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So there goes the publisher again, trying to impress us with his versatility, not resting on his laurels by adventuring all the way to El Girasol in Roebuck last time, but ranging all the way from a Jim n’ Nick’s version of a Mexican restaurant in the safe suburban community of Homewood to a taco truck on the Pinson Valley Parkway, all in the same week.
I can see getting Scarlet to go for a Margarita at Little Donkey, but I doubt she has otherwise been to Tarrant City lately, other than for the aforementioned lunch at La Pineda taco truck. But I suppose it is possible to lure her out there with ceviche.
I surmise from the reaction, reading between the lines as always, that the pair both sported an awesome version of the favorite we share, guacamole. The fresh avocado with the ceviche at the taco truck was awesome, apparently, as was the chunky guacamole—just the way I like it, too—at Little Donkey. It was Scarlet’s favorite in town, so far, and it sounds like they fought over it.
Not so much the other appetizer.
I think our publisher did appreciate the grand if not vainglorious effort to top chips caked in chili powder with delicate soft-poached farm fresh eggs and a white creamy cheese, presumably Mexican cotija. But I think he found it more monumental and impressive than appetizing. And he gets in a little bit of a huff at dishes that he does not like on the bill, a little spoiled if I may say so, but I also appreciate proactive restaurant management when writing an anonymous review, of course.
The
publisher thought the fresh roasted pork (ingredients both first class
and home style, as in Scarlet’s grass-fed Angus burger) on his taco at
Little Donkey could speak for itself more instead of competing with such
a robust pineapple flavor in the salsa. I just say they are trying hard
to dazzle us.
Likewise, at the Pineda taco truck, the burrito with carne asada and chorizo (roasted beef bites and Mexican sausage) was apparently quite tasty with a soft, pleasing texture— even in the freshly ground corn tortillas.
The reaction to the burrito made with buche was, well, OK, different, since it is more the consistency of tendons or soft cartilage that the Chinese eat than what we think of as meat—especially when Scarlet found out that she was eating cheek. Well, there is a reason some cuts of meat are favored over others, I suppose. And some take getting used to. But I agree it is fun to try something different and, above all, authentic. But usually it is best to get back to basics instead of venturing into the exotic all the time like our publisher.
At the same time, I have a harder time imagining either him or Scarlet eating ceviche—raw seafood cured in onions, herbs, and lime juice, Mexican sushi as it were—out of an unfamiliar truck. But apparently the little bits of white fish and baby shrimp on tostadas with avocado slices were delicious and they survived without so much as a stomach ache, apparently. I guess they are more authentic adventurers than I thought, after all.
Speaking of which, you almost get the feeling that they were more comfortable sitting outside eating at a picnic table in the breeze beside La Pineda than listening to the air conditioning laboring through the summer heat in Homewood. Well, it takes all kinds, which is why we have taco trucks as well as carefully crafted theme restaurants, though you can’t really say they are in the same town. So I suppose you can say it is big enough for the both of them.
A.
