Mercado

This post is long overdue. I work in Pasadena and we've all been anticipating Mercado to open. Amazing art work like bullet skulls as you walk in from the commons. By them being here, it's definitely brought a lot of life to lake avenue. I'm not even kidding when I say I've been here multiple times within a week. I can honestly say the food is that good.

Here are some food from my first visit (Full menu here for Pasadena):

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Mexican Coke - Cane sugar for the win.

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Guacamole - hass avocado, serranos, cilantro, red onions, Yxta salsa brava, spicy pepitas, and fresh chips. There dip duo is also highly recommended. It's basically guac and their choriqueso - melted cotija, parmesan, oaxaca cheese, white wine, house chorizo, poblanos, and mushrooms.

Enchiladas de pollo en mole oaxaqueno - pulled Mary’s free-range chicken, oaxacan mole, queso fresco, crema fresca, red onions, sesame seeds, mexican rice, and chile piquín black beans. The mole wasn't too sweet, velvety and luxurious. Probably one of the best Oaxacan moles I've had.

ELOTE - grilled sweet corn, caramelized onions, chile piquín butter, topped with queso cotija.

Tostaditas de ceviche - citrus-marinated white fish and shrimp, mango, corn, cherry tomatoes, serranos, fresno chilies, avocado, chile de árbol aioli. This is probably the best ceviche I've had in a while. Fresh, citrusy with a good balance of sweet and heat from the mango, corn, fresnos and chile de arbol aioli. This is a must order if you're here.

COLIFLOR AL PASTOR - roasted cauliflower, chile morita marinade, pineapple, cilantro. A great side dish if you're doing low carb and want tons of delicious flavors. GM Justin loves to eat this with tortillas. Man was he right.

Camarones al ajillo - mexican sweet shrimp, chile de árbol garlic butter, market vegetables. You will never find a dish that's executed like they do it here. I've had this many times and didn't know how it should taste until I had it here. The flavor is to die for. Another highly recommended dish.

Spicy Cucumber Margarita with Mezcal. Mez always gets me.

FLAN. 

Other items I recommend not shown:

Carnitas. Anything carnitas but I love their tacos. From their happy hour menu, order their jicama shrimp tacos. 

Cucumber salad with skirt steak (trust me it's delicious).

Tamales - I ordered their special tamale of the day. It was carnitas, but I know it changes from time to time.

tres leches - YES

Heard the fried chicken torta is a must. Stay tuned for that!

140 S. Lake Avenue #101, Pasadena, California 91101 626.345.5778 www.cocinasycalaveras.com

Antojitos Guerrero - Highland Park

Address: 5623 York Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90042, United States

Celebrating the last of the 3 day Hoorah, we've decided to go to one of our favorite places in Highland Park. Nothing fancy, nothing stressful, and definitely nothing that will break your wallet. But, it's definitely something that is delicious.

Antojitos Guerrero is a small hole in the wall that you will probably miss driving down York blvd. My heart is set on a few of their dishes, but their tostadas is definitely on top of my list.

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chips and salsa

It was hot in Los Angeles today. Really hot. So sitting outdoors, closing my eyes pretending like I'm in Mexico wasn't so luxurious anymore after over 30 minutes of waiting for our food. There was a huge part of me that said I would never come back, NEVER! Especially because the table behind us got their food first even though we ordered before they even got there (don't you HATE that?). I didn't feel hungry, but my temper sure made me feel like I was. I was giving them the benefit of the doubt, that maybe they have to marinade the seafood. Over 30 minutes later, with sweat dripping down my back, shoving chips and spicy salsa down my throat, this baby and the others started flying out.

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Tostada Mixta -  $7.99

This is their tostada mixta. Their fish ceviche is one of my favorites and it's definitely something we order every time with extra avocados. But today, I wanted something with shrimp. Noticing their Mixta consisted of Shrimp, octopus and imitation crab meat, we've decided to go for it with their success of making a legit fish ceviche. What a treat this was to see fish mixed in. I am assuming they didn't have any imitation crab meat today. EVERY SINGLE seafood you see here, is executed to perfection. The octopus was tender, the shrimp had a snap, and the fish was plump and slightly tart from the lime. The cucumber and the avocado helps balance the citrus. From this day forward, I will always order this. And, this saved them because now I must return in the near future to devour. By the way, the best part of this tostada is how every ingredient is kept to it's integrity. A lot of tostadas I've had, is extremely finely minced where you can't appreciate texture and the full flavors of the seafood. You definitely know what's in your mouth with Antojitos tostadas.

Their handmade tortillas are to die for. Go ahead and get ready to die. I love the thickness, the chewiness, and how it soaks up all the juices and salsa that you load in. (If you want to find a similar tortilla, go to Trader Joes. They have a corn tortilla that is similar to this). My favorites from this place is their lengua and their adobada. The first time I had adobada was from Antojitos. Not knowing what it was of course. Adobada, here, is pork marinaded and cooked in a red chile (not spicy). The other you see is lengua (Beef tongue) which is also one of my favorite cuts stewed to perfection. Their handmade tortillas run for $1.99 each, and they are worth it. Like why wouldn't you go for handmade tortillas?

If you decide to come, be ready to wait for your food and don't blame me for it either. Not sure what magic happens in the kitchen, but I highly recommend their ceviche/tostadas which seems to be made to order. They have other items, but it's a hit or miss. I'm definitely going back again to try their Molcajete.

Eat well!

#Foodwithinreach

Daiisies

Elote "Mexican Corn"

Elote is also known as Mexican corn. I grew eating this as a little kid. My brother and I would be playing PlayStation or Counter Strike 1.5 when we hear the bell. Sorry, it's the bell. If you grew up in this era, you would know there is that one moment of silence, to hear that bell ring again to make sure it's the corn man. Now hurry and find a dollar! One dollar can get you a corn on a stick, brushed with some mayonnaise, lime juice, cheese, cayenne and some yellow gooey cheddar cheese which we are skipping today. Though, I'm not sure how much it runs for nowadays... $1.50?! Blasphemy!

For this recipe, I got frozen corn instead, but feel free to use the cob. AND I also made this in a dish, because it's easier to eat and I don't want spicy cayenne pepper spreading around my face. You know how that is...

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Elote "Mexican Corn"

Recipe:

• 3 cups of frozen corn, microwaved till edible.
• 1/2 lime
• 1 teaspoon of Kosher salt
• 1/4 cup of good mayonnaise (or 1/3), it really depends on how creamy you like it.
• 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne to mix
  • Cotija cheese crumbled on top (I used Cacique)

The recipe is pretty straight forward. I got a plastic zip bag to microwave the corn kernels. Afterwards, by opening the zip a little bit, you are able to dumb out any excess water. I then squeezed in the lime and sprinkled with salt and cayenne. Now, you mix it all together. It might be hard with your hands because the corn is still hot, so I used a spoon.

Next is the mayonnaise. Don't get that olive oil base mayo. I get it. But you want to keep it classic. After it's done mixing, just pour it out onto a dish of your choice. It may be a little watery because of the heat melting the mayonnaise. If you want, you can always pop it in the freezer for about 15 minutes to make the mayonnaise clump up again, but I think its better hot. Crumble your cheese and top off with a dash of cayenne. If you don't use cayenne, and you know you are sensitive to spicy foods, then I would leave it out and just dash a little bit as you are eating this. Just adjust along the way. This is how it is if you get it on the streets. They ask you want on your corn so there isn't really a wrong way to do this if you stick to the right ingredients. Don't blame me for any butt fire incidents though...

I like to eat this with chicken, tortilla chips, tostadas, or just as it. By the way, cotija cheese is a little robust so if you are not a big fan of cheese, I recommend getting the Cacique queso fresco it's like my favorite for all my mexican dishes!

QUICK TIP: If you are using fresh corn on the cob, remove the silks but leave the husk. In the same bag that you loaded your corns in (clear plastic that is in the produce aisle), put your corns back in and just microwave it to cook! No need to boil water. If your husks are a little dry, just moist them a little with water. I normally microwave my corn for 3 minutes (one corn). Now thank me if I changed your life.

You can always serve it for parties like I did below:

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party size

enjoy the butt fires!

daiisies

Tacos Los Potrillos

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Al Pastor

It's a gem to find taco trucks nowadays. Don't need anything fancy. If you've noticed the same truck sitting at the same spot for a while, it should be good enough to give it a try (especially if there's a line). But I think it's more rare to find tacos that cost $1 now... So far, I only ran into 2. The first one (2nd one will be posted on a different day) is located off San Gabriel and Hill street in Rosemead. Here, you will find Tacos Los Potrillos located in the LA Auto Shine car wash corner. The taco truck is parked from 5:00PM - 12:AM everyday.

It was extremely hot when we came so we just decided to eat there instead of taking it home. We ordered Al Pastor and Asada. I wouldn't say these were the best I've ever had, but I would definitely come back if I were to crave some. And for $1, you can't really complain. And if you WERE to complain, it better be for good reasons like food poisoning for 5 days. If you got the sh*ts, it's normal... catch the drift? I swear sometimes when people complain, it's like going complaining about going to McDonalds and saying their burgers does not taste like a burger. And to those people that only order 2-3 and calls it quits, how are you even alive?!

So to conclude, for a buck, these were decent and worth the price. Don't take my word for it though, go check it out. It may be obvious, but it's CASH only.

E-A-T T-A-C-O-S.

Daiisies