Review: Bakersfield OTR

After hearing a lot of buzz about Bakersfield OTR, the new taco joint in Over-the-Rhine's Gateway Quarter, Kate and I decided to give it a try. Our friend Christina met us there at about 6 pm on a Tuesday night.

The restaurant was already filling up even at this early hour, but luckily we were seated right away. I've heard the wait time on the weekends can be 2-3 hours, so be prepared and get there early if you plan to go on a Friday or Saturday. When we arrived at 6 pm, there weren't any "regular" 4 top tables available, so we were seated at a long picnic-like table at the front of the restaurant. A few other people were already seated at the same picnic table, but it was spacious enough that we weren't right on top of each other. It didn't bother me at all; however it could be annoying if there was a loud/obnoxious group sitting next to you. :)

Shortly after being seated, our amazing server came over to get our drink orders. He was incredibly friendly, knowledgeable and full of great suggestions. There was quite a lot to choose from, including specialty cocktails made with mostly whiskey or tequila (since that is what they specialize in), margaritas, sangria, wine and beer. After some debate, I ordered the Sangria, Kate got the Red Headed Stranger (bourbon, cayenne pepper, candied ginger, lemon, bitters and Domaine de Canton) and Christina ordered the Bakersfield Margarita.




We were all very pleased with our cocktails! The sangria was made with Rosé and was rather sweet, but delicious. One was definitely enough. Kate really liked her bourbon concoction as well, and Christina was happy with her margarita! When our cocktails arrived at the table, we knew we were ready to order the chips and queso. There are a few appetizers to choose from but we all agreed that the chips and queso sounded great! And we were right! Deliciosa! The chips were clearly homemade and so was the queso and the two salsas. They have a green salsa verde that was my favorite. It was clearly made with fresh ingredeints. The same can be said for the red salsa, which is smoky with a nice spicy kick. They were both fantastic with the chips - and the tacos!

Just as he did with the drink menu, our server thoroughly explained the food menu to us and made fantastic suggestions. In addition to appetizers, there are salads, tortes (sandwhiches) and lots of TACOS to choose from! There are 7 different types of tacos to choose from, and they're priced individually so you can mix-and-match. I aboslutely love this concept! You don't have to commit to one type of taco...you can order a few different ones and try a little bit of everything. The server said the Pastor (chili marinated pork with pineapple, onions and cilantro) was the #1 favorite, so we all ordered that one. In addition to the Pastor, I ordered the Short Rib and Fish tacos. Kate ordered the Rajas (portobello mushrooms) and the Short Rib. And Christina ordered the Pollo Verde (tomatillo braised chicken) and cochinita pibil (spicy pork). 

We could not have been happier with our choices! Of all nine tacos, there was not a single complaint about any of them. I aboslutely loved all three of mine. The Short Rib taco was the winner (Kate also agreed), but not by much. The Pastor was a close second! The combination of the sweet and spicy was fantastic! And the mahi mahi taco was light and flavorful and a good change from the other two tacos. It was topped with a cabbage slaw, cilantro and a tabasco lime mayo. Yummmo!!

I will definitely be back to Bakersfield in the near future! The service, atmosphere, food and cocktails were very impressive and worth a repeat trip! I'm already planning my next visit!

~ Kris  

Food: 5

Service: 5 

Overall: 5

Recipe: Spicy Chicken Tacos

I recently went back through some of my old recipes I had stowed away.  I sometimes forget that I have a lot of recipes written down and easily accessible.  I thought of this recipe because I have been on a big Mexican food kick lately.  It's just so easy to make and is ALWAYS good :)  This recipe is made in a slow cooker which is very convenient.

Ingredients: (Serving 2)

1 large or 2 smaller boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 adobe chiles (in adobe sauce), chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup salsa
1 tbsp. chili powder
salt and pepper
taco shells

Optional Garnish:
shredded cheese
sour cream
cilantro
extra salsa

So this recipe is extremely easy.  You just throw all those ingredients in the crock pot and cook on high for 2 hours or on low for 4 hours. Mix everything together and shred the chicken.   I put more salsa and chiles in because I like it extra spicy.  You could probably add any other ingredients in if you want as well, onion, peppers, etc.  The garnish is pretty much to your liking, I used sour cream, taco sauce, hot sauce, and a bit more salsa. We used corn tortillas because we had them on hand, but you could use hard tacos or flour tortillas as well!  Enjoy and watch out, those chiles can get pretty hot!

~Kate

Review: Cancun Mexican Bar & Grill

My mom, sister, and I recently met up for lunch on a Friday afternoon.  My mom and I were both off work, and my lucky sister has a pretty flexible schedule, so we decided to go out for lunch!  My sister lives in Norwood, so we thought we'd try something close to her house.  My mom was craving Chipotle, but we wanted to go somewhere more "sit-down", so we decided to try Cancun Mexican Bar & Grill located on Montgomery Rd. near the Lateral. 

Walking in, we were immediately greeted by a very friendly and warm host who sat us in a booth.  The decor in this place was unlike any other Mexican restaurant, in a good way!  It was very vibrant and fun.  All the tables had unique artwork on them with a glass covering on top which I thought was really interesting.  The chairs had a similar motif to them as well.

While looking over the menu, our server promptly delivered some salsa and chips. I thought the salsa was a bit bland, I like to have a bit more spice in mine, but the chips were pretty good.  We ordered a side of queso (my sister's favorite) to go along, and this was a pretty standard queso.

The menu was a very typical Mexican restaurant menu in my opinion.  There was a lunch special for the day, but we had our hearts set on other items.  My sister always gets tacos, especially for lunch, but she did opt for the shrimp tacos to change up her typical order a bit.  She asked to get hard shells instead of soft, and they happily obliged.  She liked this just okay...there was hardly any shrimp in two of them and a lot in the third.  The first two tacos had mostly veggies, but she still liked them fine.

I also get tacos many a time when I go to Mexican restaurants, but I felt like getting one of my other favorites--a quesadilla (could have been because I had just watched Napoleon Dynamite??)  I ordered the fajita quesadilla which was stuffed with cheese, chicken, peppers, onion, mushrooms, and tomatoes.  This was served with lettuce, guacamole, sour cream and tomatoes.  I really liked this quesadilla.  It had plenty of chicken and vegetables.  I loved that the veggies were grilled and mixed together nicely with the melted cheese.  The tortilla was just crispy enough without getting soggy from all the filling.  I would definitely order this again.

My mom went with the "fajita" style nachos.  The portion was a big size, especially for lunch.  It was topped with similar items from my quesadilla: peppers, onion, chicken, cheese, tomatoes.  These were good as well.  I tried these and liked that the cheese had been melted on the nachos, it wasn't too runny.  I also liked that the chips didn't get soggy and it had a great amount of toppings.  My mom really liked this, there wasn't much left to share!

The prices at Cancun are very reasonable.  For all 3 entrees, queso, and 2 drinks, our total came to about $30 which I didn't think was too bad.  The service here was great as well.  Our server really went above and beyond to make sure we were pleased.  He was on top of our drinks, and even offered to get my sister a different meal when she didn't eat it all--she just wasn't that hungry :) 

I liked Cancun Mexican Bar & Grill; I'd like to back for dinner and see how their margaritas are, but if you're in the area, it's worth a try!
~Kate

Food: 3
Service: 4
Overall Experience: 3

Review: El Toro

I have to say that I have great friends.  I am lucky enough to have friends who know just what to get me for my birthday....gift card to a restaurant.  My birthday was a couple months back, but my good freinds Zac, Kelly, and Dan gave me a gift card to El Toro restaurant in the Oakley/Hyde Park area.  I love Mexican food and had never been there before, so I was excited to be able to try something new!

El Toro is located in a shopping center on Paxton Ave. where Daybreak used to be.  I loved Daybreak and was a little disappointed when I saw it was closing, but there aren't a ton of Mexican options in this area.

My husband and I decided to go a couple weeks ago on a Thursday evening.  We arrived around 6 or so and we were immediately seated at a table.  The decor in El Toro is pretty standard for a Mexican restaurant.  Lots of colors and a bar toward the back.  We were seated in a booth by the window, which was nice, but a bit chilly.

Ross and I decided we were gonna start with a margartia.  El Toro offers FOUR different sizes: small, jumbo, grande and monster.  I was going to order the grande, but my husband talked me into the monster, we had a gift card after all, and the margaritas were a special price during happy hour.  This thing came out and I couldn't believe my eyes.  It wa HUGE.  It was seriously the biggest margarita I have ever had in my life!!  Now, as far as taste...it was just okay.  I think it was a bit to sweet for my liking.  I would have been happier with a smaller margarita with better proportion of tequila to the mix.

As most Mexican restaurants do, we were given some salsa and chips to start off with.  The chips were pretty good.  Salty and warm; however, the salsa again was just okay.  It was a bit too runny for me and didn't have much flavor and no kick to it whatsoever. 
                                

We also decided to try the queso dip, which always reminds me of my sister, she loves queso.  This queso was fine, better than the salsa.

El Toro's menu is also huge.  Ross and I took a long time deciding what to get because there were so many options.  I almost always get a quesadilla, fajitas, or tacos when I got to Mexican restaurants, so I decided to try something a bit different.  I went with a combo of a taco, enchilada, and chile poblano.

All in all, these were not that great.  The taco was fine.  I had ordered it with chicken and it was topped with lettuce and cheese.  The enchilada wasn't very good at all.  The chile poblano was the best of the three.  It was the only one that tasted like it had any flavor to it.  The other two items I had to add hot sauce or the runny salsa to.

Ross ordered some sort of burrito, as usual.  He thought his burrito was pretty good.  It came with a side of rice which he thought was pretty good as well.

We ended up not even being able to finish our margaritas because they were so big and sweet.

Our service was fine.  Pretty standard overall.  It was great that I had a gift card to El Toro but I don't know if I would go back. There are many other Mexican restaurants I like a lot better.  Prices were pretty average as well, average $6.99-$11.99 for dinner.
So, I thank my friends again for my gift card, despite mediocre food, we had a good time!
~Kate

Food: 2
Service: 3
Overall Experience: 2.5