or pitcher margaritas to make your time a little more bearable.  The prices are quite reasonable, my meal of 2 roasted chicken enchiladas with beef red chili sauce and a Memphis taco was around $8, while Mario’s fried chicken tacos ran us around $6.

Roasted Chicken Enchiladas and Memphis Taco

Fried Chicken Taco

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